Information from the RSGB
Introduction The Foundation Licence has been designed and introduced for people of all ages and abilities. To take the associated training course you do not need to have any formal qualifications to be able to benefit from this interesting hobby. The aim of the Foundation Licence is to facilitate a simple entry into Amateur Radio as a hobby where you will be able to make friends from all walks of life. We hope that as experience and confidence increases, Foundation Licensees will progress up the Amateur Radio ladder to obtain a more advanced Amateur Licence, with all the attendant privileges. This information sheet aims to answer the most popular questions about how to become a Foundation Licensee and how it fits within the amateur radio licensing system. The questions are by no means comprehensive, and if you would like some further information on Amateur Radio as a hobby, please contact the Radio Society of Great Britain or the Radiocommunications Agency at the addresses provided on the last page Q1. Why do I need a licence? A. It is a legal requirement under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949. You must first obtain a licence from the Radiocommunications Agency before you may legally send and receive messages by radio, unless you are operating under the direct supervision of a full licensee. The licence terms, provisions and limitations document BR68/F sets out the conditions that apply. Q2. What is the difference between a radio amateur and a person who operates Citizens' Band (CB) Radio? A. A CB licensee does not have to pass any examinations or obtain any qualifications before being allowed to operate. The service is short range, with a limited coverage area and may be used for some business purposes, e.g. taxi companies. Amateur radio, especially in the HF bands, can enable an amateur to make a contact with other countries, but business use is not allowed. Q3. What frequencies can a Foundation Licensee use? A. The frequencies are set out in BR68/F. Q4. What will the foundation licence enable me to do? A. The Foundation licence will allow you to operate amateur radio within the limitations set out in BR68/F. Q5. What qualifications do I need? A. You will need to have completed a training course of approximately 10 hrs in duration followed by an assessment consisting of 20 multiple-choice questions administered by a registered body (such as a local amateur radio club). The qualification will be on 'a know what do to' basis. Q6. Will knowledge of the Morse code be necessary? A. The International Radio Regulations require that, to operate on the HF frequencies, the operator must "demonstrate an ability to send correctly by hand and to receive correctly by ear, texts in Morse code signals". In practice, this will consist of a simple assessment using crib sheets to encode messages into Morse, for example dot dash is the letter A, so you would look at the crib sheet, write down the letter A as a dot and a dash and then send it. The same would work in reverse when decoding a series of dots and dashes - you write them down and using the crib sheet, translate them into letters. Q7. What does the training course consist of? A. The course will be very basic and will focus
on safety, avoiding interference and good operating practice, and will
last about 10 hours.
Q8. Could a home designed and built transmitter be used by a foundation licensee if it is 'signed off' by an existing licensee? A. No. The use of home built transmitters (i.e.
equipment constructed by the amateur without using commercially produced
kits) will not be allowed under the Foundation licence. The reason for
this is that to properly construct home build equipment, a greater technical
knowledge is required than the Foundation course would provide, and there
is a risk that the equipment may cause interference to other radio users.
Q9. What costs will be involved with attending the training course? A. There will be a fee per candidate, which will
include the candidates' assessment paper. As yet, a figure has
Q10. What is the fee for the Foundation Licence? A. The annual fee will be £15, but the licence will be free to those aged under 21 or 75 years or over. Q11. Are there any age restrictions to taking the test? A. No - if you are good enough to pass, we feel that you are entitled to hold a licence. Q12. How much will it cost to operate as a Foundation licensee? A. This depends on you. There is a wide range of radio equipment commercially available, at different prices. You will have to decide how much you wish to spend on your hobby. A cheap way to start would be to join a local amateur radio club, where you may be able to use existing equipment, or purchase suitable second hand amateur radio equipment. Q13. What callsign will be available to me? A. The callsign will be in the M3 series. You can ask if a particular callsign is available, for example if it matches your name e.g. M3 SID. However, combinations that could cause offence will not be permitted. Q14. Does my licence allow anyone else to operate my radio station? A. No-one may transmit under your supervision. Licensed amateurs may operate your radio station under their own callsign, using the suffix /P and entering the details in their own logbook. Q15. How much further can I progress in the Amateur Hobby? A. There will be two further stages that you can progress to - An Intermediate Licence and a Full licence. Each licence will require you to obtain more detailed knowledge of different aspects of radio, and take additional examinations. The syllabi for these two licences has not yet been agreed, but they will roughly equate as follows: The Intermediate licence
equates to the current Novice Licence Class.
Q16. When will these new licence classes be introduced? A. There will be a pilot scheme for the Foundation Licence starting in October, and if this goes well, the Foundation licence will be introduced in January 2002. The Intermediate licence will come into force on 1 October 2001. Although the syllabus will be developed over the next 12 months, taking the existing examinations for the Novice and Full Amateur licences before the syllabus is available will result in you being granted an Intermediate licence before that date. The Full licence continues in its present form and the syllabus will be reviewed in due course. Q17. Will the Morse requirement remain after WRC 2003? A. Whilst it is expected that WRC2003 will remove the Morse requirement there is always the possibility that it will not. The UK has an obligation to abide by the International Radio Regulations. If it is abolished, it is likely that the 'A' and 'B' class distinction in the current Novice/Intermediate and Full licences will be removed. Q18. Will I still be able to use Morse if the requirement is removed? A. Yes, Morse will still be allowed but will not be compulsory. Many people enjoy using Morse and seek to improve their skills. The RSGB will continue to run the Morse training schools. Q19. Can existing Novices and Full Class B Radio Amateurs gain access to HF? A. Yes, if successful in passing a 5WPM Morse
test.
Q20. If I am an existing Novice or Class B Licensee, would I benefit by attending the Foundation training and taking a test in Morse? A. Yes. In addition to safety and the avoidance of interfering with other radio services, the Foundation syllabus includes actual operating experience on HF, unlike the existing Novice and Class B licence courses. This will automatically give you Foundation licence privileges and a Foundation call sign and may encourage you to improve your Morse skills to 5 WPM. Q21. I am an existing Amateur. Is not the introduction of the Foundation Licence lowering the entry standards for Amateur Radio? A. Clause 1(1) of the Amateur licence makes it
clear that Amateur Radio is a service of self - training. The Agency and
the RSGB believes that a sensible balance needs to be struck between an
entry hurdle that is high enough to ensure levels of safety and competence,
and yet is not so high as to discourage those who, with the right encouragement,
will go on to progress up the licensing structure to Intermediate or Full
level. It is this balance that the Foundation Licence seeks to achieve.
21 September 2001
The Radiocommunications Agency announced in September
2001 a series of changes tothe radio amateur licensing regime, designed
to make it more attractive as a technical hobby. The changes include lowering
the Morse Code speed requirement for full licensees, amalgamating some
licence categories, allowing trainees to operate while supervised
For more than a hundred years radio amateurs have
been at the forefront of developments in telecommunication. In the current
information and communication technology expansion, the Radiocommunications
Agency and the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) have agreed that it
is in the national interest that access to amateur radio be
Amateur radio offers:
It is hoped that it may be possible to simplify this structure after the World Radio Conference in 2003. In the meantime the following changes are being made to the amateur radio licensing structure: UK Class A and Class A/B Licences Earlier this year the European Conference of Postal
and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) recommended that the Morse
requirement for their Class 1 licence (equivalent to a UK Class A) be reduced
from 12 to 5 words per minute (wpm). This has provided the Agency with
an opportunity to review the amateur radio licensing structure. To
Additionally, to encourage the practical aspect of amateur radio training, unlicensed trainees (on a registered training course) may be supervised by full licence holders to operate a station and contact other UK licensed amateurs. There will be no time limit on the duration of any message. Novice Licence With effect from 1st October 2001 the Novice Amateur
Radio Licence will be re-named the Intermediate Amateur Radio Licence.
Intermediate (A) licensees will be allowed access to all amateur radio
bands. Intermediate (B) will be allowed access to all amateur bands at
50MHz and above. All Intermediate licensees will be allowed 50 watts output
in all bands except where a lower power limit already applies to Amateur
(A) licensees, in which case the lower
Foundation Licence The final change to the amateur radio licensing structure prior to WRC 2003 will be the introduction of a new "Foundation" licence at the beginning of 2002. This licence will provide access to most of the amateur bands, and restrict licensees to a maximum RF out put power of 10 watts RF output. Transmitting equipment will need to be commercially manufactured items, or properly designed commercial kits. Study for the Foundation licence may be undertaken over a weekend, and is based on the tradition that amateur radio is a hobby learnt mainly through self-training. The Foundation syllabus is based on the concept of producing "safe and competent" radio amateurs.
The Agency and the RSGB hope that by introducing this new licence level, amateur radio will become more attractive and accessible to both young and old, and that by taking this first step onto the licensing ladder, Foundation licensees will be encouraged to undertake a process of self training to acquire higher licence privileges in due course. It is intended that from 1st January 2004, a revised integrated structure of qualifications and examinations for amateur radio in the UK will come into effect. Details of bands, modes and powers for the Foundation Licence. The Schedule to Terms, Provisions and Limitations
Booklet (Amateur Radio
Notes to the Schedule (a) In all frequency bands, high intensities of RF radiation may be harmful and safety precautions should be taken, particularly in locations to which people have access. Advice concerning safe levels of exposure to RF radiation is provided by the National Radiological Protection Board. (b) Primary, permitted and secondary services For the purpose of this Licence, frequency bands
allocated to the Amateur Service on a primary basis cannot claim protection
from undue interference from any other authorised services, such protection
being afforded only to users whose frequencies have been registered nationally
or internationally. In the United Kingdom, individual frequency
(c) Any modulation technique (except for pulse emissions) may be used for the types of transmission specified in the fourth column of the Schedule which are defined as follows:
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