 Welcome to WRC-19, the World Radio Communication Conference here in Shamoshake in Egypt, where I'm very pleased to be joined in the studio today by Timothy Ellum, who is president of the International Amateur Radio Union. Timothy, welcome to the studio. Thank you, Max. We saw each other yesterday. I don't know that you'll be attending the sessions here at WRC-19. What particular topics are of interest to the International Amateur Radio Union? Well, the IARU is following a number of agenda items that may impact the amateur radio service. On top of the list is agenda item 1.1, which is harmonization of 50 megahertz. And that has taken some time and some of our time of our volunteers to work on that particular topic. There are some other agenda items on issues that may affect some of the spectrum that's assigned to amateurs and we're following those closely. So those that are not in the know, what does harmonization of the 50 megahertz spectrum mean? In regions 2 and 3, we are primary in 50 to 54 meg. It's a popular amateur band. In region 1, there is no specific allocation, and we're working to get a primary and secondary allocation for those amateurs in region 1. So the globe is divided into different regions, 2 and 3 being? 2 is the Americas, 3 is the rest of the world. Region 1, of course, is Europe and Africa. Okay, great. Let's talk about the relevance of amateur radio nowadays. How has amateur radio managed to retain its importance in this world, which is full of different kinds of connectivity? Well, the organization I represent has actually been around since 1925, and we've been attending ITU meetings since 1927 and being a sector member here at ITU since 1932. So we've been around for a long time and we've attended a number of WRCs on spectrum issues. Amateur radio is still very, very relevant. This is an interconnected world. More and more people, of course, are able to communicate quickly. Amateur radio provides a backbone, especially when those services go down and we're often called into service, for example, during emergencies, times of crisis, natural disasters, that type of thing. And in principle, the topics that you're following here are the ones that directly affect you or the ones that might affect you in the future? Both. There's some that will directly affect us and there's some that will often come up affect our spectrum in the future. So we're keeping eyes on what's relevant now but also what will be relevant in the future. And I think, you know, the typical example of an amateur radio operator, someone in a dark and danky basement on HF bands, operating AM or something like that, when in fact we have very advanced uses of frequencies and modes which are used such as digital modes and spread spectrum, that type of thing. Talking about emergency situations, how has amateur radio really come into play in situations like the Bahamas, for example, or Mozambique, have there been particular cases where you know of? Yeah, there's a number of cases. Even in industrialized countries like Japan, for example, when they had their issues with the Tasami and things like that, these times of crisis will knock out the communications backbone. And you have amateurs on the ground who have equipment, they have the antennas, they have the skills they know how to communicate and will provide that first vital communication link before more established first responders can come in and set up a secondary network. You know, I always tell the example, I'm not an engineer by any means but in times of crisis I do know how to operate a simple amateur station, make my own antenna and use alternative sources of power to communicate. And that's the key factor, we're on the ground, we're already there, we have our own equipment. Are there any facts and figures about how many people are using amateur radio nowadays? There's about 3 million radio amateurs in the world and our organization is made up of over 160 member societies in various different countries who represent the amateur interest to their national regulators. How long does it take to get a license and how can one set oneself up modestly to do this? Well, licensing varies around the world of course, but it is quite straightforward. There is no longer a requirement to no more scope, for example, or to be tested in most countries. There's typically classes that will get you an entry level license very quickly in the space of two or three weeks if need be, even shorter. And in terms of equipment, what kind of equipment do people need? Depending on what frequencies you want to operate on, there's VHF and UHF and higher spectrum. It's a very easy to obtain some low-cost, handy-talky type devices which go through amateur repeaters and those are in the neighborhood of sub $100 US, for example. And if you want to get on HF, certainly there's equipment that will allow you to get on for a bit more than that. Amateur radius lasted this long. How do you see the future? It will continue, not maybe in its present form, but amateurs are experimental. They are developing new ways to communicate and I'm sure that will continue in the future. That's it with the album. Thank you very much for joining us in the studio and hopefully we'll catch up with you again at some stage in the near future too. Excellent. Thank you, Max. Thanks a lot.