You may remember some time ago now, about the problems
some breakers were having with local church broadcasts? The B.C.B.C. took this
problem to the Radiocommunications Agency and asked what could be done to
relieve this situation.
Both parties thought that the basic idea
of allowing those who could not attend their local church to listen in to a
service was an excellent idea as it really did lend itself to true community
radio. However, because the Church was initially given bad advice from a
supplier it caused severe problems to other CBers; and because of this initial
bad advice we thought it only right that we should intervene.
Therefore, on March 31st the
Minister of State for Small Business and E Commerce, Patricia Hewitt MP
announced that the Radiocommunications Agency would introduce a new radio
service authorising the transmission of speech messages for religious observance
purposes on 3 April 2000.
The new service, which is open to all
religious groups, will permit On-site Private Business Radio licensees to
transmit speech messages of a religious nature for periods of up to 10 minutes.
This will allow users to transmit "call to prayer" messages and
standard short prayers, but prohibit the transmission of longer weekly services
and those on special occasions.
New frequencies in the 454 MHz band have
been made available for the service. This will alleviate frequency assignment
problems, as up to now religious observance systems have had to share
frequencies with wide area paging systems.
Commenting on the new service Patricia
Hewitt stated "the On-site Religious Observance Radio service will provide
a dedicated radio service for religious groups with a clear set of guidelines
covering its use. The use of new channels will ease assignment problems in
congested areas and the use of speech equipment significantly reduce
licensees’ equipment costs".
The On-site Religious Observance Radio
service, which will be introduced on 3 April 2000, will permit the transmission
of short messages for religious observance and "call to prayer"
purposes. It will be open to all religious groups.
The service will permit
one-way speech messages (from base stations to mobile receivers) for periods of
up to 10 minutes. Follow-on messages, however, must not take place until a
period four times the duration of the preceding message has elapsed i.e. after a
3-minute message, a follow-on message cannot take place until 12 minutes later.
The permitted coverage area for the
service will normally be up to 3 km from the base station, but wider coverage
areas will be considered. Dedicated channels for this service will be in the 454
MHz band (454.39375 MHz, 454.40625 MHz, 454.79375 MHz and 454.80625 MHz). These
channels are subject to UHF 2 band replanning and are expected to change in
2005. Users of the channels should either ensure that their radio systems can be
adjusted to cover the full range of the 450-470 MHz band, or be prepared to
replace or cease using their systems when the change takes place. Equipment must
be type approved to MPT 1326 or ETS 300 086.
Religious observance systems will be
licensed by the On-site PBR licence. On-site PBR licence fees will apply.
The licensing
of religious observance systems under the Private Wide Area Paging (PWAP)
licence
In 1987, the Radiocommunications
Division, as was, authorised the use of PWAP systems for "call to
prayer" purposes. Although the PWAP licence is principally for paging use,
it also authorises the transmission of speech messages, which were used for
"call to prayer" messages.
Since 1987 practices have developed
amongst "call to prayer" licensees, to transmit short daily prayers
and longer weekly and other special services, in addition to "call to
prayer" messages. The transmission of these longer services should not be
carried out under the PWAP licence, but be licensed and regulated by the Radio
Authority (the body responsible for authorising broadcast services within
dedicated broadcast spectrum). To this end, the Agency is introducing the
On-site Religious Observance Radio service (for the transmission of "call
to prayer" messages and short prayers) and from 30 June 2000, closing the
PWAP service to new "call to prayer" systems. PWAP "call to
prayer" systems licensed before the closure date will be allowed to
continue with current practices.
Advantages of
the On-site Religious Observance Radio service over PWAP