State Headquarters :P.O. Box 349, Geelong, 3220, Victoria

Citizens Radio Emergency Service Teams, Australia Incorporated. (ABN: 25 467741738)

State Headquarters: P.O. Box 349, Geelong, 3220, Victoria. (24 Hour) Telephone No: 0409 949 372

Web Site: Email: [email protected]

14th March 2017 VC.43 Ch’s “VC.43 continuing to monitor the channels”.

CREST Australia Incorporated – National Director’s Submission re proposed changes to the Radio Communications (Citizens Band Radio Stations) Class Licence 2015.

Good morning. I apologise for the later submission of my thoughts at the National Executive Level of the Citizens Radio Emergency Service Teams, Australia Incorporated, however, I have been recovering from heart surgery which was very much needed. I trust I may be able to submit this report even though it may be a little late and still have it considered with other submissions that have no doubt been sent in.

I also point out that I have been a Citizens Band Radio Operator since 1977 and a general member of the CREST Victoria Incorporated (*then known as Victorian branch of CREST Australia Incorporated) from June 1981 for a further 3 years as a general monitor. I was then asked to step up with my back-ground experience as a qualified Victoria Police D24 Operator and take over the State Operations of CREST Victoria. I undertook these duties until 1993 when I was then asked to become the State Director for CREST Victoria Incorporated, which I accepted and then some four years ago, I was asked to re start the national body of CREST Australia Incorporated for the purpose of fund raising and membership advancement.

In all I have served CREST in Victoria and believed in CREST Australia wide for some almost 36 years.

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I note a number of suggestions being placed forward for the change to the Radiocommunications (Citizens Band Radio Stations) Class Licence 2015.

Firstly, I, as the National Director, CREST Australia Incorporated, can see no problems with the increase in paragraph 5(1)b of the 2015 CBRS Class Licence to a date of the 30th June 2019 for the continued use of wideband equipment. However, I do not believe that such a date should be removed altogether and further indicate that by extending the date that wide band equipment is not to be used “after”, would then give ACMA suitable time to thoroughly publicise the “end” usage date of wide band equipment. Once the date of the 30th June 2019 had arrived a further Newspaper article could be submitted for the information of all CB users, and, persons found after that date should be either warned and later revisited to make sure their equipment has been removed, or prosecuted for not having removed it.

May I now submit the following to you in respect of the discussion over the linking of the CB Repeater channels but not those on selected channels. This particular linking of channels especially into and around the Melbourne area, mainly the close in suburbs, which surround the Central Business District and the Central Business District itself, are traversed daily by vehicles of all sizes some of whom use the Citizens Band Radio Spectrum to communicate between their businesses and work vehicles, or, simply between their work vehicles as they drive in and around this area.

There have been forwarded to the ACMA from this office alone, numerous complaints concerning drivers who interfere with Channel 35 simplex and Channel 5 simplex deliberately interfering with the Emergency Repeater Channels of the 5/35 Emergency Repeater, but even though this decreased it has not decreased greatly and still is done as a daily routine on these communications channel between vehicles, especially in and around the Melbourne Docks area. (It is always the same persons that commit this interference, and they have already been warned by ACMA staff of their miss-use of these two channels, but the “Canadian” gentleman “Geoff” and his work colleagues seem to have taken no notice of this warning and delight in interfering on most days for periods up to six or seven hours, whilst chatting amongst themselves about nothing”. Some interference is even caused on Saturday mornings when drivers from the Dock areas are working overtime or additional shifts to move cargo.

I made mention of the above complaint, in respect of the proposed changes to the use of channel linking on two channels of radio equipment. It would be my submission that under no circumstances at all should the consideration to “remove the limitation” on the use of CB stations to link CB channels and CB Repeaters within the greater metropolitan areas of any of our major cities in Australia be undertaken. I believe that this would lead to a greater rather than a lesser “interference between callers” and would be far more congestive within a metropolitan area than a country area.

In a country area and there has to be a formal distinction between metropolitan and country areas set down, I firmly believe that the actions of interlinking same channel frequencies but definitely NOT on an already recognised repeater channel or by using different channels aligned to each other. The repeater linking can only benefit those who reside in a country area and live away from each other over greater distances than that which city dwellers would live in, or obstructions between two country dwellers wishing to discuss a matter being obscured by large mountainous areas.

As I have now set out my thoughts on these matters arising from suggested changes to the CBRS Class Licence, I submit my thoughts and trust that they will be taken into consideration when the matters suggested are tabled, discussed at length with both good and bad reasoning being tabled for each move and then decided upon.

Thank you for allowing this submission to be read and heard. I am sincerely yours,

J. C. Smith, E. S. M.

Jeffrey .C. Smith, E.S.M., National Director, CREST Australia Incorporated.

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