Amateur radio FAQ
General
Call RSGB technical and licensing advice on 01234 832 700 or contact your local RSGB Regional Representative. You'll also find a lot of useful information in the Operating section of the RSGB website.
Find details on the RSGB Planning Advisory Committee pages where you can also send your questions directly to the Committee.
Apply online using your Ofcom online licence account or use the Ofcom application form (OFW287). Our SES web pages have links and further advice.
Information about repeaters, gateways and data systems such as packet nodes and full details of how to make applications can be found on the UK Repeaters website at ukrepeater.net.
Licensing
You can find out how to get started in amateur radio by going to the Getting Started section and the Becoming a Radio Amateur FAQ on this website.
Go to Ofcom Online Services and fill in the online form. You will be issued with a user name and password. This allows you to log into Ofcom’s licensing service and apply for your licence, as well as revalidating it.
At intervals of not more than five years, or if any of your personal details change; such as your name, house address, or email address. We recommend making revalidation an annual process. To revalidate, log in to Ofcom Online Services and amend any details as soon as possible. This automatically revalidates your licence. If you have not yet registered to use the Ofcom Online Licensing Service you need to do so in order to access your licence online. When registering for the first time you need to have details of your licence serial number (i.e. 1-2345-6789 or AM123456), which can be found on the first page of your licence document. Our revalidation page has further advice.
Download Ofcom application form OFW346 (PDF) from the Ofcom website, or contact Ofcom (Spectrum Licensing) and ask for application form OFW346. Please note that Ofcom only permit a licensee to hold one Full Licence. If you wish to renew a Full Licence that has previously lapsed you will be required to surrender a current Full Licence if you hold one.
Airborne transmissions of any kind in bands such as 2.4 and 5GHz are specifically prohibited in all UK amateur radio licences. Ofcom has this guidance on using low power licence-exempt frequencies for model control. Airborne transmissions are legal from such licence-exempt compliant equipment. This includes links operating on the 2.4GHz and with a maximum power of 10mW EIRP, and on the 5.8GHz band with a maximum power of 25mW EIRP. Ofcom also offers UAS licenses for longer range drones, etc. Using a medium gain receiving aerial and a sensitive receiver, a video range of around a mile should be quite possible—but note that it is generally illegal to fly your model beyond unaided visual range.
RadCom and GB2RS News
Send your news articles to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. This email address handles submissions for both GB2RS and RadCom magazine.
Log into RSGB Membership Services at rsgb.org/members and check your email address is up-to-date in Update Details. If it's not, please update it first. Then go to Manage Preferences and check the Subscribe button next to GB2RS email alerts. The alerts will then begin the following Friday afternoon. To unsubscribe from the mailing list go back to Manage Preferences and uncheck the Unsubscribe link next to GB2RS email alerts.
Details of upcoming rallies and other events can be found on our Rallies page, or in the latest edition of RadCom.
Email details of the rally to radcom@rsgb.org.uk which covers both RadCom and GB2RS. When submitting rally information for the print magazine, please note the RadCom copy deadlines.
Operating issues
Check out the technical advice in the RSGB EMC Committee technical section.
You can report abuse to the RSGB's Operating Advisory Service (OAS). OAS can be contacted by email on oas@rsgb.org.uk.
