More Power to Your Licence

DTI press release - 18 June 99

Novice radio amateurs will have increased access with higher maximum transmitter powers to amateur radio bands, the Radiocommunications Agency announced today.

The Agency has been working in conjunction with theRadio Society of Great Britain to bring about a major updating of this licence category.

From 21 June 1999, novices will be given access to an increased number of amateur bands including full access to the 2m amateur band. the maximum power levels have also been increased and from this date, the maximum permitted dc input power will be 12 dBW and the maximum permitted rf output power will be 10dBW.

A minor change to the licence has also been made in light of modifications to the advice given by the National Radiological Protection Board.



Notes for Editors

1. There are two types of Amateur Radio Licence, the full and the Novice. Applicants for a full licence must have passed the Radio Amateurs’ Examination while applicants for a Novice licence must have completed a practical training course and have passed the Novice Radio Amateurs’ Examination. Novices are allocated segments of the bands allocated to full licence holders and operate at reduced power levels.

2. There are two classes of licence, A and B. Class A licence holders have passed a Morse test (12 words per minute for the full licence and 5 words per minute for the Novice licence) and can operate an all allocated bands. Class B licence holders are restricted to bands above 30mhz.

3. These changes were originally announced in a joint Radiocommunications Agency/Radio Society of Great Britain press release issued on 21 May 1999.

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DTI Web site: www.dti.gov.uk

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