Radiocommunication service

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

A radio station of amateur service

Radiocommunication service is according to Article 1.19 of the International Telecommunication Union´s (ITU)RR,^[1] defined as “a service…involving the transmission, emission and/or reception of radio waves for specific telecommunication purposes”.

Radiocommunication is sub-divided into space and terrestrial radiocommunication. Space radiocommunication is defined in RR Article 1 as “any radiocommunication involving the use of one or more space stations or the use of one or more reflecting satellites or other objects in space”. Terrestrial radiocommunication is defined as “any radiocommunication other than space radiocommunication or radio astronomy”.

Sub-sets of services and branches

Some services are a sub-set of another service. For example, the land mobile service can be thought of as a branch of the mobile service which encompasses the land, maritime and aeronautical mobile services. For many terrestrial radiocommunication communication services, there is a parallel space radiocommunication service e.g., the broadcasting service and the broadcasting-satellite service.

Further sub-sets of some of these internationally defined services are often created at the national level. For example, within the land mobile service, a country may choose to define such services as paging, dispatch two-way radio service, cellular mobile telephone service, trunked mobile radio service, etc. Many of these definitions are based upon the nature of the service being provided rather than the international concept of a radiocommunication service. In other words, the term “service” can be used in these two different ways. No matter what definitions are adopted in a given country, with some specific exceptions which are allowed for in the ITU RRs, the use of the spectrum must fit in with the international definitions of radio services.

Table of Radiocommunication services

Section III of Article 1 of the ITU Radio Regulations sets out the definitions of some 40 radio services including such services as the fixed service, the mobile service, the land mobile service, the broadcasting service, the standard frequency and time signal service as well as the definition of radio astronomy which is defined as “a service involving the use of radio astronomy”. Note that the radio astronomy service is not a radiocommunication service but simply a service involving the use of radio astronomy.

ITU RR Article[2]			Definition
N°	Description	Short
1.19	Radiocommunication service		See definition above.
1.20	Fixed service	fixed
	obsolete Aeronautical fixed service
1.21	Fixed-satellite service	FSS
1.22	Inter-satellite service	ISS
1.23	Space operation service	SOS
1.24	Mobile service	mobile
1.25	Mobile-satellite service	MSS
1.26	Land mobile service	LMS
1.27	Land mobile-satellite service	LMSS
1.28	Maritime mobile service	MMS
1.29	Maritime mobile-satellite service	MMSS
1.30	Port operations service	POS
1.31	Ship movement service	SMS
1.32	Aeronautical mobile service	AMS
1.33	Aeronautical mobile (R) service[3]	AMS(R)
1.34	Aeronautical mobile (OR) service[4]	AMS(OR)
1.35	Aeronautical mobile-satellite service	AMSS
1.36	Aeronautical mobile-satellite (R) service	AMS(R)S
1.37	Aeronautical mobile-satellite (OR) service	AMS(OR)S
1.38	Broadcasting service	BS	A radiocommunication service in which the transmissions are intended for direct reception by the general public. This service may include sound transmissions, television transmissions or other types of transmission (CS).
1.39	Broadcasting-satellite service	BSS
1.40	Radiodetermination service	RDS
1.41	Radiodetermination-satellite service	DRSS
1.42	Radionavigation service	RNS
1.43	Radionavigation-satellite service	RNSS
1.44	Maritime radionavigation service	MRNS
1.45	Maritime radionavigation-satellite service	MRNSS
1.46	Aeronautical radionavigation service	ARNS
1.47	Aeronautical radionavigation-satellite service	ARNSS
1.48	Radiolocation service	RLS	A radiodetermination service for the purpose of radiolocation.
1.49	Radiolocation-satellite service	RLSS
1.50	Meteorological aids service
1.51	Earth exploration-satellite service	EESS
1.52	Meteorological-satellite service
1.53	Standard frequency and time signal service	SFTS
1.54	Standard frequency and time signal-satellite service	SFTSS
1.55	Space research service	SRS
1.56	Amateur service	Amateur	A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.
1.57	Amateur-satellite service	Amateur-satellite
1.58	Radio astronomy service	RAS
1.59	Safety service
1.60	Special service

References

1. ITU Radio Regulations, Section III – Radio services, Article 1.19, definition: Radiocommunication service
2. International Telecommunication Union
3. (R) – abbreviation to route flights (route)
4. (OR) – abbreviation to flights others than on routs (off-route)