5th Global Shortwave Coordination Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Press Release
The High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC),
the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) and the
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU-HFC) will hold
a global shortwave co-ordination conference at the
Hilton Petaling Jaya Hotel, Kuala Lumpur from 4th
to 8th February 2008. The conference is hosted by
VT Communications from the United Kingdom, on
behalf of the HFCC, with assistance from the Asia-
Pacific Broadcasting Union.
Shortwave broadcasting has a unique position in that
the radio channels used by international stations are
not assigned, but regularly co-ordinated for two
seasons each year. All attempts to plan frequencies
for broadcasting since the discovery of the shortwave
spectrum in the 1920s failed and conditions for
reception were near chaotic almost throughout the
entire twentieth century. This has changed in the
last decade and a system is now in place designed
for an efficient and economical use of the spectrum
and the improvement of reception of shortwave
broadcasting world-wide.
Co-ordination methods were started by broadcasters
with support from the broadcasting unions. The
International Telecommunication Union (ITU). set
up a special task group that studied the emerging
co-ordination procedures in the 1990s and concluded
that the system should become an integral part of
shortwave spectrum management. The principles were
incorporated in Article 12 of the International
Radio Regulations in 1997.
At present a single global seasonal database of
frequency requirements is kept by the secretariat
of the High Frequency Co-ordination Conference for
each of the two seasons of the year. There is an
on-line upload application available and all
participants are requested to update any frequency
changes between seasonal conferences. The
application and automatic processing software
notifies all participants, not only on the
entered changes, but also on the possible collisions
or incompatibilities that may have resulted from the
submissions.
A completely new database of frequency requirements
for the broadcasting season from March 30th to
October 26th 2008 will be on the agenda of the
Kuala Lumpur Conference. During that week, the
delegates will try to resolve many of the potential
interference problems likely to affect shortwave
transmissions in the "A08" joint global broadcasting
schedule. This means that listeners will be able to
tune into their favourite shortwave radio station
with a substantially reduced number of cases of
mutual interference.