RA8gn - Fixed Terrestrial (Point-to-Point) Link Licence Application Guide

If, after reading this guide, you need more help, please telephone the Fixed Terrestrial and Satellite Links Unit (RA2/FTSLU) during office hours on 020 7211 0300. (This helpline isn't staffed outside office hours, but there is a general answer line on 020 7211 0211 which can take recorded messages.)

Contact the RA Library on 020 7211 0502/05 for any paper or electronic RA forms, or information sheets referred to within these guidance notes. All information sheets are also available on the RA website http://www.radio.gov.uk/publication/ra-info.htm. From time to time the RA8 and the information within these guidance notes may change, for example due to policy changes, etc. Therefore you should check that you have the latest release.

The RA8 fixed terrestrial (point-to-point) link licence application form will permit you to:

The RA8 can be used for any fixed terrestrial (point-to-point) link that is to be deployed in geographical areas administered by RA.

A key feature of the RA8 is that you can use it to make single or batch applications. Under certain circumstances you can specify a second frequency band in case your first frequency band fails to reach the assignment stage.

You should note that within these guidance notes there is a colour convention to assist in answering RA8 questions. More details are given in Section 2.3 of this guide.

It is your responsibility to make sure that you fill in the RA8 legibly, completely and accurately. Any missing or false information may require the form to be returned with the Quality of Service targets negated or (at the Secretary of State's discretion) invalidate the licence after it has been granted.

You must use the official RA8, its electronic equivalent, or the electronic batch process to submit your applications. When filling in the RA8 you should follow all advice provided both in the RA8 and in these guidance notes.

You should also remember that no matter who applies on your behalf you are still legally responsible for all actions carried out on your radio systems.

Specifically for unco-ordinated bands (e.g. 58 GHz) you should note that many of the technical questions throughout Section C are not relevant. Also, a fee of £50 is charged for each 58 GHz link and payment should be included with the application.

Our aim is at least to meet the Quality of Service targets stated in the RA8. RA will not be held to these targets should you fail to provide all the necessary information, or if it is illegible. In cases of uncertainty we may attempt to contact you to resolve any points of detail or simply return the form. Only when we consider that we have all the necessary information will the Quality of Service targets apply. We will indicate this by sending you a completed acknowledgement slip (Section E of the RA8) notifying you of the date received. If for any reason you specify an unobtainable transaction completion date then the effective date will become the date at which RA has successfully processed the application.

For new applications, assignments are agreed with the UK peacetime frequency allocation table and in the interests of the UK radio users. The requirement to gain approval from the National Frequency Advisory Panel may take up a significant part of the turnaround time.

Due to the more rapid turnaround of 58 GHz licences no paper acknowledgement will be sent.

The licence is issued under the terms of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949. It is an instrument under which the Secretary of State authorises the use of radio apparatus to "a person". Legally "a person" may be an individual operating a business from one of their own premises or two or more people acting together as a Partnership, Company or an Incorporated Association. The WT Act licence must state the full name of the specific person, company or organisation so that the licence is quite clear. The original licence schedule, under the Companies Act 1985, must be sent to the Registered Office. Only copies of the licence can be sent to any other contacts.

It is also important to check at an early stage whether a Telecommunication Act 1984 licence is also needed for your system. A system generally does not require a Telecommunications Act licence if:

For more detailed advice on the Telecommunication Act licence contact the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel). Contact details for Oftel are given at Section 6.

Licences are not transferable and cannot be taken over. However, the radio systems and frequencies that make up the licence can be taken over. Take-overs of radio systems and frequencies are often wrongly referred to as take-overs of licences.

When taking over a service you should inform RA by submitting an RA8 with a letter of consent from the old licensee. In the case of partnerships all named partners must give their consent.

A new licence is not required when a licensee changes their name, although a revised licence and schedule(s) will be issued. If a public or other limited company changes its name, its company registration number remains the same. When a public or limited company changes its name, it must supply RA with a copy of the change of name certificate issued by Companies House.

Your licence will be issued subject to the following requirements. Please read them carefully.

The licence is not transferable. However, you can apply for the transfer of a radio service using the RA8 form.

The licence supersedes all licences and schedules previously issued for the radio service.

The operation of a radio service other than in accordance with the terms and conditions of the licence is an offence.

The licence is valid until the renewal date on the licence, and thereafter so long as the licensee has paid the renewal fee to RA on or before the renewal date.

All changes to the radio service must first be made known to and authorised by RA.

The licensee must ensure that any new person operating the stations observes the conditions of the licence.

The Secretary of State may at any time revoke the licence or vary the licence conditions. In such circumstances, the licensee will be informed using one of the following methods:

The Secretary of State reserves the right to change at any time the frequencies assigned for the licensee's use.

The station(s) and the licence shall be available for inspection at all reasonable times (or when an urgent situation occurs at any time) by a person acting under the authority of the Secretary of State.

The stations may be closed down at any time on the request of a person acting under the authority of the Secretary of State.

Only a fixed terrestrial (point-to-point) link licensed under the basis of "Licensed Protected Service" can claim interference protection from any other licensed services. If licensed under the basis "Licensed Unprotected Services" then the fixed terrestrial (point-to-point) link shall not cause any harmful interference to any other services or claim protection from any harmful interference originating from any other licensed services.

The Secretary of State reserves the right to assign frequencies specified in the licence schedule to additional licensees.

The stations shall transmit and receive only on the frequencies specified in the licence schedule.

The effective isotropically radiated power (EIRP) of the stations must not exceed the value specified in the licence by more than the allowed +/-3dB tolerance.

The expression "the Secretary of State" means the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Simple amendments, prior to RA finalising the technical assignment stage will be made at the discretion of the assignment engineer.

RA will attempt to accommodate changes to an existing licence, liaising with customers as and when required. Changes after the assignment stage will be treated, as a need to reassign which will involve cancelling the original link and submitting a new application. The old link will not be cancelled until the new link has been assigned. Any amendments, for any reason, will negate any previously applicable Quality of Service target and this will be reinitialised to the date of receipt of the amendment.

You should note that RA also offers a pre-planning system, particularly useful for a collective assignment (i.e. multiple-hop) application, which can be treated under a different arrangement. Any prototyping is performed prior to making a formal licence application to help avoid unnecessary delay.

For a new application, all optional questions in the RA8 start with "If..." and where more than one option is given then the questions start with "Or, if...".

With exception for 58 GHz all remaining questions should be considered mandatory unless when submitting an amendment, then all Section C questions should be considered optional.

If you have any doubts about answering the RA8 then please contact RA before submitting the application. Remember that RA may return the RA8 if it is not legible, complete or accurate. If RA return the RA8 then you should expect to see a brief explanation on the acknowledgement slip in Section F.

Write legibly, remembering that some pages may be photocopied in regard to batch applications.

If you are asked to enter any reference codes then only enter one alpha numeric character per box. You should enter reference codes starting from left to right leaving any unused boxes blank. Further conditions or exceptions that apply will be covered by the specific question notes in this guide.

Any questions, or parts of, which you are unable to answer should be answered with "NK" (e.g. Not Known).

For questions requesting site postcodes, it will be acceptable to provide the first part of the code (e.g. NE3, PO21 etc.) if the full reference is not known.

For questions relating to losses, expressed in dB, answers should be rounded up to the nearest integer value.

For questions relating to gains expressed in dBi, answers should be rounded up to the nearest integer value.

For questions relating to the mast height or base height, answers should be rounded up to the nearest metre.

For questions regarding site locations, please enter the site reference in either the appropriate grid reference or Latitude/Longitude formats. It is advisable to provide one of these formats when entering the RA Site Reference Number to help avoid any ambiguity or delay to the application. The specific question notes within this guide give the details of acceptable precisions and formats.

A relaxed licensing regime exists for uncoordinated bands and therefore not all the technical questions under Section C apply. These questions are easily identifiable within these guidance notes since they have the "

" symbol against the question.

If you need help, look up the question number in these guidance notes. The first part of each number shows the identified question. For example, C.10 is the tenth question in Section C.

You can ask for an electronic application form, which is free of charge. This will help you complete the form by linking appropriate questions depending on which answers you give. It will assist in validating entries and advise you whether the form has been correctly completed, ready for submission to RA.

The electronic application form also includes many of these guidance notes on-line. Please contact the FTSLU Helpdesk if you wish to receive this.

You should start at Section A and progress though to Section F. You should attempt to answer all relevant questions sequentially following any "proceed guidance arrows" (e.g.

proceed to question...) relevant to the purpose of the applicant (i.e. new application, amendment or cancellation). These indicators will help eliminate answering any unnecessary questions or parts of questions.

The colour of the question table is colour co-ordinated to match the relevant RA8 section heading as shown above.

The "header" field gives a quick reference to the main pastel sub-headings within the RA8.

In Section C of the RA8 you should pay particular attention to the frequency band questions for analogue and digital, C.4 and C.5 respectively, which offer you the chance to enter a second frequency band choice.

Under certain circumstances highlighted in RA143 you can use the RA8 for new applications to request up to two frequency band preferences. RA will automatically consider your second choice should your first choice fail to reach the assignment stage. This allows the RA assignment systems to be more automated and interactive with applicants.

These questions are easily identifiable within these guidance notes since they have the "

" symbols immediately after the question.

Please remember that any second frequency band preference should be a direct substitute for the first choice (i.e. requiring the same service availability, modulation category, etc.).

Your first preference is mandatory. The second is permitted under certain circumstances. You cannot choose one analogue band and one digital band, or choose a second frequency preference if the same equipment capacity is not supported in both frequency bands.

By convention your first and second preference should be declared as a "1" and a "2" respectively, in question C.4 (analogue) or question C.5 (digital).

Frequency preference questions following questions C.4 or C.8 permit answers for both frequency band preferences. You should answer these as appropriate, i.e. by entering all question parts with "First Frequency Band Preference (=1)" with the single link details for your first choice and using the "Second Frequency Band Preference (=2)" for your second choice.

When giving answers for two frequency preferences then you are required to answer all relevant technical questions with two sets of answers, i.e. one for each frequency band preference.

You should first read the instructions given in Section C of the RA8. All batch applications need every single link (one submission) to be uniquely identified by you with the appropriate reference.

All RA8 batch applications are limited in size to a maximum of twenty single links. For any batch, single links details will be acceptable on legible photocopies of the relevant RA8 pages.

Case 1 "Assigned Individually" (e.g. all single link assignments pass or fail on equal merit); or
Case 2 "Assigned Collectively" (e.g. a single link assignment failure results in a complete failed batch).

For new applications you are required to enter your Customer Reference Number on all submissions in question C.1 and in every "Batch Page Header", including photocopied pages.

All amendments and cancellations require you to answer question C.2 with the relevant RA Reference Number.

For amendments, you are required to enter the RA Reference Number on all batch page headers, including any photocopied pages. Also, you only need supply details which you wish changed. RA will assume all other technical characteristics remain unchanged.

For cancellations you should photocopy questions C.2, C.2.1 and C.2.2 for all single link submissions or, alternatively, append a printed schedule of this information with your RA8 submission. Any additional schedule shall clearly label the RA8 questions with the relevant entries.

When making photocopies of RA8 pages you should make sure that the number of single links tallies with the batch size stated in question A.2.

Section A of the RA8 allows you to declare the nature of the application, i.e. a new application, amendment or cancellation. This section further allows you to state whether the application is for a single link or batch of single links up to the maximum batch size. New batch applications may be considered on a collective or individual assignment basis.

Section B asks you for all the necessary contact details, with addresses, telephone numbers, fax, e-mail, etc.

You will need to state whether you are applying on the basis of an Individual, Sole Trader, Partnership, Limited Company, Public Limited Company or Incorporated Association (i.e. Corporation, Local Authority, Registered Charity), etc.

All questions are mandatory although we understand that some parts could be difficult to answer. Please answer as much as possible entering "NK" (i.e. not known) if you cannot answer any particular parts. In this way we know that you have not forgotten to enter any details.

Section C covers technical considerations including: the nature of transmission (i.e. analogue or digital), frequency band(s), polarisation, equipment frequency operating range, link availability, whether the single link is operating uni- or bi-directionally, height information, locations, losses and antenna performance, etc. By defining the RA Equipment Reference Code(s) stated on the website, or from the RA Radio Interface Requirement 2000, we are able to determine the bit-rate, channel spacing and modulation criteria. Therefore it is important that you follow the questions step by step, entering the required information accurately and following all proceed guidance arrows (

Section D requires no input by the applicant but gives information on where to seek advice before completing the declaration and submitting the RA8 to RA.

Section E asks you to declare that you have understood the RA8 and have entered the details accurately and correctly to the best of your knowledge. This section has to be completed for all new licence applications, amendments and cancellations.

You should remember that it is an offence to knowingly make a false statement in support of the application and may lead to the grant of the licence being refused or revoked. The application form does carry legal status from an evidential point of view and applicants are therefore asked to sign the declaration.

Electronic applications should contain sufficient means to identify the sender and the integrity and authenticity of the transmission, such as electronic signature.

In the case of amendments or cancellations RA will now contact the applicant before finalising any transaction(s).

Following the grant of any licence the licensee has 28 days in which to raise any objections to the conditions contained therein.

The tear-off slip in Section F is used by RA to inform the applicant of date of receipt, indicates RA application numbers for any future enquiries and indicates sections that have not been completed satisfactorily. You should answer questions F.1 and the appropriate part of F.2 if you wish RA to respond.

The tear-off slip is applicable for co-ordinated frequency bands due to lengthy Quality of Service targets.

In the case of uncoordinated frequency bands the Quality of Service targets are much shorter and in most cases negate the need for the tear-off slip. RA will only use the tear-off slip for acknowledging problems with 58 GHz applications.

If you are making an amendment, you should refer to the conditions detailed in Section 1.6 of this guide. Also, when using the RA8 for an amendment you need only answer questions where you want details changed.

This is a mandatory question to specify the batch as an integer number of single links required (up to a maximum of twenty) in the spaces provided.

Please note that a single link may be one uni- or one bi-directional fixed terrestrial (point-to-point) link.

Section 2.5 of this guide gives further instructions on batch applications. You should also note that FTSLU can offer a preplanning tool to assist with collective batch applications which may include multiple-hop systems.

This question is specific for a new batch application, or a batch amendment in which reassignment of single link frequencies are sought.

If you are an existing customer of RA you should tick (

) "Yes" and proceed to question B.1.1, otherwise you should tick (

) "No" and proceed to question B.2.

Having ticked "Yes" in question B.1 you should enter your RA Customer Number in the boxes provided.

The RA Customer Number is your unique RA sales ledger number that you can find on your licence renewal statement, or by contacting RA "e.g., 0123456 / 001". It is composed of two parts:

It is not possible for RA to process applications and issue licences unless the customer has an account. New customers will be assigned a RA Customer Number on receipt of their application(s). Therefore it is important that you get this number correct.

Any person may apply for a licence in his or her own name. If the person runs a business solely in his or her own name then that person is known as the sole proprietor of that business. Legally the person is wholly liable for all aspects of that business and all its obligations. Thus the person will need a WT Act Licence in their name to operate a radio system which states the applicant/ licensee's name. If the person holds a trading name, then this may also be stated on the licence but it is important that this is not substituted in the place of the individual's name.

Regarding partners, licences cannot be issued to an individual "on behalf of" the other partners, regardless of whether the first named partner has changed. A new licence will be necessary each time a partner is added or removed. Occasionally, there will be circumstances where two companies may act in partnership. In such cases RA will seek legal guidance before processing the RA8.

For registered companies, a fixed terrestrial (point-to-point) link licence must be held in the registered name of the company.

Unincorporated bodies and public corporations are legal entities in their own right although they are not companies. Some of these bodies are in the public sector (e.g. Local Authorities) but are not Crown bodies and are entitled (and required) to apply for licences.

An association is a group of people with common interest who can hold a licence, in its own name.

Joint Ventures can be a partnership of a number of limited companies or a group of companies who have established a separate corporate vehicle for the purpose of carrying out a specific project. If a JV is a separate corporate vehicle, it will have a separate legal identity, and be registered as such with Companies House. If the JV is a partnership of a group of limited companies, each of the individual limited companies would have to be named on the RA8 in the same way as a partnership of individuals.

In order to ascertain that a charity is registered and has legal status the charity registration number and, where applicable, its company registration number should be supplied upon application for a licence. If the charity is not registered with the charity commissioners, an explanation of its charitable status should be provided.

A third party or handling agent will be required to supply a "Power of Attorney" (individuals or partnerships), a "Board Resolution" (limited companies) or a letter of authorisation from the licensee. Photocopies of these documents are acceptable provided they are certified as being a true and complete copy of the original. Fax copies are not acceptable.

It is a legal requirement that the original licence must be sent to the licensee's registered office.

Further notes on a Power of Attorney, a Board Resolution and a Letter of Authority are covered below.

BRs are normally passed at a meeting of the directors of a company. Alternatively, if the articles of association of a company so provide a BR can be passed without holding a board meeting, if all the directors entitled to receive notice of board meetings sign a written resolution.

A certified copy of a Board Resolution must be signed by the Secretary or one of the company Directors.

The preferable way for RA to ensure that any third party or handling agent is duly authorised would be for the agent to obtain a Power of Attorney (PA) (authority in the form of a deed) executed by the licensee in the agent's favour. A PA would be strictly interpreted in the courts. However, a Letter of Authority supplied by the applicant along with the application form, requesting that the licence should be sent to the agent, would be sufficient for the RA to send a COPY licence and schedule.

Entering the registration number is very much dependent on your legal status. You should check whether your legal entity requires you to do so in the guidance given for question B.2.

You may enter your trading name if you hold one but this is not essential. If a trading name stated on the licence changes then the change should be notified to RA. It is not necessary to issue a new licence for all such changes of name; RA will issue an amended licence free of charge.

You are requested to enter the full contact details to which the licence (including the provisional assignment) is to be sent. Spaces are provided for name, address, town, postcode, telephone, fax and e-mail.

To comply with the Companies Act 1985, the address given must be the registered office address of the business.

You should note that RA will send only one official copy of the licence to the registered office address.

You are requested to enter the contact details for licence renewal in the spaces provided for name, address, town, postcode, telephone, fax and e-mail.

If these details are the same as question B.4 then you should enter "As B.4" in the "name" field and move on to the next question.

You are required to tick (

) this box for a copy of the licence schedule to be sent to this contact.

You are requested to enter the contact details for accounts queries in the spaces provided for name, address, town, postcode, telephone, fax and e-mail.

If these details have already been entered in questions B.4 or B.5 then you should refer back to these by entering one of the following options in the "name" field:

You are required to tick (

) this box for a copy of the licence schedule to be sent to this contact.

You are requested to enter the contact details for operational or technical correspondence queries in the spaces provided for name, position, address, town, postcode, telephone, fax, e-mail and any other information. A third party or handling agent should also enter their details against this question (see guidance for question B.2 for more details).

The "position" and "other information" fields give you the flexibility to tell us the key contacts through your operational or technical phases of the licence application. A third party or handling agent shall respectively state "Third Party" or "Handling Agent" against the "position field". Your unique Customer Reference Number can be specified in the "other information" field, so that, for example in a batch application, we can associate the relevant contact with the appropriate single link.

If required you should photocopy this question for as many contacts as you wish to provide.

If these details have already been entered in questions B.4, B.5 or B.6 then you should refer back to these by entering one of the following options in the "name" field:

You are required to tick (

) this box for a copy of the licence schedule to be sent to this contact.

You are advised that any third party or handling agent will require the appropriate authorisation documentation, as detailed under question B.2, to be acknowledged by RA before copies of the licence schedule can be dispatched. This documentation should be agreed in advance with RA and should suffice for all following applications until there is a change of circumstance. The responsibility to notify RA of any change of circumstance resides with the licensee.

This question is mandatory for a new application but should be ignored if you are submitting either an amendment or cancellation, in which case you should proceed to question C.2.

You must fill in your own customer reference that uniquely identifies each single link. You can use any combination of up to a maximum of 10 alpha/numeric characters. Please note that RA will consider any characters such as "*" and "\" etc. as part of the Customer Link Reference. Any duplicated references will result in the RA8 being returned.

Applications should repeat the Customer Link Reference in all Section C batch page headers and on any photocopied pages. This will allow RA to clearly identify technical characteristics of particular single links.

When filling in the Customer Reference Number you should note the advice given in Section 2.2 of this guide.

When making an amendment or cancellation it is assumed you are an existing customer with an RA Reference Number. This reference will be retained for all newly licensed single links. You should enter your RA Reference Number in the space provided.

When filling in the Customer Reference Number you should note the advice given in Section 2.2 of this guide.

You are required to enter the amendment or cancellation start date. For batches you can photocopy this question and provide the required details for every single link. Since cancellations are more straightforward to process you may append an additional schedule showing all the required details with the RA8. If you are appending a schedule then you should enter "Schedule Attached" against "other details".

Applications, with the exception of cancellations, should repeat the RA Reference Number in all Section C batch page headers. This again applies to any photocopied pages so that technical characteristics can be referenced against individual links.

For batch amendments you only need enter details which have changed. Therefore you need only photocopy the relevant pages where details require amending.

When amending details the applicant should provide their contact details. Conditions applying to "third parties" and "handling agents" are detailed under question B.2.

You should enter the transaction start date for an amendment or cancellation. RA will endeavour to meet this time scale, but before taking action, we will confirm the requirements with you to authenticate the request.

FREQUENCY BAND

C.3

What type of service is required?

You should tick () one of the options between analogue and digital systems. If ticking the analogue option you should proceed to question C.4; otherwise, for the digital option, you should proceed to question C.5.

Before answering this question you should familiarise yourself with Section 2.4 regarding frequency band preferences. You are permitted up to two analogue frequency band preferences. Entering a "1" in the appropriate box identifies your first preference (which is mandatory). Similarly, entering a "2" in the appropriate box identifies your second preference (optional). The following example shows preference "1" for 13 GHz and preference "2" 14 GHz.

You should note that co-ordinated frequency bands are positioned to the left while uncoordinated frequency bands are positioned to the right. The asterisk (*) against certain frequency bands means that only one frequency preference is permitted.

Permitted bandwidth and bit-rate options on a band-by-band basis, with link length restrictions, are detailed in information sheet RA143.

DIGITAL FREQUENCY BAND

C.5

For digital radio frequency bands, please specify which frequency band is preferred from the list given

Please refer to the notes for question C.4 which also apply here, but for digital rather than analogue frequency bands.

EQUIPMENT REFERENCE CODES

C.6

Please state the RA Equipment Reference Code, otherwise proceed to question C.7

The Equipment Reference Code for notified equipment will be published on the RA website, http://www.radio.gov.uk/topics/fixedlnk/index.htm. With the Equipment Reference Number the following information is also provided:

When entering this code you should ensure that you enter the information accurately from left to right, taking notice of the code separators "/s". Any boxes not used should be left blank. If you are unable to find the relevant Equipment Reference Code on the website then you should use questions C.7 and C.7.1 instead, or contact RA. An example of a valid reference is shown below:

You should enter the appropriate Equipment Reference Code(s) as presented in the RA Radio Interface Requirement 2000 for your stated frequency bands.

The following example shows the correct entry for a 2x8 Mbit/second system using 14 MHz channel spacing for the 13 GHz frequency band. Any unused boxes, such as Part C, should be left unfilled.

You should specify the equipment manufacturer(s) and model number(s) for any equipment specified in the appropriate fields.

Vertical and horizontal polarisation options on a band-by-band basis are detailed in information sheet RA143.

The equipment carrier tuning range permits you to enter a frequency range in which the equipment will operate. The frequency range must be specified between lower and upper frequency limits, specified in MHz.

For duplex operation you need specify only the "go" band limits shown in information sheet RA143. RA will assume that the "return" band limits are spaced above the "go" band limits by the appropriate duplex spacing.

The appropriate RA Frequency Assignment Criteria will provide the formulae for calculating all carrier (channel) frequencies. These are published on the RA website at http://www.radio.gov.uk/topics/fixedlnk/index.htm. alternatively these are available in hard copy from the RA Library.

If you specify a carrier tuning range in MHz, RA will attempt to assign the frequency (channel) in this range. If your assignment is unsuccessful then we will automatically assign you the nearest available channel. You can either accept, amend or cancel this at a later stage in the licence process. The "go" band channel assignment will be associated with an equivalent channel assignment in the "return" band segment.

Enter the lower and upper carrier frequencies as shown in the following example:

Permitted service availability levels used to determine the overall single link EIRP power budgets are 99.9%, 99.99%, 99.995 and 99.999%. You are required to tick (

) one of the boxes provided.

You are required to tick (

) this box if the availability is greater than 99.99% and is used as a duplicated (protected) system.

You are required to tick (

) one of these options if the availability is greater than 99.99%. Options provided are for a Public Switched Telephone Network or for Safety of Life.

Case 1 that your single link is parallel to one of your existing licensed links;
Case 2 that your single link is parallel to one of your single link requirements within the same batch.

For both cases you should provide the appropriate link reference details of any corresponding parallel links for which you are legally responsible

If for any reason we cannot identify the parallel reference, we will attempt to contact you to resolve the matter. RA also encourages and would advise customers to keep parallel links to a minimum. When possible customers should always attempt to use a single link with higher traffic capacity. RA will give special consideration to links using STM (1) or higher traffic rates and any authorisation to transmit will be treated on a case-by-case basis.

You are required to tick (

) one of the options: either unidirectional or bi-directional.

For each frequency band preference you are asked to tick (

) whether Site A or Site B transmits High or Low. Remember there is only one choice per frequency band and that only one site can transmit for a unidirectional link.

For bi-directional lines, you can either specify the High/Low site transmit configuration or let us decide.

If specifying the High/Low configuration you are required to tick the appropriate transmit High boxes only. RA publishes High/Low transmit configurations on the website which you can access from http://www.radio.gov.uk/topics/fixedlnk/index.htm

By ticking (

) the "No Preference" box you permit RA to decide the configuration on your behalf. RA will then assume initially that the link transmits High.

RA is required to assess each application on a number of compatibility issues which include blocking, intermodulation, obstructions etc., as may be required by the Civil Aviation Authority. Fixed terrestrial (point-to-point) links are only exempt from site clearance under the following conditions:

Therefore the information provided assists RA to evaluate the height criteria, so that appropriate judgements can be made without contacting you or delaying your application. You should specify for each site the maximum mast height (apex) and the base height of the bottom of the mast in either metres above ground level (AGL) for an onshore mast, or above sea level for an offshore site. All heights should be rounded up to the nearest metre. The base height of the bottom of the mast is required so that the appropriate site clearance bodies can be sure that the mast is either mounted on the ground or on another structure.

If any mast increases the existing mast height by more than five metres then you should tick (

) "Yes" otherwise tick (

) "No".

If any mast is onshore then the height above ground level (AGL) should be given, rounded up to the nearest metre.

If any mast is offshore then the height above mean sea level should be given, rounded up to the nearest metre.

Questions C.19 to C.19.3 permit you to enter the site location details in one of three formats, which are:

You are advised that when giving any RA Site Reference Numbers it is advisable to provide the National Grid References (NGR). Sometimes discrepancies arise, and by providing both the RA Site Reference Number together with the NGR you will enable us to confirm both the mast position.

This question permits you to enter the RA Site Reference Number if known. You can access the RA Site Reference Numbers from the RA website http://www.radio.gov.uk/topics/fixedlnk/index.htm. An example of a typical Site Reference Number, taken from the website, is shown below. The format is split into three parts:

This question allows you to specify the mast site locations in the National grid or extended grid reference. The extended grid reference is an extension of the National Grid Reference and is preferred by some applicants. Effectively this extends the Eastings and Northings for sites outside the usual National grid range and this is offered to customers, who are already familiar with this extended grid system. RA will be pleased to assist customers should they wish to know more about the applicability of this reference system.

The format location precision is 1 metre. We realise that this precision is not always possible. You should always enter the numerical Easting and Northing information starting from left to right and leaving any unused boxes blank.

All Eastings and Northings should be specified to at least 10 metre accuracy for applications in frequency bands up to 25 GHz. This requires four or more digit Eastings and Northings to be specified in the provided boxes.

Eastings and Northings should be specified to a precision of one metre for applications in frequency bands above 25 GHz or when the link length is less than 5 km. This requires five digit Eastings and Northings to be specified in the provided boxes.

This question allows you to specify the mast site locations in the Irish grid reference.

RA's interpretation on Irish grid reference precision of sites is the same as for the National grid guidance given above in question C.19.2.

This question allows you to specify most sites in Latitude/Longitude format. You are required to enter the Latitude and Longitude in separate series of boxes which use degrees (⁰), minutes (') and seconds (''). Remember when entering the longitude to enter E(ast) or W(est).

The Latitude/Longitude format in degrees, minutes and seconds is preferred to degrees decimal since it is the format recognised by the International Telecommunications Union.

You are required to enter address details for both locations providing as many of the details as possible. The details cover name, address, town, postcode and telephone number.

You are asked to enter the site owner's name and address for both locations if different to the contact details entered for question B.4. You should provide as many of the details as possible, attempting to give the name, address, town, postcode, telephone number and
e-mail.

You are asked to enter the site owner's name and address for both locations if different to the contact details entered for question C.20. You should provide as many of the details as possible, attempting to give the name, address, town, postcode, telephone number and
e-mail.

C.15	Please provide the following mast height information:	_
C.15.1	If onshore, please specify the mast apex and the mast base height in metres above ground level (AGL):	_
C.15.2	Or, if offshore, please specify the mast apex and the mast base height in metres above sea level:	_

RA8 (GN) Fixed Terrestrial (Point-to-Point) Link Licence Application Guide

How To Fill In Your Licence Application