The Chair­man of IARU Region 3 direc­tors, Wis­nu Wid­ja­ja YBØAZ and the direc­tors Ken Yamamo­to, JA1CJP, Peter Young, VK3MV, Don Wal­lace, ZL2TLL, Jakkree Han­tongkom, HS1FVL, Mohd. Aris bin Bernawi, 9M2IR and the IARU Region 3 Sec­re­tary Shizuo Endo JE1MUI met on Zoom for their annu­al Direc­tors’ meet­ing on 1^st and 2^nd Octo­ber, 2020. They were par­tial­ly joined by IARU Pres­i­dent Tim Ellam VE6SH and Vice Pres­i­dent Ole Garpes­tad LA2RR.

This annu­al meet­ing has been orig­i­nal­ly planned to be held for the 1st to 3rd of Octo­ber 2020 in Thai­land. How­ev­er, the Coro­na virus pan­dem­ic forced us to change it to a vir­tu­al met­ing from an in-per­son meeting.

The direc­tors and sec­re­tary reviewed progress on tasks direct­ed and allo­cat­ed to them.

The finance sit­u­a­tion of the region was not­ed to be healthy and well with­in bud­gets set earlier.

Reports were received from the Chair­man, Direc­tors and the Sec­re­tary. They main­ly report­ed sub­jects on the respon­si­bil­i­ties allo­cat­ed to each of them.

Reports were also received from the Region 1 pres­i­dent, Region 2 sec­re­tary and the Region 3 com­mit­tee chair­men and coor­di­na­tors of Mon­i­tor­ing Sys­tem, Bea­con, Band­plan, Dis­as­ter Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, EMC & EMR, ARDF and Award manager.

Ver­bal report was also received from the IARU pres­i­dent. His report includ­ed top­ics about finan­cial sta­tus in IARU, the appoint­ment of assis­tant inter­na­tion­al sec­re­tary, IARU glob­al­iza­tion and pro­tec­tion of spec­trum for ama­teurs. He also point­ed out that the way in which some soci­eties oper­ate may need to adjust. The Region 1 report includes issues on pres­sures to ama­teur bands from com­mer­cial orga­ni­za­tions, future of ama­teur radio and IARU orga­ni­za­tion, youth activ­i­ties, admin­is­tra­tive issues in their region. The Region 2 report includes issues on work­shop relat­ed to emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions, future of IARU, youth activ­i­ties and band plan­ning to cope with the demand for dig­i­tal spectrum.

The fol­low­ing are major con­clu­sions of IARU Region 3 at this meeting.

• The finance sit­u­a­tion of the region is healthy and well with­in bud­gets set earlier.
• The issues of future of ama­teur radio and IARU orga­ni­za­tion struc­ture ini­ti­at­ed by IARU offi­cers are impor­tant to ama­teurs and soci­eties in Region 3.
• To retain ama­teur bands is essen­tial to ama­teur activ­i­ties. For this, each soci­ety is encour­aged to keep good con­tact with its administration.
• In attend­ing to APT Con­fer­ence Prepara­to­ry Group for WRC-23 (APG23) meet­ings, it is required to fol­low the IARU com­mon posi­tion autho­rized by the AC (Admin­is­tra­tive Council).
• It is rec­og­nized that the revi­sion of cur­rent R3 Band­plan is nec­es­sary to keep har­mo­niza­tion with those of oth­er regions, espe­cial­ly in 40 m band dig­i­tal modes.
  It is also rec­og­nized that to gath­er infor­ma­tion of 23 cm band sta­tus and usage is need­ed for WRC23 Agen­da Item 9.1b prepara­to­ry works.
• Some IARU Region 3 soci­eties have been inac­tive for the past some years and the Direc­tors should find pos­si­ble mea­sures to enable the ama­teurs in these coun­tries to be involved in IARU activities.
• Region 3 SET (Sim­u­lat­ed Emer­gency Test) should be set up as soon as pos­si­ble to prac­tice domestic/international emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tions. The details will be announced on the Region 3 web­site and sent to every soci­ety once all nec­es­sary doc­u­ments are completed.
• To respond to the Rec­om­men­da­tion adopt­ed at the last Region 3 Con­fer­ence, an intrud­er watch report form was draft­ed. The form will be post­ed to the Region 3 web­site and sent to Region 3 soci­eties once the form is completed.
• Region 3 YOTA pro­gram, which was sched­uled this Octo­ber in Thai­land was can­celled due to the Coro­na virus pan­dem­ic, is to be resched­uled in next year. How­ev­er, depend­ing on the Coro­na virus pan­dem­ic sit­u­a­tion, the pro­gram would be made via online rather than in person.
• Dis­cus­sion was made about how the 18^th Region 3 Con­fer­ence should be held. If hold­ing in-per­son Con­fer­ence is not appro­pri­ate due to the Coro­na virus pan­dem­ic, hold­ing of online Con­fer­ence should be con­sid­ered. Final deci­sion will be made by the end of March 2021 con­sid­er­ing the required advance notice date to the Region 3 soci­eties, and the IARU and oth­er Regions executives.
• Before the 18^th Region 3 Con­fer­ence, vir­tu­al Direc­tors’ meet­ings are planned for Decem­ber 20^th, 2020, Feb­ru­ary 28^th, 2021 and May 23^rd, 2021. Next annu­al Direc­tors’ meet­ing is planned for Octo­ber, 2021 in con­junc­tion with the Region 3 Conference.

Octo­ber 2^nd, 2020

Chair­man of IARU Region 3 direc­tors, Wis­nu Wid­ja­ja YBØAZ,

Sec­re­tary of IARU Region 3, Shizuo JE1MUI