Facts about HFCC & History
HFCC co-ordinates frequency channels used in short wave broadcasting. Its history started in 1990 when broadcasters, and also some representatives of administrations from both sides of the former Iron Curtain, met for the first time in Pamporovo, Bulgaria with the aim of establishing co-operation in that sphere.
The main objective of the HFCC is to provide the representation and services for the promotion of an efficient and economical use of the short-wave radio spectrum, and the improvement of radio reception of short-wave broadcast transmissions world-wide. The progressive reduction of short-wave transmitter powers, leading to savings in both transmitter and energy costs and a consequent limitation of the impact of high level electromagnetic fields on the world environment is another important objective of the HFCC.
HFCC's main activity is a direct co-ordination of frequencies among frequency managers and specialists of broadcasters, administrations, transmission service providers and other organisations with the aim to facilitate the resolution or minimisation of mutual interference on short waves. HFCC co-ordinates two schedules annually: The "A" schedule corresponds to the summer period on the Northern hemisphere and "B" to the winter period in keeping with the dates of the clock-time changes in Europe.
Membership of the HFCC is open to all individuals and organisations that provide frequency management and planning for recognised short wave broadcasters. Those wishing to attend are first invited as observers to a seasonal conference. Membership is extended to observers at the conclusion of the meeting.
HFCC is a legal entity registered as a civic association in the Czech Republic.
HFCC is a sector member of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva in the category of international and regional organisations. In addition, the HFCC is registered as a regional co-ordination group with the ITU.
The HFCC started co-ordination with the aim of helping the International Telecommunication Union develop an effective system of frequency management for international shortwave broadcasting. All attempts to introduce planning in that part of the spectrum made through the decades since the discovery of shortwaves failed mainly because of ideological conflicts and overcrowding.
The ITU devoted full attention to the emerging co-ordination group and a special task group had been set up by the Radiocommuniation Assembly of the ITU in 1993 to study the co-ordination procedures developed in the HFCC. The task group completed its work in November 1996. The report concluded that: ".. co-ordination process used in HFCC has resulted in a significantly reduced number of incompatibilities. A pattern of frequency usage has evolved which only varies slowly with changes in propagation and programme requirements. This pattern of usage gives frequency continuity which is appreciated by the listeners and greatly simplifies the frequency solution and co-ordination processes." The task group of the ITU recommended further in 1996 that the procedures developed by the HFCC should become an integral part of the shortwave frequency management. The principles of co-ordination were incorporated into the International Radio Regulations during the 1997 World Radio Conference.
The new article in the International Radio Regulations anticipated the creation of several regional co-ordination groups but it did not define co-ordination procedures among them. The HFCC understood that shortwave co-ordination had to be global and it helped create a sister group in the Asia - Pacific region even before the new Article 12 was introduced into the Regulations. This new ABU-HFC group has been active since 1996, and it is closely associated with the headquarters of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union in Kuala Lumpur. It started using software and procedures developed by the HFCC, and its members started submitting their frequency requirements into the global HFCC database. A representative of the ABU countries was later invited to the regular Steering Board meetings.
An important niche in the history of the HFCC was reached in 1998: Short wave broadcasters in member countries of the Arab States Broadcasting Union decided that they would join the co-ordination activities organised by the HFCC. Since then, the HFCC and ASBU have held joint conferences both before the "A" and "B" seasons, and two representatives of the ASBU countries have permanent seats on the Steering Board. In addition, joint face-to-face conferences of participants from all three groups including the Asia-Pacific region have been held from time to time. An agreement on holding regular "global" conferences annually always before the "A" season was reached in 2008.
Read also about Conferences and On-line Co-ordination >>
What's New
[26-Jan-2012] - A12 and B11 snapshots
[26-Jan-2012] - A12KL GOE Report
[26-Jan-2012] - Major update of the Contact List
[25-Jan-2012] - A12 Plenary Minutes
[23-Jan-2012] - Two new documents on the Page of the A12 Meeting
[22-Jan-2012] - Work on Contact List in progress, updated List should be available in the middle of the week.
[20-Jan-2012] - A12 Co-ordinated Data (results of the A12 Conference) snapshot
[12-Jan-2012] - New documents and presentations on the Page of the A12 Meeting (more will follow)
[2-Jan-2012] - A12 and B11 snapshots
[30-Dec-2011] - Updated registration list on the Page of the A12 Meeting
[27-Dec-2011] - Two new items on the Page of the A12 Meeting
[15-Dec-2011] - Snapshot of A12 Tentative Data. Old data of season A11 (or B11) have been uploaded for FMOs that did not submit A12 requirements yet. These old data will be deleted from the database again unless the responsible FMOs re-upload or update their entries before 8 January 2012.
[30-Nov-2011] - A12 upload opened; B11 snapshot
[21-Nov-2011] - A12 KL Hotel Booking Form
[16-Nov-2011] - A12 KL Invitation Letter and Registration Form
[14-Nov-2011] - Report of the GoE Meeting in the Members Area
[11-Nov-2011] - A12 KL, 9-13 JANUARY 2012: Minutes of the preparatory meeting in the Members Area. Deadline for tentative data: 14 December. A11 upload will be closed soon and A12 upload will be opened by the end of the month
[11-Nov-2011] - WPLOT2000EX Video Course in the Software section of the Members Area
[1-Nov-2011] - B11 and A11 snapshots; requirements of Spaceline Ltd. now under FMO code "SPC"
[17-Oct-2011] - More news items on the newly created Content Delivery Debate page
[12-Oct-2011] - B11 Plenary Minutes
[8-Oct-2011] - B11 Operational Data snapshot as of 7 October
[3-Oct-2011] - Contact List Update
[3-Oct-2011] - A number of presentations, remarks and reports were added to the page of the B11 Conference last week
[22-Sep-2011] - B11 Co-ordinated Data snapshot
[15-Sep-2011] - Thursday, 22 September, 1200 UTC - deadline for any updates to be included in B11 "co-ordinated data" (result of the Dallas conference). 7 October 2011: deadline for the B11 Operational Schedule
[14-Sep-2011] - Requirements of Spaceline LTD entered under provisional FMO code "NEW"
[3-Sep-2011] - B11 Collisions experimentally recalculated for SSN values from updated ITU table, the automated system continues with the original values.
[2-Sep-2011] - B11 and A11 snapshots; re-calculation with updated SSN values is in progress
[1-Sep-2011] - New version of the collision detection system: speeds up the calculation and resolves delays in upload of collision files that appeared recently due to problems with FTP transfers.
[26-Aug-2011] - Another snapshot of B11 data planned for the second half of the next week (Thursday). Collisions will be possibly re-calculated for updated SSN prediction.
[18-Aug-2011] - Snapshot of B11 Tentative Data. Old data of season B10 (or A11) have been uploaded for FMOs that did not submit B11 requirements yet. These old data will be deleted from the database again unless the responsible FMOs re-upload or update their entries before 11 September 2011.
[10-Aug-2011] - Updated conference registration list, info on transportation from the airport - see the page of the B11 Conference
[28-Jul-2011] - Updated reference tables Site and Antenna may need to be loaded in your software (e.g. Wplot2000ex) from the ITU site
[14-Jul-2011] - List of registered participants on the page of the B11 Conference
[7-Jul-2011] - Contact List update
[1-Jul-2011] - B11 upload opened, A11 snapshot
[29-Jun-2011] - B11 visa reminder on the B11 conference webpage
[24-Jun-2011] - GOE report and documents by Norbert Schall in members' area. B11 upload will be opened at the end of the next week.
[23-Jun-2011] - Draft Minutes of SB meeting (B11 preparatory) in members' area
[7-Apr-2011] - A11 snapshot; B10 upload will be closed in about a week
[14-Mar-2011] - A11 snapshot
[10-Mar-2011] - Contact List update
[3-Mar-2011] - Draft Minutes of A11 Plenary
[23-Feb-2011] - A11 and B10 snapshots
[17-Feb-2011] - Documnent on ITU Forum on PLT Technical Compatibility in the Projects/Links page
[15-Feb-2011] - Page of the B11 Conference
[4-Feb-2011] - Info on airport-hotel transportation added to the A11 Prague Conference webpage (will be updated further)
[31-Jan-2011] - List of A11 Hotel Bookings and some info on money exchange added to the A11 Prague Conference webpage
[28-Jan-2011] - A11 initial tentative data snapshot
[27-Jan-2011] - Update of the A11 Prague Conference webpage
[26-Jan-2011] - A11 PRAGUE CONFERENCE - HOTEL CONTRACT SIGNED, REGISTRATION OPEN
[18-Jan-2011] - Due to the situation in Tunisia it has been decided to move the conference venue from Tunis to Prague
[23-Dec-2010] - Letter of invitation to the A11 Conference has been received.
[22-Dec-2010] - A11 upload opened; upgrade of the uplad application; B10 snapshot
[22-Dec-2010] - EBU document on PLT in the Projects/Links page
[20-Dec-2010] - Minutes of December 2010 SB meeting
[14-Dec-2010] - Contact List update
[09-Dec-2010] - B10 data snapshot
[22-Nov-2010] - A11 dates and venue have been confirmed: February 14th to 18th 2011, Tunisia (Tunis or Hammamet, Tunis is confirmed to be the flight destination in both cases.)
[02-Nov-2010] - B10 snapshot; B10 Public Data
[07-Oct-2010] - B10 Operational Data and A10 Updated Operational Data snapshots. Next B10 snapshot planned for 2 November.
[29-Sep-2010] - Report RGOE (Group of Experts) B10 Switzerland
[15-Sep-2010] - B10 snapshot. Deadline for B10 Operational Data snapshot: Wednesday, 6 October 2010.
[2-Sep-2010] - B10 and A10 snapshots. Next B10 snapshot preliminarily planned for 15 September.
[17-Aug-2010] - B10 Plenary draft minutes
[11-Aug-2010] - B10 Co-ordinated schedule snapshot