Conferences and On-line Co-ordination
The close co-operation of all participants from the very beginning and further improvements of working methods had shown that the management of all frequency requirements in one single, global database was realistic. At present about 85 percent of the overall amount of global shortwave frequency requirements used for broadcasting is kept in this database. The missing 15 percent comprises of some smaller stations in Africa and Latin America as well as of the stations in the so called tropical broadcasting zones that employ shortwave transmissions for local listeners and are not interested in international co-ordination.
Face-to-face conferences facilitate the resolution of thousands of frequency collisions that are detected in the schedules at the start of every season. Informal personal contacts are established and they are extremely useful for effective and amicable agreements on the resolution of incompatibilities. Unfortunately some parts of the shortwave spectrum are so overloaded that a complete solution of all problems during a conference is only rarely reached. This is one of the reasons why the co-ordination has to be ongoing.
Tools for ongoing co-ordination after - and during - the periods between conferences have been developed over the years. An automatic web-based system of processing and identification of collisions in seasonal databases is in place. It is located on the HFCC server and available to all co-ordinators. The results of the schedule updates and of new frequency submissions can be viewed by all as soon as each of a number of processing cycles is finished. An automated system checks for any changes or additions every ten minutes. If any changes or additions are detected, the processing then starts automatically, and amends the database as well as the lists of frequency incompatibilities or "collisions".
The ongoing, web-based processing is especially useful for the members in the Asia-Pacific region for example. They keep organising e-mail co-ordination only for the "B" seasons of the year and they can use the on-line system for the solution of frequency incompatibilities. The flexibility of this system is beneficial from yet another reason: The possibility of updating frequency schedules at any moment during a given season makes the existence of so-called "wooden", or reserve, frequencies that complicate co-ordination, completely unnecessary
Another co-ordination novelty that improved the accuracy of the frequency collision calculations was introduced in 2008. Software has been developed that is based on a direct comparison of signal-to-interference values calculated for every test point in each Ciraf zone of world broadcasting and for every hour of the transmission that is involved in a given frequency collision.
The severity of the collision is graded as a result of this. This can be useful during the the conferences for example, and co-ordinators are able to address the most important collisions first. The feedback has already indicated that the new method is capable of discovering hidden collisions undetected by the old system while some of the less severe collisions were left out.
What's New
[2-Sep-2010] - B10 and A10 snapshots. Next B10 snapshot preliminarily planned for 15 September. Deadline for B10 Operational Data snapshot: Wednesday, 6 October 2010.
[17-Aug-2010] - B10 Plenary draft minutes
[11-Aug-2010] - B10 Co-ordinated schedule snapshot
[6-Aug-2010] - Update of the B10 Conference page: presentation of Ludo Maes & Mireya Martinez, final list of participants
[3-Aug-2010] - Requirements with newly added Broadcaster and Site codes will be uploaded tomorrow morning. Please update reference tables in your software
[27-Jul-2010] - B10 snapshot
[16-Jul-2010] - Snapshot of initial B10 tentative data
[14-Jul-2010] - Updated list of B10 Conference participants
[14-Jul-2010] - Media Broadcast GmbH change their FMO code from DTK to MBR starting form B10
[8-Jul-2010] - New FAQ item on transportation in Zurich area at the end of the B10 Conference page
[7-Jul-2010, 13hrs UTC] - The on-line collision detection system is back in operation after a network connection problem
[6-Jul-2010] - Reminder of deadline for B10 tentative data: 15 July 2010
[26-Jun-2010] - Updated list of B10 Conference participants
[23-Jun-2010] - Upload application opened for B10 data
[18-Jun-2010] - Minutes of the June 2010 (B10 preparatory) SB meeting in the Members' area
[17-Jun-2010] - Updated FAQ on B10 Conference page
[30-May-2010] - B10 Conference Page updated with photos taken by Horst Scholz during his visit to Zuerich and more FAQ items
[14-May-2010] - Contact list updated with photos kindly collected by Hector
[14-May-2010] - FAQ added on the B10 Conference Webpage
[27-Apr-2010] - B10 Conference Webpage updated
[15-Apr-2010] - B10 Conference Page
[7-Apr-2010] - A10 Public Data
[31-Mar-2010] - Updating of collision lists will be interrupted for up to one week due to relocation of the HFCC office. The HFCC website, including on-line updating of requirements continues normal operation.
[16-Mar-2010] - A10 Operational Schedule (and B09 Updated Operational Schedule) snapshots
[3-Mar-2010] - A10 KL Minutes. Snapshot of A10 updated co-ordinated data. Deadline for A10 Operational Data: Monday, 15 March.
[23-Feb-2010] - Major update of the Contact List (data only, photos made by Hector in KL have not been received yet)
[19-Feb-2010] - Snapshot of A10 updated co-ordinated data.
[10-Feb-2010] - Snapshot of A10 co-ordinated data (results of the KL conference) and snapshot of B09 data. Next A10 snapshot preliminarily planned for Friday, 19 February.
[30-Jan-2010] - Updated List of registered participants of the A10 Conference
[29-Jan-2010]: The upload application will be closed in early morning UTC on Saturday due to the processing of the initial A10 conference data.
[29-Jan-2010]: A new LANGUAGE.TXT reference table based on ISO 639-3 has been available. You are invited to update your requirement files in keeping with this table. Don't worry - the updated requirements will not be re-numbered upon upload and will not show any changes in collisions as Language does not influence the technical specification of the transmission.
[29-Jan-2010]: Volunteers welcome: Help is needed in
- assisting participants who are new to the S/I collision lists (pls contact Gary)
- collecting updates and photos for the Contact List (pls contact Vladislav)
[26-Jan-2010] - Updated List of registered participants of the A10 Conference
[22-Jan-2010] - Updated List of registered participants of the A10 Conference
[20-Jan-2010] - Updated List of registered participants
[17-Jan-2010] - A re-designed version of this website has been started. Please report any problems.
[15-Jan-2010] - A10 Tentative Data and B09 Updated Operational Data snapshots
[14-Jan-2010] - List of registered participants of the A10 Conference
[15-Dec-2009] - A10 upload opened. 14 January 2010 - deadline for initial tentative data.
[15-Dec-2009] - B09 snapshot and collision detection system update: "self-collisions" of the same FMO are no longer displayed in keeping with the decision of the GOE.
[7-Dec-2009] - DRM Service ID list updated.
[26-Nov-2009] - B09 snapshot as of 25 November
[26-Nov-2009] - The latest DRM Service ID list. Please check the list - a few IDs still need to be adjusted. If needed, James Briggs can help with setting the service ID's up on DRM exciters, or providing suggestions for service ID's.
[10-Nov-2009] - Invitation to the EBU DRM conference. Minutes of the October 2009 SB meeting
[4-Nov-2009] - Non-technical Guide to the new S/I collision lists by Gary Stanley and Jan Peter Werkman linked from the B09 Data sections of the restricted areas.
[1-Nov-2009] - Invitation, Hotel Booking and Conference Registration on the Page of the A10 KL Global Meeting.
[27-Oct-2009] - B09 snapshot and B09 Public Data. Next B09 snapshot preliminarily planned for 26 November. A09 season has finished - please upload any remaining changes as the upload application will be closed for A09 uploads soon.
[6-Oct-2009] - Snapshots of B09 (operational schedule) and A09.
[30-Sep-2009] - Minutes of the B09 Punta Cana plenary in HFCC/ASBU Private Area
[23-Sep-2009] - B09 snapshot. Deadline for B09 operational data: 5 October.
[8-Sep-2009] - B09 snapshot. Next B09 snapshot planned for 23 September.
[31-Aug-2009] - Major update of the Contact List
[26-Aug-2009] - B09 and A09 snapshots. Next B09 snapshot planned for 8 September.