Thai Hams Now Authorized to Operate on More Bands
On October 12, radio amateurs in Thailand were granted permission to operate on 12, 17 and 30 meters and in the CW portion of the 80 and 160 meters on a permanent basis. Before this time, Thai hams had only been able to operate on the 80 and 160 meters on weekends during international contests; authorization to operate on 12, 17 and 30 meters was only granted on a few occasions for certain special event stations.
These new privileges are part of a complete revision and consolidation of Amateur Radio regulations by Thailand's National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and follows more than five years of lobbying by the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST), Thailand's IARU Member-Society.
Specifically, the Amateur Radio HF spectrum in Thailand increased as follows: 1.800 to 1.825 MHz, 3.500 to 3.540 MHz, 10.100 to 10.150 MHz, 18.068 to 18.168 and 24.890 to 24.990 MHz. RAST advises Thai amateurs to respect the IARU Region 3 band plan.
No changes were made to the VHF/UHF bands -- 6 meters (50-54 MHz) and 1240 MHz are still off limits. No transmissions are allowed on the 70 cm band (430 MHz), but it can be monitored or used to listen to satellite downlinks; 2 meters (144 MHz) is channelized and minor amendments were made to repeater allocations.
The full 37 page announcement of the NTC's Amateur Radio Act of 2007 is published at RAST's Thai language Web site. According to RAST's English language Web site, an unofficial translation will soon be made available.
Other Provisions of Thailand's Amateur Radio Act of 2007
Under the new regulations, all club stations in the provinces were given 180 days to register as a society. Each society must have a minimum of 20 members. Club stations must operate for at least three hours a day, a reduction from eight hours under the previous regulations.
The syllabus for the Amateur Radio examination has also been revised. Intermediate class operators must now be at least 15 years old to operate on the HF bands. Intermediate class operators must also continue to demonstrate sending and receiving Morse Code at 8 words per minute.
Page last modified: 01:18 PM, 16 Oct 2007 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2007, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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