https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/263181/consultation-amateur-radio-review.pdf OFCOM has proposed some changes to UK ham radio conditions. Full licenses will get 1kW of power 30dBW, Intermediate may rise to 100W 20dBW and Foundation to 20W 13dBW. Also this will allow beginners to the hobby access to 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands if implemented. Other things of note is the consultation means anyone with more than one license will have to hand over their other call signs and only have one. It is to recycle old call signs so others can use them and free up their database so allocations can be made easier. This is not applicable to clubs BTW. Other aspects are Foundation users can not build radios nor use radios built on their own. But use of internet and remote operations will be allowed. Same as gateways, nodes and repeaters that will no longer be required for a license or NoV to set up. There are other aspects to this proposed change but as the paper is 100 pages in length it is a sit down and really look as to what may change. 20W for beginners and access to to microwave might help but would have to be supervised as some children have gained Foundation so supervision will be needed. As for me, 100W is double the power output but the risk factors of radiation for people close by has cropped up in discussion recently as another consultation and study was performed. So what are your thoughts on these changes? Will it make radio in the UK better if you have the right license to operate here or do you think they should just keep as is?
As US operator I certainly have no horse in this race but one statement intrigues me: "..the risk factors of radiation for people close by". As a species now addicted to having ones mobile clamped to ones head, whatever can the perceived risk be?
If a child has passed the licence exam then why would he or she need to be supervised? Also, EMF exposure is already covered separately and explicitly by the licence terms and conditions and they will still apply so that would be irrelevant to the proposed power limit increases.
I didn't know the UK had these restrictions. Here in Brazil, the initial class that is "C" can already use 100w. At HF 100w I don't see a problem with exposure. But from VHF upwards I find it a bit unhealthy even at lower powers.
There are about 350,000 amateurs with an entry-level license in the USA. They are allowed 1500 watts on vhf and higher. I'm not sure it has ever been a health issue. They are also allowed to design and build their own equipment.
You be surprised how many people sit in oak panelled rooms discussing the best way to annoy everyone while being the atypical man in the suit, drinking some spirit while being concerned. In the late 1940's it was against the law to talk to people outside of the UK is you had a license even though they could hear you and you could also hear them. It was a strange thing to have. The laws we have here in regards to EMC, what height an antenna can be and will it set off the house alarm every time you press TX to tune your radio. They are thinking of allowing beginners to go into microwaves. Fair do if they wish to explore it as long as they don't fry the budgie in the next street. Would be very Monty Python.
Have you seen where 5GHz is? 2.4GHz yeah, but 5? Would it be for TX or heating up the food at 10 paces.
I think you have this the wrong way around? From Point 3 in the summary: Allow Foundation licensees to build their own equipment and .............. It has been the case so far that UK Foundation licence holders were not allowed to build and use their own transmitting equipment, if this proposal is implemented, they will get that option and as a lot of people who might look to come into the hobby at the entry-level may be from the maker community, this, I see as a positive change. Ed (G8GLM)
I think the new changes are fantastic. In my opinion they should go further. 100W for Foundation, 400W for Intermediate and 1500W for Full, provided EMC rules are still complied with. If you've got a beam up in a rural area then why not? Foundation guys would get what most other countries offer with the entry level licence. The vast majority of people don't use more than 100W anyway but let them have some slack if they've got the space and the means.
The 20w restriction for Foundations might be needed, depending on how cramped the nation is, but I've never been to the UK, so I don't know.
A few years ago in the village where I live there was a proposal - and much heated discussion - to install a cellphone tower and give us some much-needed coverage. There were the usual hysterically screaming ignoramus types telling us that our brains would be irradiated. I tried to explain the inverse square law of field strength, what the antenna field pattern would look like, how they already have WiFi routers in their houses with WiFi devices connected 24/7 and how a cellphone pressed against the side of their heads would actually turn its own power DOWN in a strong signal area. All to no avail, I'm afraid. We have to remember that by definition, 50% of the population have a double digit IQ. Thankfully those in positions of influence overruled the dummies are we got our cellphone tower. We already have ICNIRP EMF compliance conditions in our licences so the issue of irradiating ourselves and others is already catered for. I run beams antennas on 80ft towers so I can't see 1kW being an issue. I have measured the field strength and I'm well, well within limits. If they change the regulations to ban me irradiating the crows in the trees then that's another matter. Still, crows are what God invented .22 rifles for. There is always a solution.
We've all worked a G or two who were 40 over S9 and just "400W" winkie winkie This just legalizes ongoing behavior...or make that, behaviour.
Strange that when risk factors from radiation are concerned, nobody seems to care that we're bombarded 24/7 with 50,000-100,000 watt radio and television transmitters or walk around with a cell phone against our ear.
