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 Previous: The K7VVV Solar Update |  Next: ARRL In Action: What Have We Been Up To Lately? |
 The RSGB's new Foundation license manual. "The Foundation licence is a new licence intended to attract new people, young and the not-so-young, into amateur radio," the book's author, Alan Betts, G0HIQ, says in the book's Introduction. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 11, 2002--(Updated)--A new class of Amateur Radio license in Great Britain will make the HF bands much more accessible to newcomers as well as to Class B VHF-only "no code" licensees. The new Foundation license, which became effective January 1, does not require a specific Morse code examination. Instead, applicants must pass a short test and complete what's called a "Morse assessment."
According to the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), 600 of the new licenses were issued the first week. An estimated 100 Foundation licensees were reported active during a QSO party held January 1.
The new license, which underwent a trial run starting last October to work out any kinks, provides holders with access to most bands from 136 kHz through 440 MHz--with the notable exception of 10 meters--using CW, SSB, or digital modes. Foundation licensees may operate with 10 W output using only commercially manufactured equipment or "properly designed" commercial kits. Licensees will be issued call signs from the M3AAA-M3ZZZ series. The new license scheme followed discussions between the RSGB and the Radiocommunications Agency, or RA--the United Kingdom's telecommunications regulatory agency. The new ticket also is available to residents of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Current Class B licensees who have held that ticket for at least a year may obtain a Foundation license simply by taking the Morse assessment, during which applicants work with a Morse tutor. There is no Morse speed requirement, and applicants are provided with a copy of the Morse alphabet and "coding" and "decoding" information sheets. To complete the assessment, applicants must receive a text of up to 30 characters in QSO format, and they may write down the Morse elements and decode them later using the information sheets. The sending assessment requires sending a prepared text in a format similar to the receiving assessment's. The RSGB says the entire Morse assessment takes about 30 minutes.
Passing the Morse assessment will enable Class B licensees to operate on the HF bands as Foundation licensees, using their M3 call signs, while continuing to have privileges above 30 MHz under their Class B tickets.
Currently unlicensed newcomers have to complete a Foundation license training program being offered through the RSGB and pass a 20-question multiple-choice test, in addition to the Morse assessment. The class involves about 10 hours of hands-on training in safety, basic operating concepts, regulations and licensing requirements and can be completed in a weekend. The RA booklet for the Foundation license is 15 pages. The RSGB has just published its license study guide, Foundation Licence Now!, by Alan Betts, G0HIQ. The comprehensive 32-page manual covers such topics as technical basics, transmitters and receivers, antennas, propagation, RFI, operating procedures, safety and Morse code.
Institution of the Foundation license continues an effort that began in 1998, when the RSGB undertook a campaign to seek reconsideration of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) policy supporting mandatory Morse code testing for HF access to Amateur Radio HF bands. The RSGB has said it will continue to support Morse code and HF CW subbands, but contends that mandatory Morse testing was stifling growth of Amateur Radio. Last October, the IARU Administrative Council resolved that IARU policy supports "the removal of Morse code testing as an ITU requirement for an amateur license to operate on frequencies below 30 MHz." The Council further resolved to urge member societies to seek Morse code testing speeds "not exceeding five words per minute" as an interim measure.
Last September, the RA reduced the Morse requirement from 12 WPM to 5 WPM for the Class A "full" license in Great Britain and incorporated the Class A/B license into Class A. Class A/B licensees were given an opportunity either to obtain M0 call signs or to retain their M5 call signs. The former British Novice license has been renamed the Intermediate license, and the power limit was raised from 10 W to 50 W.
The RA also has instituted an apprenticeship program in Great Britain that lets unlicensed trainees operate under supervision and contact other British licensees. The RA has said it hopes to further simplify the amateur licensing structure in Great Britain after World Radiocommunication Conference 2003. Many observers expect WRC-03 to, by one means or another, eliminate the Morse requirement for HF privileges from the ITU Radio Regulations.
More information on the new license is
available on the RSGB Web site.
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