Radio mics have been used in NZ for many years and are an integral and fast growing industry. Radio mics are used in large numbers every day by a diverse range of users such as Church leaders, school productions, gyms, Universities, bands, local theatre productions, rock concerts, news crews, location recordings, news gathering, weddings, hire companies and even in parliament!
In terms of economics, there are many New Zealanders that rely on their radio mics to earn a living. Imagine stage shows run with wired mics (some use 40 mics +) or the Americas cup with wires trailing in the sea or a gym instructor having to yell all day just to be heard.. How about the Rugby World Cup without wireless mic links?
The reality is that for a number of users, this is going to be the case if we are not included inthe Governments radio spectrum plan.

Our current RF 'playground' exists in the 646-806 MHz band and is managed by the General User Service Licence (GUSL), a part of the Radio Communications Act 1989 which, in essence, allows anyone with a radio microphone which operates within the 646-806 MHz band to do so freely providing no interference is caused to existing, licensed users within the same band. In addition, unlike the setup in the UK, radio mic users in New Zealand are not required or even permitted to obtain a license for exclusive use of any particular part of the 646-806 MHz band - we're free to self-manage our radio mics between ourselves. Only broadcasters can license any RF spectrum within the GUSL and they do so for analogue TV broadcasting.

The first major 'intrusion' into our airspace came about with the beginning of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting which began in Wellington in early 2008. DTT signals occupy significantly wider blocks of the RF spectrum unlike the old analogue transmissions which still left us plenty of 'spaces' in which to run our radio mics. With the push towards an end to analogue TV broadcasting, scheduled for 2015, the pace has been growing to establish nationwide coverage of the population with DTT broadcasting. In order to do this, the Government is licensing different blocks of RF spectrum in different localities to provide as wide a DTT footprint as possible.

All this means that as DTT pushes ahead in readiness for the shutdown of the ananlogue transmitters, 8MHz-wide blocks of the RF spectrum within 646-806MHz are becoming completely unuseable for radio mics - and depending on where you're trying to use your mics, those 8MHz blocks are different.

At the point where Digital Switch Over (DSO) occurs (the Government have to cover 75% of the country before this can happen) the analoge transmission towers will be decomissioned and they will no longer take up any of the RF spectrum - this 'freeing-up' of spectrum is referred to as the Digital Dividend and is anticipated after 2015.

Now that seems a few years away, unfortunately, major infrastructure changes like the switch from analogue-to-digital television take years of planning and so there is some urgency in the radio mic users community to ensure that our needs are catered for in future years.

Following the formation of WUNZ, the commitee drafted and submitted a proposal to the RSM (Radio Spectrum Management) department at the Ministry Of Economic Development. We raised our concerns and made proposals for changes to the GUSL. In summary, we asked for new areas of the rf spectrum to be opened-up for radio mic use and an increase in the maximum permitted transmitter power for radio mic devices. We asked for access to 518-582 MHz and 616-646 MHz IN ADDITION to our existing rights within 646-806 MHz. We also requested transmitter output limits to be raised from 10mW to 500mW.

To date, while we have no written confirmation, we have been assured that our requested have been granted.

More recently, a more troublesome development has cast a shadow over the RF spectrum. Vodafone and Telecom have both submitted proposals to licence significant portions of the spectrum currently used by analogue TV channels. In a move which echoes the recent chaos seen by radio mic users in the US, it's looking like whatver gains we may have made by accessing additional spectrum may be insignificant compared to the impact of the telcos buying the space they want. In a recent meeting to discuss the RSM scoping document 'THE DIGITAL DIVIDEND IN NEW ZEALAND' it was apparent the Vodafone and Telcom are eyeing-up around 100MHz of the old analoge TV broadcast spectrum - the entire 700-800 MHz band!! With DTT occupying 500-700 MHz, there is a real possibilty that reliable radio microphone usage will become a thing of the past.

What we need is a provision to be made to give us some free spectrum, preferably for our exclusive use but if not, at least a band with sufficient clear space to allow us to run those big shows.
Take into consideration the possible impact of not giving us due consideration in the spectrum allocation with for example the Film industry not being able to complete productions due to interference hassles. Eventually, this could prove to make things too difficult and drive the industry out of NZ.
As some real examples, many users currently operate in the 700-800MHz band and if this band goes to the Telcos, it will wipe out these mics overnight..
So the issues we want the MED to consider are:
1. How will you handle the issue of legacy products in the 700-800MHz band?
2. Radio mics will need space to operate in, no matter where we end up. Ideally we need 100MHz of clear space in the current Radio Mic manufactured bands, to operate large shows.
3. We need to get some firm indication of what will happen and plenty of time to allow users to change to new equipment if and as required.
In addition, if the planned scenario goes ahead in Auckland (22 channels of DTV) there will be NO space left for anyone..
Blah blah blah….. give us some spectrum……..please!