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Annual Report and Accounts 2000-2001 |
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To ensure compliance with spectrum management requirements imposed for the benefit of all radio users in order to keep the spectrum clear of undue interference, including by:
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Compliance with licence conditions is essential if interference between radio users is to be avoided. Therefore, in order to achieve its aim of providing customers with quality radio spectrum, the Agency carries out conformity checks on radio installations. In accordance with the Agency's policy of consulting its customers about their problems, Agency staff will always attempt to resolve any discrepancy found by offering advice, before taking enforcement action.
The Agency has now been a signatory to the Concordat, a Government initiative to improve regulatory services to business, for two years. An audit of our performance against the Concordat during the past year has shown that customers continue to feel that the Agency acts in a proportionate manner, that staff explain why remedial work is necessary and allow a reasonable period of time for it to be completed.
The Agency's priorities are set by Ministers. These are: to respond to all safety of life complaints within 24 hours, to 98% of business complaints within one week and to 98% of domestic reception complaints within one month. For the latter two categories remaining complaints are to be dealt with within a further five days and one month respectively. In 2000/2001 all targets were met except for one case in the secondary business category.
For business users of radio who are unable to resolve interference generated within their own systems, the Agency will investigate and advise on a repayment basis. During the financial year this service was used by 62 businesses.
Many domestic television and radio interference problems lie outside the Agency's statutory responsibilities and should be dealt with by private sector service engineers, dealers and aerial contractors. This type of case usually occurs when a radio or television has poor immunity to unwanted signals, or inadequate aerial arrangements, rather than being caused by interference from illegal use of radio or faulty electrical apparatus. In certain circumstances, however, the Agency can investigate domestic interference problems. If, for example, a suspected source of interference is identified it can be checked free of charge as part of the Agency's regulatory work. If the private sector cannot resolve the problem, householders can ask the Agency to check their own receiving equipment. There is a flat rate charge for this service (£45 during 2000/01) because it does not form part of the Agency's regulatory duties. Details of the number of cases reported in the financial year can be found in Table 6.1.
During the year, an Agency working party has been reviewing this service. It proposed that, with effect from 1 April 2001, the Agency should accept all complaints about TV or radio reception, subject to certain basic conditions having been met, such as the installation of a satisfactory aerial. A charge will only be payable if, following investigation, the cause of the problem is found to be within the householder's own installation. The flat rate charge for this service will be £50. These proposals were agreed by DTI Ministers and were reported to Parliament by Patricia Hewitt MP in answer to a Parliamentary Question on 22 March 2001. The revised procedure is detailed in the Agency's leaflet RA 179: Television and Radio Interference.
| PERIOD | APR-JUN 2000 |
JUL-SEP 2000 |
OCT-DEC 2000 |
JAN-MAR 2001 |
TOTAL 2000/2001 |
| Number of reports |
742
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852
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661
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1033
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3288
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| Number of
paid cases (£45 flat charge) |
76
|
71
|
68
|
106
|
321
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Then in 1995 I was promoted, and joined the Amateur and CB section. This was a big change, as previously I'd been dealing with business, and the change to dealing with hobby radio users gave me a completely different perspective on the Agency's work. One of my main jobs was managing the contract with the company that handled all the Amateur and CB licensing - trying to get it running as smoothly as possible, and helping to sort out problems for our licensees. During this time I developed my understanding of the customer group and their concerns, while representing the Agency at Amateur and CB events, and for the last 18 months I've been dealing with Amateur and CB policy matters, on temporary promotion. |
Those who illegally use radio equipment commit a criminal offence. The availability of a criminal sanction is necessary to protect authorised radio users, especially those providing essential services. It is therefore Agency policy to prosecute those who deliberately misuse radio, such as pirate radio stations, or persistently operate outside licence conditions. In other cases the Agency may administer a formal caution if the offender admits the offence, which can be cited in court if the offender re-offends within five years. Equipment used by pirate radio stations was seized by Agency staff on 1462 occasions during the year. As a result of prosecutions brought by the Agency, two persons involved with a pirate radio station causing interference to aeronautical radio communications were sent to prison for six months and four months respectively. Details of prosecutions, cautions and warnings given can be found at Table 6.2 below.
| PROSECUTIONS | ||||||||||
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CATEGORIES
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Number of Persons Prosecuted | Number of Persons Convicted | Total of Fines Imposed (£) | Total of Costs Awarded (£) | Number of Forfeiture Orders | Number of Conditional Discharges | Number of Absolute Discharges | Number of Admonishments (Scotland) | Official Cautions | Warning Letters Sent |
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CB AM |
11
|
11
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2350
|
684
|
7
|
3
|
-
|
1
|
4
|
15
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| CB FM |
16
|
16
|
1280
|
1878
|
9
|
5
|
-
|
-
|
8
|
4
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| Unlicensed Broadcasters on Radio |
39
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39 (1)
|
11190
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13975
|
-
|
8
|
-
|
-
|
2
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8 (3)
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| Cordless Telephones |
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
| PMR |
4
|
4
|
550
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2125
|
3
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
19
|
7
|
| Amateur |
3
|
3
|
50
|
150
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
1
|
2
|
| Marine |
3
|
3
|
300
|
300
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
3
|
-
|
| 6.6 MHz |
2
|
2
|
-
|
100
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2
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
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| Others |
6
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6 (4)
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450
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1210
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6
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4
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-
|
1
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4 (5)
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6 (2)
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| Total |
84
|
84
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16170
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20422
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28
|
21
|
-
|
2
|
41
|
46
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| 1. |
One person a month's probation; two persons imprisoned - four and six month terms. One term of 120 hours community service. |
| 2. | Counterfeit GSM phone and low power alarm. |
| 3. | Advertisers on UBRs. |
| 4. | One for a bookmaker at Cheltenham using police frequencies and five low power devices offences. |
| 5. | EPIRB, JMFG and short range device investigations. |
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The monitoring section's primary aim is to contribute to the spectrum management process by the timely provision of spectrum monitoring services to the Agency and to its external customers. In so doing, the monitoring section helps prevent undue interference occurring whenever possible and is in a position to resolve quickly those cases of interference that do occur. The section is based at the monitoring station near Baldock in Hertfordshire and its work is split between on-site monitoring and field monitoring activities remote from Baldock.
This comprises terrestrial and satellite monitoring facilities. The Terrestrial Monitoring Unit is manned on a 24-hour basis and is the Agency's central point of contact for the emergency services outside normal working hours. During the year 940 reports of interference were received both from users, including the emergency services, in the United Kingdom and from other administrations throughout the world. In every case the target time set by Ministers for dealing with such cases was met or surpassed.
The Unit is also responsible for contacting the Agency's field staff in cases of interference to emergency services out of normal hours. Temporary earth station clearance requests are normally processed at the Agency's London headquarters but those received outside normal working hours, normally as a consequence of a late breaking or weekend news story, are dealt with by the Unit. 8,280 clearances were processed during the year and the total continues to rise year on year.
Although the prime role of the Terrestrial Monitoring Station has traditionally been concentrated in the LF/MF/HF arenas with limited on-site VHF and UHF monitoring facilities, the first phase of a five year programme is now advancing in order to provide a network of remotely controlled V/UHF receivers located throughout the United Kingdom. These can be used to help in the location and elimination of harmful interference and they will not only be used by the Unit at Baldock, but will also be available to the field engineers in order to help them resolve interference reported directly to the Agency's regional offices more quickly.
The Satellite Monitoring Unit continues to be available to take measurements and observations on the use of the geo-stationary arc by communications and broadcast satellites. Information on transponder occupancy and orbital arc occupancy can be collected to enable interference and conflicts between shared users of this part of the spectrum to be resolved quickly and satisfactorily.
The facility is fully automated and remotely controlled via fibre optics from the main operations room. It is equipped with two fully steerable large parabolic reflectors for use in the Ku and C frequency bands and a smaller 1.8m antenna for the L band. During this year, the monitoring section has been participating within CEPT to investigate the possibility of rationalising and centralising such costly satellite monitoring assets, in order to ensure efficient and more strategic use on a Europe-wide basis.
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This covers the disciplines of spectrum monitoring and measurement at potentially any location in the United Kingdom. The work has two strands: i) reactive interference investigation and regulatory measurement work in support of regional offices or enforcement action, and ii) spectrum monitoring and measurement work in support of licensing sections. Three field teams are now in place operating specialist mobile laboratories and calibrated test equipment, accredited to UKAS standards. These laboratories are equipped to deal with complex measurement and interference work across the whole radio spectrum. They perform many roles including acting in support of the Agency's regional field staff in technically complex interference cases, particularly in the higher frequency ranges, as they are equipped with measurement and monitoring equipment up to 110 GHz. Other tasks include work carried out on a repayment basis for industry such as the radio surveying of new permanent earth station locations.
One
strategic area of support offered by the field monitoring facilities to the
Agency's policy makers and spectrum planners
is that of systematic monitoring of usage of all bands on a national basis.
This on-going programme contributes towards future decisions on frequency allocation
and assignment and supports the setting of costs for Spectrum Pricing. Three
repayment cases were under-taken in this report period.
The emphasis of the work of the Unit has gradually shifted from manned manual and computer assisted monitoring towards the use of fully automatic equipment. This year has seen the further development and deployment of twenty unattended monitoring system (UMS) units which are totally self-contained and portable and which can be placed quickly in an urban area in order to assess channel occupancy and so aid future assignments.
The data generated by these UMSs is now available online to the field engineers throughout the United Kingdom and to the headquarters licensing sections in order to help them in their daily work of frequency assignment and interference resolution.
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1996 Incentive Spectrum Pricing: A revolution in spectrum management
Licence fees had since 1904 been based on recovering the Agency's costs, without regard to the value of the spectrum. Consultation in 1994 revealed widespread agreement that the existing spectrum management regime should be reformed to allow licence fees to reflect the economic value of the radio spectrum, to make licence fees fairer for large as well as small businesses, and to provide an incentive for the more efficient use of spectrum. Work in 1995/6 on the possibilities for spectrum pricing led to the publication of the White Paper: Spectrum Management into the 21st Century, in June 1996. 86% of respondents to the White Paper favoured the introduction of spectrum pricing, and a team of RA staff started work on the legislation which would to enable us to implement the new proposals. This came into force as the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1998 in July 1998. Since then there have been three waves of spectrum pricing, affecting different licensing sectors. The latest of these is described in Objective 1 of this Report. |
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Following the publication in May 2000 of the report by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, the Government asked RA to undertake an audit of cellular base stations.
The aim of the audit is to measure emissions from cellular base stations in order to determine that exposures are below guideline levels. The guidelines used are the non-occupational maximum exposure levels set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
The initial focus of the audit is base stations located on school sites; all schools in the UK were asked to register with the RA if they wished to be considered for inclusion in the audit. Schools registered by submitting an online registration form on the RA website.
An automated measurement system was developed by Radio Spectrum International and tested at the Baldock Monitoring Station. The audit programme began in December 2000; initial surveys were completed by mobile monitoring teams at Baldock before being extended across the country.
After
each survey is completed the school is given a report of the results and this
is also published on the RA website. By the end of March 2000 13 surveys had
been completed with all measurements significantly below the ICNIRP
guidelines. When about 100 surveys have been completed the results will
be analysed and a decision will be taken on how to progress the audit.
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I
joined the Radiocommunications Division,
as it then was, in 1985 from my previous job in the DTI South-East regional
office. I stayed in the Private Mobile Radio section,
dealing with licensing casework, for 8 years, before moving into the area
of standards
and type approval, where I got involved with committee work and developed
a database for the section.