Ofcom Will Remove Mandatory Ham Callsign ID Interval, Allow Encryption For Some

product_bucket writes: The UK's radio regulator, Ofcom, today published changes in the licensing conditions that remove the mandatory 15-minute callsign ID interval on all allocated frequencies apart from 5MHz, where special conditions remain. In its place, a requirement for the station to be "clearly identifiable at all times" has been made, along with a requirement to transmit the station callsign "as frequently as is practicable" in a form consistent with the operating mode. The decision also permits the use of encryption (PDF) when the station is being used for, or on behalf of a user service such as St. John Ambulance. Unusually, no response to the consultation (PDF) has been made available, so there is at present no way to assess the extent to which the changes were based on actual responses.

Comments

Ofcom

[leathered]

If Ofcom really want to help ham radio operators they could do more to ban or restrict power network adapters and the multitude of other gadgets that leak QRM all over the airwaves.

Bring back the Radiocommunications Agency. Ofcom is a behemoth that has its fingers in too many pies to be an effective regulator.

Re:bad idea

[jerel]

As a new-ish ham, I hear a lot of "ham radio is dead" stuff, and it's just not true. There are more registered hams now then ever before, and the rate of new licensees is also going up. (i.e. the number of new hams every year keeps going up) But the new young hams are not getting into it for the same reasons the older hams did. Most of the older hams were at least amateur radio electronics guys. Now, nobody (or very very few) builds a radio from bare components, and the first level of license requires only a basic understanding of radio electronics principles. In my book it's still very cool to put up my antenna (I live in an antenna-restricted community) and know that when I contact someone in another country, I'm doing it without relying on somebody else's infrastructure. It's just me, my battery, my radio, and my antenna, and I'm talking to some guy half-way around the world! How cool is that? And emergency communications will always be a valid use. In fact, in a real emergency, cell phones are useless for a variety of reasons, some of which can be failed infrastructure, or even just simple congestion. If an earthquake hits or a hurricane, cell towers go down or everybody jumps on their phone and then nobody can get in on the overcrowded towers. Or EMS blocks all calls except for emergency services to use. I don't know how it's going to evolve, but it always does, and it's most definitely not dead. 73, WT6G