HAllo
At the
https://rsgb.org/main/operating/band-plans/hf/5mhz/
I found the notice:
Frequencies at 5MHz are available on a secondary basis to holders of a UK Full Amateur Licence.
Is it ok for me to do 60m during my vacation?
73 Armin
That’s a good question. Certainly we do not have the full WRC allocation but do have other frequencies. Maybe keeping to just the part of the WRC we do have would be ok.
If your licence is CEPT recognised then it is the same as a UK Full licence.
Hi Armin,
I believe once the need for an NoV was removed and the 5MHz and 472kHz frequencies were “rolled into” the UK Full licence, those bands also became available for visiting amateurs under TR61/01 CEPT rules. Prior to that action, visiting amateurs would not have been able to legally operate on 60m under the “visiting amateur” process because the main station address has to be in the UK for a “Notice of Variation”.
If you wish to work back to the continent “overlap” frequencies from the UK chanellised system to the WRC15 60m Band are as follows:
CW 5354.5 or 5362.5
SSB 5355 or 5363
DIG 5366 - 5366.5
or you can set up a sked and work split if the other party is willing - as these “overlap frequencies” can get busy.
73 Ed.
Regardless of whether it is OK or not, you will need to be prepared for the self-appointed band police to crawl out of the woodwork and tell you that it isn’t.
As others have said, the 5MHz frequencies are now incorporated into the schedule of the ordinary full licence, so in that sense it is just another band.
However there are some special conditions attached to 5MHz in the “Notes to Schedule 1” part of the licence document, note (g). Most of these conditions are unlikely to trouble a SOTA activator, but the one that is potentially a problem is
(x) The LIcensee shall only operate the Station to the extent that the Licensee can be contacted on a telephone which is located in close proximity to the Station.
The licence itself says nothing about who needs to be able to make contact or how they are supposed to know the number to call, but it is generally understood to mean that you should be contactable on the number registered in your contact details on Ofcom’s database. Since a visitor operating under the CEPT arrangement has no such registration, they are unable to comply.
In practice there is variation in the extent to which this is taken seriously. In earlier discussions on this reflector some people have expressed the opinion that we should not use 5MHz on summits where we have no mobile phone signal. Others just get on with it. My own view is that I’ll always have my mobile with me, but I don’t worry about whether there is coverage. If I’m busy operating, then I’m almost certainly not going to answer the phone even if it does ring! I “can be contacted” by voicemail, so I think it is within the letter of the regulation. At worst they want me to close down, which I am going to do fairly soon anyway.
Martyn M1MAJ
2 Likes
Thank you first for the information.
The conditions are currently very moody. Mainly I want to be akitv on 40/30 and 20m.
But if it does, I would also work on 5354.5 in cw … we’ll see
73 Armin