1. Opening Formalities

The meeting was formally opened by the Chairman, Prof. Luis M. Correia, after which Prof. Ernst Bonek, the Local Organiser, addressed the plenary for a welcome message, and details on the way the meeting was organised.

2. Adoption of the Agenda

The Chairman asked for the introduction of an additional point in the Agenda, due to the fact that he had forgotten that elections should be held for the 3^rd year term, according to the rules for Actions within COST. This was accepted by unanimity, and it was introduced as a point after Future Meetings and Workshop. The final version of the Agenda is shown in Annex A.

3. Approval of the Minutes of the 7th Meeting

The minutes were approved, without corrections, unanimously.

4. Status of the Action

The Chairman informed that the number of signatory countries (18) remains unchanged since the last meting, but that the numbers of participating institutions and delegates have increased (80 and more than 200, respectively).

5. Action Extension / Final Report

The Chairman informed that the CSO is not favouring extensions longer than 1 year (for budget reasons), thus it would not be wise to apply for a long extension of the Action. After some discussion, it was agreed to apply for an extension of 4 months, up to Apr. 2000, on the following grounds: although the official starting date is 10^th Dec. 1996, the kick-off meeting was really on 3^rd Apr. 1997, due to the illness of Mr. Damosso (the former Action Chairman); this has delayed the work for 4 months, since the first working meeting took place only by the beginning of May 1997, thus applying for a 4 months extension is just to keep the Action within its 3 year timetable as it was initially foreseen. The Chairman will write a request to the TCT applying for the extension, so that it can be included in the Agenda of its next meeting, to be held in Visegrad (Budapest, Hungary) by the beginning of June. This way, it is expected that by the next meeting of the Action a decision on the extension will be already known. All delegates should send suggestions supporting the Action extension to the Chairman, until the end of the month (Action Point 10).

The writing of the Final Report was also discussed since, even if the extension of 4 months is granted, there is not too much time to produce it. It was decided that it should be structured as a book, i.e., with topics grouped by Chapters and Sections, rather than just a collection of individual or institutional contributions. As a first proposal of contents, it was decided that each Chapter should correspond to the area of each Working Group (WG), with the possible exception of WG 2, which may originate two (one dealing with antennas and the other with propagation); a final decision has to be taken by the WGs. The contents and editors of the various Chapters and Sections are to be discussed at the WGs’ level, and the following deadlines were approved, assuming that the extension is granted:

• Apr. 1999: __ establish the first draft of contents

• Sep. 1999: __ establish the detailed contents of each Chapter / Section

• Jan. 2000: __ first draft of the report is distributed

• Apr. 2000: __ final version of the report is distributed

The issue of a new proposal for a follow-up of the present Action was also brought up, since it usually takes some months to prepare it, to get it approved by the TCT and the CSO, and to have its MoU signed. It was decided that all those interested in joining the new Action should send their areas of work, as well as proposals for a name, to the Chairman until the end of May (Action Point 12). A first draft of the proposal for a new Action will be discussed at the next meeting, so that the final version is available after that.

6. COST 231 Book

The Chairman reported that he had been informed by the COST Telecom Secretariat that the printing of the book is almost finished, and that the copies should be available in a few days. It was agreed with COST Telecom Secretariat that the distribution will be done by the Action Secretariat at IST, not only to COST 231 and 259 participants but to TCT members and Chairmen of other COST Actions as well, besides others interested in having a copy of the book.

Dr. David Bacon (Radiocommunications Agency, UK) asked if the book was under any copyright, thus preventing from copying it. Since no one knew the answer, the Chairman will inquire about it. Nevertheless, all wishing to receive additional copies of the book should send their request to the Action Secretariat.

7. Budget and reimbursements

The Chairman informed that a total of 16 applications for Short-Term Missions have been received, from which 12 were already formally approved, and 4 are still under evaluation. There is still budget for a few more missions, but the applications have to be received until the end of May, so that they can still be processed until the end of June, which were the conditions for the additional funding for Short-Term Missions within the Action (Action Point 7).

The Chairman also informed that the reimbursements concerning the Thessaloniki meeting were already processed. They have practically spent the 24 kEuro, corresponding to 80 % of the advanced payment of 30 kEuro concerning the budget for 1999, which means that any additional reimbursements will have to wait for the rest of the funding.

The Chairman reported that the remaining 23 kEuro from the 1998 budget plus the additional 11.5 kEuro were not received yet, which means that the reimbursement for the Short-Term Missions will have to wait until the funds are received from Brussels. All the documents concerning the expenses of 1998 have already been sent to the COST Telecom Secretariat, being expected that money will be received soon.

As far as the budget for 1999 is concerned, the Chairman informed that a provisional amount of 114 kEuro has been granted (which includes the advanced 30 kEuro). Since this value is similar to the one of 1998, it is expected that it will make possible to comply with the most important items of the budget; this means that there is a possible budget for Short-Term Missions, but this will have to be analysed.

8. Presentation and Discussion of Documents

A total of 43 Temporary Documents, which are listed in Annex B, were distributed, being discussed at the Plenary and at the three WGs, Annex C.

9. Liaisons with other International Bodies

This point was postponed due to the lack of time.

10. Future Meetings and Workshop

The next meetings will be held according to the following:

• 9^th MCM, hosted by KPN, in Leidschendam, The Netherlands, from Thursday - 1999/Sep/23 - 9:00 to Friday - 1999/Sep/24 - 17:00.
• 10^th MCM, hosted by Univ. Valencia, in Valencia, Spain, from Wednesday - 2000/Jan/19 - 9:00 to Friday - 2000/Jan/21 - 12:00.
• 11^th MCM and Final Workshop, in a location still to be defined, 2000/Apr. on the week starting 24^th.

The Chairman reminded that the decision on the acceptance of papers submitted to VTC’99-Fall will take place in the weekend immediately after this meeting.

11. Election of the Chairmen for the 3^rd Year Term

All Chairmen as well as the Vice-Chairman were re-elected by unanimity:

• Chairman: Prof. Luis M. Correia (IST - Tech. Univ. of Lisbon, P)
• Vice-Chairman: Dr. Jean-Frédéric Wagen (Swisscom, CH)
• WG 1 Chairman: Prof. Stephen K. Barton (Univ. of Leeds, UK)
• WG 2 Chairman: Prof. Ernst Bonek (Tech. Univ. of Vienna, A)
• WG 3 Chairman: Dr. Thomas Kürner (E-Plus, D)

Prof. Luis Correia thanked all delegates that have contributed to and participated in the 2^nd COST 259 Workshop, Joint COST 259/260 Workshop, which took place immediately before this MCM, thus contributing for its success, not only in terms of programme (Annex E) but also in terms of attendance, with a total of participants of 125 (Annex F).

The Chairman reminded also that there is a Call for Papers for the AP2000 Conference, to be held in Davos, Switzerland, by 9-14 Apr. 2000, with the deadline on 1^st July 1999 (Action Point 13).

The Action Points from this meeting are as follows:

The meeting was attended by a total of 118 peoples, Annex D. The Chairman thanked the Local Organiser for hosting the meeting, and all delegates for their participation, and formally closed it.

1. Opening formalities
2. Adoption of the Agenda
3. Approval of the minutes of the 7th Meeting in Thessaloniki
4. Status of the Action
5. Action extension / final report
6. COST 231 book
7. Budget and reimbursements
8. Presentation and discussion of documents
9. Liaisons with other international bodies
10. Future meetings and workshop
11. Election of chairmen for the 3^rd year term
12. Any other business
13. Close of Meeting