ARLA/CLUSTER: Reino Unido é questionado sobre as exigências para o licenciamento nas bandas de VHF e UHF em baixa potencia

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

A licence for 144 and Above

Should the UK have an amateur radio licence permitting low-power
experimental use of VHF, UHF and Microwave bands ?

Over the past 15 years we have seen a dramatic decline in activity on
the 144 MHz (2m) and 430 MHz (70cm) bands. Even amateurs living near
major cities have commented it can be difficult to get a contact on 2m
FM.

This decline has taken place at a time when prices for VHF/UHF rigs
have fallen to their lowest ever. Brand new 5 watt Dual-band FM
handhelds now cost under £35 compared to the £200 or so that might
have been paid in the 1990's yet this has failed to stop the slump in
activity.

In other countries there is a VHF/UHF entry level licence requiring in
some cases no more than a short 15 minute Rules and Regulations exam.
Such a licence helps to increase activity at these frequencies.

The current UK licence system requires people to prove they are good
at passing exams yet how many really remember everything they
memorised for the exams ? For many it has faded within a few months.
Should amateur radio be more about self-training - learning by doing ?
Perhaps the ability to problem-solve is a more important skill than
the ability to memororise facts for an exam ?

Currently if someone wishes to experiment with a very low power
transmitter running say 50 milliwatts on the 24 GHz band they have to
obtain an Intermediate licence. Only a small minority of clubs
currently run Intermediate courses so in practice it can easily take
18 months for someone to find and complete both Foundation and
Intermediate courses. They may also have to drive a round-trip of 70
miles or more each week to get to the nearest Intermediate course
assuming they have a car. During this they may learn very little that
is of direct use to them for their planned experiments on 24 GHz but
they will certainly have accumulated plenty of paperwork and ticked
the right boxes.

Given the long time scale involved it is perhaps little surprise that
those wishing to experiment at UHF and Microwaves chose to use Licence
Exempt spectrum instead. In the license exempt 433/434, 868 and 2400
MHz bands you will find young people experimenting with all forms of
radio communications be it transmitting images from High Altitude
Balloons, running repeaters, creating Mesh Networks and developing SDR
transceivers. These are exactly the people that amateur radio should
be attracting but our hobby may seem irrelevant to experimenters who
want to got out and actually do things rather than spending months or
years passing exams.

If someone wishes to experiment with a few milliwatts on 24 GHz, 76
GHz or 134 GHz why do we put any barriers in their way ? All they
really need is an understanding of Rules and Regulations, Operating
Procedure and the concept of Shared Frequency Allocations.

The rest they will learn for themselves as they develop their equipment.

A new entry level licence could permit the use of home constructed
transmitters running up to 100 milliwatts and commercially available
Radio Equipment which satisfies IR 2028 running up to 5 watts on
frequencies of 144 MHz and Above. Without it we may see activity on
those bands continue to wither and die.

Trevor M5AKA