Secretary’s Report: It has been an advantage having the President residing in the same town as it allows face to face contact rather than relying on just phone calls. This makes for easier discussions and decisions etc.

Secretary’s Report. Has been a great help in the New Plymouth area, also passes on any relevant information as soon as he has received it as this has allowed CBRANZ to take appropriate action or have discussions with RFS while any considered changes were still in the discussion or planning stages. . This has often been to the benefit of CRS operators .

Goals:: Assist Council to continue dealing with Parliament and RFS. To assist in getting RIs more legal power

and see that they carry out those duties, especially regarding illegal apparatus. Promote CBRANZ where possible, promote better communications and airwaves for all.

Work done: Answered all queries from non-affiliated operators, particularly those regarding the Web site. PROFILES cont. RO 1729

Since the Association has had the web site operating operators using ch 15 in this area have cleaned up their act. Kept digging for information to add to the history of NZ CB Clubs . Very slow going. Have attended all Council meetings.

Time to devote to CBRANZ work: 15 hours a week

Secretary’s report: Replies promptly to all RRs (meetings). Has been doing the history of CB, and CBRANZ. This very slow due to the lack of material coming to hand. An ongoing job. Am pleased with her efforts over the year.

2. To support CBRANZ in the promotion and use of CB and PRS radio throughout New Zealand. 3. To personally try to educate operators in the correct procedures and tp promote the use of CB and PRS in all avenues of use.

Part 2. I have endeavoured to support CBRANZ in all facets of its operations. I have supported and promoted CBRANZ to all interested parties at a local level and have been available to all to assist in any way I could.

Hours per month for CBRANZ work; As necessary

Secretary Report: Been a good asset to Council. Replied to all RRs promptly. Has good ideas and comments.

Question 1 of nominee form, Aims: . To make CB/ PRS operators and club members aware of changers made to the Radio Regulations etc relating to CRS 2. To promote CBRANZ to the fullest. 3. I intend to do the job of Councillor to the best of my ability and make sure all club members I can reach are informed on all matters relating to operating on the CRS frequencies.

Question 2 Intentions:. Help CBRANZ fundraising. Go to other club’s meetings so as to be available to answer any queries on CBRANZ etc when required. Endeavour to get new CBRANZ members

Hours for CBRANZ work per month. As much as may be required.

Remit One

Australia has now approved the legal use of Continuous Tone Coded Squelch Systems (CTCSS) and Telemetry and Telecommand Systems (T&T). This means any UHF CB set with these systems installed and activated are certified as being legal for use on the Australian UHF CB Service. Also the Australian CRS Class Licence has been amended to allow these systems, this making the use of sets equipped with these systems being approved for use on their UHF CB frequencies. This was amendment was carried through in spite of

over 80% of Australian operators being completely against the introduction.

The NZ Radio Spectrum Management Group (RSMG), have since May 1994, has automatically approved sets approved by the Australian Communication Authority (ACS) (their Controlling Authority), for legal use on our PRS frequencies. At this moment in time RSMG have not approved any enabled CTCSS sets for legal use on PRS frequencies. There are CTCSS fitted sets in NZ and are approved for use on PRS frequencies as long as the CTCSS is not enabled. At present our General Licence does not allow it. (Have it enabled and use it then you can be prosecuted for operating without a licence).

The Australian Communication Authority has placed Radio Spectrum Management Group (RSMG) (was RFS) and New Zealand operators in a very difficult position. If we follow Australia in approving sets equipped with CTCSS and T&T, our General Licence at present does not permit these systems to use these systems on our CRS but that doesn’t mean that some persons/businesses/manufacturers will not bring pressure to bear for the RSMG to amend the General Licence to allow their use here.

What is CTCSS? Is it the same as Selcall already used legally here?? It isn’t, there is a huge difference.

REMIT 1. CTCSS/T&T CONT.

What is Telemetry and Telecommand System. The following should clear this up what these systems are.

1. Selcall: (some sets have had this as standard and are legal to use here if operated as set out in the General Licence). This allows your radio to operate in the muted position. While muted no other traffic is heard but on the set receiving a Selcall tone that corresponds with the set ident. This breaks the squelch and you hear the selcall tones indicating a station is calling you specifically. You then un-mute your radio and take the call normally. Sets fitted with this are legal and the use of the tones are covered by the PRS General Licence

("where the type of information to be transmitted is other than speech telephony the duration of any such transmission shall not exceed 3 seconds in any 60 second interval except operating through a repeater.")

2. Continuous Tone Coded Squelch Systems: The only similarity with Selcall is both use tones BUT CTCSS uses sub-audible tone(s). The tones are not transmitted until the microphone button is pressed, sinilar to Selcall BUT with CTCSS, the sub audible tone(s) is/are transmitted continuously along with voice audio. An enabled CTCSS radio will ignore any signals that doesn’t have the correct CTCSS tone(s). If an enabled CTCSS radio transmits to another enabled CTCSS station programmed with the same sub-audible tones, it will open up the squelch of receiving radio(s) as soon as they transmit and visa versa, but will not open the squelch of sets using another tone. ( You may be wondering why enabled is used so much. CTCSS equipped sets can have the CTCSS enabled or disabled by the operator by pressing a buttons or 2 buttons on the set,

this allowing the sets to be used with CTCSS or as a standard set).

Once a enabled CTCSS sets mike button is pressed (they don’t know if the channel is in use or not) and the tones are transmitted, if you are using a standard set, you become history as you can no longer be heard by your contact or anyone else until those sets clear the channel again. If another enabled CTCSS set with different tones is operating, the one trying to use the channel can’t, until the others go into the quiet mode.

Because NO transmissions can be heard by enabled CTCSS sets while in the quiet mode (standby), nor can anyone break in when they are transmitting (you can break in if you have a CTCSS set having the same tones) a fallacy has arisen that the channel they are sitting on is theirs alone and their transmissions can’t be heard. This assumption is completely WRONG! Anyone with a standard set can listen on that channel and hear all the conversations. The only trouble is you can’t break in and tell them to flutter off. Another CTCSS radio using the same sub-audible tone(s) can not only hear but can also break in. If you are holding a conversation using standard radios and a CTCSS accesses that channel using sub-audible tones to call another with the same tones, once

CTCSS can give the users complete isolation from traffic on any channel and gives an unfair advantage to certain types of persons. CTCSS will allow users to occupy a frequency in "private mode" as long as they like to hold the channel. Other users with standard sets will be precluded from that frequency. The users of CTCSS have in effect commandeered a frequency for as long as they wish.

Telemetry and Telecommand Systems: This is a system that allows users to remotely control the operation and function of equipment such as water pumps - electric fences - tabulating other data, etc, as may be required. In other words it can be used for many, many things, so you could kiss goodbye to any channels allocated for its use.

What are the disadvantages of CTCSS?? The big one. The more business that get talked into using CTCSS the less room there is going to be for persons with standard sets, clubs, community organisations, schools etc using the standard 16 channel sets for public and competitor safety, as well as for any urgent emegency help.

PRS has 40 channels, of these 1- 8 receive and 31- 38 transmit are reserved for repeaters. Look what can happen. Sets with 40 chs, and say 2 more channels are allocated to T&T, and 8 repeaters operating, the number of channels for simplex users is 22. These to be shared by both standard and CTCSS equipped sets. There are 50 different CTCSS tones, so 22 pairs of sets using 22 different sub-audible tones and using different channels could freeze out those wishing to use the channels using standard sets for any period of time and for as long as they choose to do so.

Must clubs throughout NZ use 16 channel sets, 8 of those channels are repeater channels so if we again take the preceding example (8 repeaters operating), these 16 ch standard sets will only have 8 channels to use. As can be seen it wouldn’t take many CTCSS sets to completely freeze out their communications.

That is the worst scenario but it must be remembered Auckland has up to 7 repeaters and the greatest density of operators and a huge amount of community work is also done there so is not far from the worst

REMIT CTCSS/T&T CONT

Disadvantages.

1. Once an enabled CTCSS set transmits, they shanghai the channel for as long as they want.

2. With a CTCSS transmission, although you can hear the conversation, nobody can break in except with a similar toned set.

3. No enabled CTCSS set will know if the channel is being used or is clear if other CTCSS sets are using it with different tones.

4. Enabled CTCSS sets, when they transmit their tones will over ride all transmitting standard sets.

5. Community clubs normally have 16 channel sets for their work. If too many enabled CTCSS sets mostly use from channel 9 to 16, community club transmissions will be frozen when using any channel used by CTCSS users. This would cut out the clubs - schools - or other organisations general transmissions or any priority transmissions relating to public or competitor safety.

6. Will definitely compromise public and competitor safety at many public and community events. 7. Could prevent urgent emergency help being obtained

8. Nothing to stop certain persons from eventually toning their set to any other persons or business tones. (Don’t say it won’t happen. You only have to try up to 50 tones, a piece of cake really).

9. Nothing to stop a person having a CTCSS set in standard mode from enabling the CTCSS and playing music by the hour

10. If we are expected to police ourselves and lack of official enforcement remains as at present, (predominately none), then in many areas PRS will become useless for the hobbyist and community group users.

REMIT 2

Preamble.

To begin with, this proposal is not presented with the intention that a "Branch" be established in an area where there is already an active club or group, but for the purpose of establishing a more public presence of CBRANZ itself in areas where:-

1. There is no active group but interested people.

2. Imminent collapse of club/group

3. Those members of a club/group wishing to continue their community activities but have lost the protection if Incorporation and Public Liability Insurance because club/group collapse. (A "safety net umbrella")

It is also considered as an opportunity for CBRANZ to present itself more publically on a national

REMIT 2. CONT.

scale, and at the same time gain individual members. However it is not expected that CBRANZ would be involved in the financial running of the branch but could possibly get some financial return from this.

On going consideration should also be given to establishing the Association’s PRS presence nationally because CB (26 Mhz) interest seems to be declining whereas PRS is being widely publicised by retailers etc, and is gaining rapidly in popularity. Therefore this could be the "added value" opportunity to follow up on its efforts which at least to some degree contributed to PRS being made available. It is considered, due to this rapid expansion, delaying any greater involvement could mean the difference in the level of the Association’s official recognition on PRS if that’s the direction in which it wishes to go, a course which seems to be most likely considering the interest shown in making representations regarding the possible use of CTCSS and data on PRS frequencies. CBRANZ is recognised as the "Official Voice" of CBers (on 26Mhz), the next step would therefore to become recognised likewise on the PRS (476Mhz) band for PRS users, by having an established Public presence throughout the Country under its own name.

Summarising : National Organisation (CBRANZ) operating nationally (CBRANZ - Rotorua /CBRANZ -Nelson/CBRANZ-Otago etc) [examples only] under its own name whenever it establishes a "Branch" and at the same time providing the support required to retain/regain an interest in the service by those who have lost or may lose it otherwise. The opportunity for wider Public awareness could be quite limitless dependant only on the imagination.

NOTE:

The Otago Club is already aware of a voluntary "non radio orientated " group in Southland (Invercargill) who are doing exactly what we and some other CB Clubs are doing. They have shown an interest regarding our operating methods/practices/equipment and policies. Should such groups expand into other areas the demise of CB Clubs/Groups providing these services could very well become a reality - these groups have no real interest in radio-communication as we know it, and are believed to have some business involvement in their Communication gear, including repeaters.

Otago Citizens Band Radio Club.