Saint Lawrence Valley Repeater Council

- Revisions to the Council Policy -

Approved April 29 2001



- Changes and Additions to the SLVRC Policy and Guidelines - 

The policy revisions drafted in the spring of 2000 were reviewed and discussed at the several General Meetings.  Amendments were made in accordance with the consensus arrived at by the SLVRC members.  These amended revisions to the policy were approved at the general meeting on April 29 2001.  

 The purpose of these changes and additions is to provide working definitions of 'operational' and 'non-operational' status, to set out the process and time periods governing actions to suspend and ultimately revoke the frequency coordinations applying to a system, and the processes of appeal against such actions. 

While it may be unlikely that many of these provisions will have to be applied, it is nevertheless necessary to have a clear statement of policy on such matters for the guidance of SLVRC members and the executive of the Council.


 25.0    INITIAL COORDINATION PERIOD: 

( No change ) 25.1    New frequency coordinations are made for an initial and provisional period of six months.  During this initial period, it is expected that the system described to the Council will undergo on the air testing and achieve regular, continuing operation.  If necessary, the licensee may request an extension of three months to achieve operational status.  If, at the end of the six or nine month period the Frequency Coordinator has not received written notice that the system is operational, the coordination may be cancelled.  It is the responsibility of the licensee of a system to inform the Council of the operational status of the system.

 ( No change ) 25.2    During the initial six month period, the licensee of the system shall conduct transmitting and receiving tests, identified as appropriate on the air, sufficient to permit other systems to determine if the new installation is causing interference to their system.  The methods and periods of testing undertaken and the results of those tests shall be communicated to the Frequency Coordinator at the time of reporting on the operational status of the system.

 
26.0    CONTINUATION OF COORDINATED STATUS:

 ( No change )  26.1     For coordinated systems remaining in operation, frequency coordinations continue in effect on a 12-month basis.  Coordination is renewed annually in the fall of the year, assuming no changes requiring reconsideration of coordination have been made, on receipt of the SLVRC Technical Information Report Form at or shortly before the fall general meeting of the Council.

 ( Revised )  26.2     If the Technical Information Report Form for a given coordinated system is not received by the Frequency Coordinator by the end of October
       - information on the system may not be forwarded for publication in the various directories, which are revised at the end of each year
        - the SLVRC may assume the system to be non-operational and may, with notice, suspend the coordinations applying to the system and, subject to appeal, release the frequency(ies) to the pool of frequencies available for reallocation.

 
( New )  26A
.0  SUSPENSION AND REVOCATION OF COORDINATED STATUS, AND THE APPEAL PROCESS:

 ( New )  26A.1   If a frequency coordination is suspended for any reason, the holder of record or the trustee of the system shall be sent a notice of this action.  The holder/trustee may, within 30 days of the date of the notice, file a written appeal of the suspension with the Council. 

 ( New ) 26A.2  Notices and confirmations concerning actions taken by the Council to suspend or revoke or cancel frequency coordinations applying to a system shall be sent by Email to the holder of record or the trustee of the system to the last Email address of record, or if the Council has no record of an Email address, by post mail to the last address of record .

( New )  26A.3  An appeal to the Council against the suspension or revocation/cancellation of frequency coordination shall be in writing and shall outline the reasons why the action should not proceed.  The appeal shall include a full Technical Information Report form unless the Council previously received a full and current report within the current calendar year .  Refer to Section 26B.4.

( New )  26A.4  If an appeal is incomplete or is received after the specified period, it may be declared to be invalid by the Council executive. 

( New )  26A.5  On receipt of a valid appeal, the Frequency Coordinator may at his discretion reinstate the coordination or send the matter to an Appeal Committee. 

( New )  26A.6  If no response to the notice (Section 26A.1) is received within the 30 days, then the coordinated status of the system may be revoked without further notice, and the holder of record or the trustee shall be sent  a confirmation of the action taken.

 New )  26A.7   In the event of revocation or cancellation of coordinated status applying to a system, any further action to coordinate frequencies for that system shall be considered a new coordination request.

 ( New )  26A.8   Systems which lose their coordinated status through revocation or cancellation for any reason shall not retain 'first on frequency' status in respect to resolution of interference or other problems, and may not enjoy the support of the Council in dealing with such problems.

 
( NEW )  26B
.0  HEARING OF APPEALS:

 ( New )  26B.1   An appeal of suspension or revocation action filed with the Council shall be heard by an Appeal Committee within 30 days of its receipt, if possible.  Council action on the coordinated status of the system will not be taken until the appeal is heard.  The holder of record or the trustee shall be sent a notice of the decision of the Appeal Committee hearing within 10 days of the decision of the Appeal Committee (per Section 26A.2, above).  Normally, the process will be completed within 40 days of the receipt of the appeal.

( New )  26B.2   Appointments to an Appeal Committee are at the discretion of the Chairman of the Council.

( New )  26B.3   An Appeal Committee shall consist of one or more members of the Council executive plus two or more full members of the Council who are not members of the executive.  The appellant or his representative may be present to support his case to the Appeal Committee.  The appellant or his representative is not a member of the Appeal Committee. 

 ( New )  26B.4   The documents presented for an appeal, an appeal hearing and the results of the deliberations of the Appeal  Committee can be either in English or in French at the choice of the appellant.  If the appeal is to be heard in French before the Appeal Committee, this preference is to be communicated to the Chairman of the Council at the time the appeal is filed.

 ( New ) 26B.5  The decision of the Appeal Committee shall be the final one and shall be the decision of the Council in whole.

 ( New )  26B.6   Following notice of the decision of the Appeal Committee to the holder of record or trustee of the system, this decision shall be published to the members of the Council on the remailer 'SLVRCLIST', shall be posted on the Council web site, and shall be included with the minutes of the following general meeting of the Council.

 27.0    ( New Heading ) - OPERATIONAL STATUS OF SYSTEMS WITH COORDINATED FREQUENCIES: ( formerly SYSTEMS CEASING OPERATIONS:)

 ( New )  27.1  Operational System.  A system shall be considered to be 'Operational' if it is in regular and continuing operation and is functioning generally at the output power level and within the parameters specified in the most recent Technical Information Report form (or amended report) accepted by the Frequency Coordinator.

 ( New )  27.2  Out of Service.  A coordinated system may be taken out of service for reasonable periods for repairs or modifications, without loss of coordinated status. 

 ( New )  27.3  Non-Operational System.  Systems that are out of service for a period of six months shall be considered 'Non-Operational'.   Systems that consistently function significantly below the level described in Section 27.1 above for a period of six months shall be considered to be 'Non-Operational'. 

 ( New )  27.4  The Frequency Coordinator shall review the coordinations applying to systems which are considered to be non-operational.  If in the opinion of the Frequency Coordinator changes are necessary in the conditions applying to the coordination of the system to retain coordinated status, a notice of those changes shall be sent by the Frequency Coordinator to the holder of record or to the trustee of the system (in accordance with Section 26A.2 above).

 ( Revised)  27.5 (formerly part of 27.1 )   If a coordinated system becomes non-operational for a period of six months, notice of the intention to reactivate the system consistent with Section 27.1 above and thus maintain the coordinated status of the system must be received by the Frequency Coordinator within one additional month.  This notification shall include a full Technical Information Report  form and shall specify the date by which the system will become operational once again.

( Revised ) 27.6 (formerly part of 27.1)  If such notice is not received within the specified period and if in the opinion of the Frequency Coordinator the system will not be made operational in a reasonable period of time, the coordinated status of the system may, with notice, be suspended and ultimately revoked at the discretion of the Frequency Coordinator, subject to the normal appeal procedures.  In this event, the frequencies allocated to the system will be returned to the pool of frequencies available for assignment for the use of other systems.

 
28.0    CHANGES IN SYSTEM PARAMETERS:

 ( No change )  28.1     A change in any of the physical, operational or legal characteristics of a system requires that the Council be notified of such change in writing.  Such written notice is to include the provision of an up-to-date Technical Information Report form. 

 ( Revised )  28.2     Any change in factors affecting the physical nature or operating conditions of a system previously coordinated which are likely to change the coverage area of the system shall make that system subject to re-coordination by submission in writing to the Frequency Coordinator PRIOR TO implementing the change. 

( New )  28.3  A system which functions for more than six months with ERP or antenna height above average terrain changed by more than 10% or the location changed by more than 5 kilometers is deemed to be a different system than the original, coordinated system.   Similarly, a system that changes ownership or sponsorship is deemed to be a different system than the original system. 

( New )  28.4  Any coordinated system that changes as mentioned and that does not within six months file an up-to-date Technical Information Report form for consideration by the Frequency Coordinator shall be deemed to have become non-operational at the time the change was made.  In this event, action may be taken in accordance with Section 27.5.


10.0    QUORUM FOR MEETINGS:

(Revised) 10.1  At least two of the officers of the SLVRC plus at least 10 of the full Continuing Members of record (including written and signed voting proxies) shall be a quorum for voting at meetings.

Graham Ide VE3BYT
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