Ofcom Licensing Consultation document Released

Ofcom has now released the long awaited Amateur Licence consultation document. The 4 options outlined by Ofcom are much as expected.

It is hoped that Amateurs will be unanimous in their rejection of the option for WT Act Licence exemption.

There is in reality not a great deal to choose between the options of a free Life-Time licence and a free 10 year licence.

The United States has for some time had a free 10 year Amateur Licence and this has proved satifactory, however, a number of other countries are now adopting free Life-Time Amateur licences, New Zealand is the most recent example.

The bulk of the licence fee UK Amateurs currently pay is consumed by the costs of pushing pieces of paper around each year. These days there is no need to pay for a cumbersome expensive paper based system when an Internet based system can acheive the same thing at near zero cost.

One thing that initially concerned me when reading through the document was the lack of any mention that Amateurs have the right to build and operate to their own design, transmitters of up to 400 watts output without any formal EMC compliance requirements. The initial emphasis of the document seemed to be on Amateurs as "Operators". I was relieved when I got to the bottom of page 14 and saw that Ofcom did recognise this vital part of the hobby.

I hope everyone will sumbit a reply to this consultation document. It is vital for the future of the Amateur Service that Amateurs make their views known to Ofcom. Ofcom welcomes reponses from Overseas not just the UK.

The consultation document can be downloaded from:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/aradio/

If you know of someone who'd like a paper copy tell them to ring Ofcom on +44 (0)20 7981 3000 as they are offering to deliver a FREE paper copy of the document to anyone who wants one. They are currently quoting a 5 day delivery time.

73 Trevor M5AKA
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Ofcom Consultation Information: http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/
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