Ofcom consultation (Part 1)

Just the opposite for me Colin; it went straight through, more or less by return. No communication / discussion was necessary. As for the database, when I am logged in to Ofcom, the site shows both my licences so the database has definitely been updated. Maybe half of me needs to become a contest group. :thinking:

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None they are all Transmitters or Transcievers !!

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A few thoughts came to mind after skimming the document:

1/ A booming 2nd hand market for Power Amplifiers will ensue, approx. 6 months after the
power level increase introduction, when the realisation kicks in that the money should have been spent on improving the antenna system instead.

One of my favourite Ham Radio YouTube videos:

2/ The increase in power consumption goes against current trends of trying to reduce and conserve energy usage as Gerald also pointed out above.

I understand that not everyone will take up the option.

But against a backdrop where people are glueing themselves to roads, portable/mobile operators exploring alternatives such low power/more efficient equipment, public transport portable, use of solar to power their station, seems the legislators are tone deaf in this area.

3/ From what Iā€™ve read so far, not sure how much more appealing the hobby will become for people to decide to (re)join.

4/ I am in favour of simplifying the use of call-signs. I have used at least 12 different ones over the last 2 years; if only it will help in my main logging program to interact nicely/better with other logging programs (e.g. LoTW, eQSL, QRZ, etc)

5/ A 100+ page document to explain the changes seems to indicate a more rudimentary issue.

73, Robert

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It seems to indicate a government department was involved :slight_smile:

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Donā€™t forget that the power is assessed at the antenna feed point, not the transmitter output. It doesnā€™t take many dB of feeder loss to make a 100W rig perfectly legal for an intermediate licencee, or for a full licence holder to run a 1kW linear.

Martyn M1MAJ

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Callsign depletion must surely be an issue. Ignoring for simplicity the exclusion of naughty words, there are at most 16900 possible 3-letter suffixes. With 3 prefixes in use for foundation callsigns, that makes 50700 possible, and the consultation document says that there are currently 32127 issued. That looks a bit tight to me. They have made it clear that they donā€™t want to expand foundation into M8 or M9. Whatā€™s left? You can see why they might want to recycle.

The UK callsign system is profligate in its consumption of prefixes. I think we should be relieved that Ofcom have not proposed total abolition of RSLs in order to free up prefixes.

Martyn M1MAJ

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Yes. admin overhead and computer storage space is a red herring.

Same here. Thereā€™s no issue with their database / system handling multiple licenses to one individual.

When I passed the Morse test and got my Class A licence (M0ALC) in the mid 90ā€™s my Class B licence (G8CPZ) was not revoked and I paid the annual fee for both licences for many years. When the Ofcom scraped the Morse test requirement, Class A and Class B both became - in Ofcom jargon - ā€œfullā€ licences and equivalent. However, when Ofcom decided to make all amateur radio licences free-of-charge, we amateurs lost any power of influence regarding licensing conditions. Now, I pay nothing I may be forced to accept surrendering one of my callsigns.

Andy G8CPZ / M0ALC

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I vaguely remember them sort-of trying that a while back, but they do seem to have grasped the point this time, as they even specifically mentioned DXCC in the document. I can see RSL use being entirely optional will cause problems for amateurs, but thatā€™s not Ofcomā€™s problem.

Very clearly, yes. Automatic revocation of lower-level licences, and re-use of such revoked licences would help for a while.

Yep. I suspect Colin @M1BUU 's point about ā€œtrouble with the ITUā€ is much more likely the driver. However, theyā€™re still happy to issue multiple club callsigns, and those are effectively under the control of individuals (rather than organisations), so a logical way of retaining second full callsigns would be to convert the second from an individual call to a club call (though, obviously, club calls have some restrictions when compared to individual calls).

I suspect the main problem is that thereā€™s no obvious reciprocal system at present that would allow CEPT novices visiting the UK to be clearly identified as such, so itā€™s in the ā€œtoo difficultā€ pileā€¦

I feel thereā€™s a big difference between the re-issue of an SKā€™s callsign and the re-issue of a callsign surrendered following a licence upgrade. I see no particular problem with the latter being only two years, but SK callsigns need a rather longer interval.

Thatā€™s a problem for the sites concerned, not for Ofcom. Personally, Iā€™d love to change the few remaining logins still tied to my previous callsigns, but some sites, unlike SOTA, make this next to impossible.

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As we of more mature years might say, ā€œPen Pushers Rule, OKā€.

Iā€™m considering which way to go with this, but I really do wonder just how many of us have more than one call and are causing this apparent ā€œproblemā€. I use my ā€˜Bā€™ call mainly for 70cm and 23cm (aligned with its original purpose) and always portable as the home QTH is not good enough for those bands. As some may recall, Iā€™ve also used it on some summits, but never alongside my main call. It has (for me) a specific purpose, one which I would dearly love to retain.

While I wholly agree with this, I would think this might go onto the ā€œtoo difficultā€ pile as how would they distinguish between the two?

Overall I must admit to being sceptical about the proposed changes and wonder whether they may be ushered in wholesale regardless of what responses they receive during the consultation period. I assume the RSGB will be involved in some way to moderate the proposals. Hopefully common sense will prevail, but as usual I am not holding my breath.

73, Gerald G4OIG / G8CXK

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If they put an automatic lower-level-licence-revocation step into the licence upgrade process, then those particular revoked callsigns would be easily identifiable. Other cases are possibly less easy, and maybe they should treat all other such cases as if they were SK callsigns just to be on the safe side, but under the hood it should just be a matter of setting a ā€œdonā€™t use again beforeā€ date (and then checking it when needed)ā€¦

I think thereā€™s a third use-case they need to consider, but havnā€™t; that of transferring a callsign from one individual to another (with the consent of both parties) where thereā€™s, ideally, no wait-time. I see this mainly as a problem that relates to club callsigns*, but it might also come up in transfers between family members, or possibly in certain SK-related situations.

(* for example, individual A holds the callsign for club C, but leaves the club one way or another. How does individual B take over the club call? At present, this can be a Major Faffā„¢.)

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Ive briefly read the 101 pages of the document.
So

More power for all levels.
Nice to run a more power but will it make much of a difference for Foundation and Intermediate calls?

One license only.
Well my M6 call is linked to WAB so this means ive got to start over. Iā€™m still trying to get some awards from QRZ so back to nothing again.

Intermediate to get M8/9 Calls.
Dont mind my 2E0 call. But what happens when The Foundation block runs out? M2 or M4 calls?

Change your call sign every two years.
Open to abuse. Would a new licence want to hold a ā€œTaintedā€ call? Nope!

Ditching of RSLs
Bad idea for the DXCC hunters, but you cant have two numbers at the start of your call sign hence the M8/9 thing.p

Iā€™ll have to re read the document, but i think they have some good ideas.

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The VK system of a four letter suffix comes to mind.

But those revoked licenses will still show up in the SOTA database and may have to appear twice (or even more) as new individuals hold that callsign. The record of an SK or revoked operators achievements in SOTA remain permanently visible in the database, as indeed it should. I imagine that the same goes for other award schemes. It is easy to think up work arounds, what is less easy to deal with is the emotional shock of hearing a callsign on the bands that belonged to an old friend. That too shall pass, but why make it necessary when callsign numerals donā€™t have to stop at nine (or if they do, that can be changed), and suffixes can have more than three letters?

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Sorry to say, I feel it is unlikely the contesters and big DX ops will come DOWN to a legal 1kW!

In earlier discussions, it was clear that risk based assessment driven by ERP calculations would be basis for justifying future power structures.

David
G0EVV

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The one the VK licensing authority has decided to abandon?

As I understand it, callsigns are recorded in the records of all the QSOs, and the QSOs are tied to an account depending upon who uploads them. A callsign may be used by more than one person, but the relevant QSOs are still correctly assigned to the appropriate accounts. See, for instance, the various anniversary special calls that were used by multiple operators. Iā€™m sure the SOTA database can handle it just fine, without any drama.

Incidentally, the US seems to manage with a system where callsigns (especially the 2x1 and 1x2 ones) get re-assigned from time to timeā€¦

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No, I changed my books when I went from my old G7 to M0.

Foundation licence holders who have failed to upgrade will have to return their licence. :wink:

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That does not mean that it is impracticable.

The account is identified by a callsign. Having accessed your account by this callsign you can then enter the callsign used where it differs from the account callsign.

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Apart from the fact most software is designed for a callsign of max length 6 chars. Thatā€™s why the VKnFxxx system was doomed to fail. Itā€™s a non-starter.

The account is identified by the username. That maybe a callsign or not. The callsign that appears in the honour rolls is user selectable. We have already had 2 cases of re-issued USA calls clashing and fixed easily. Itā€™s not a problem. ANDā€¦ other countries have been re-issuing calls for years and years without any major issues.

Bring on reallocation of callsign and take the wind out of the sails of those who have practised callsign-snobbery/elitism for years within the UK.

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As a matter of general interest, how was it fixed?

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Donā€™t worry David, in the future all new and existing full licences will come with free planning consent for a 30m tower in your garden so you can get your RF away from every human in the area, though anyone living in a tower block might just have a problem. :wink:

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