Because radio signals can propagate across national borders, amateur radio is regulated by governments under international frameworks. National requirements generally follow standards set by the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and
World Radiocommunication Conferences. Most countries require candidates to pass an examination that tests electronics, radio propagation, operating practices, and regulations. Licensing grants access to a broader portion of the spectrum, additional communication modes, and higher transmitter power than unlicensed personal radio services such as
CB,
FRS, or
PMR446. and several wire antennas, along with a Canadian flag Examination systems often include several levels, each granting wider frequency access and higher power limits. In the United Kingdom and Australia, entry-level candidates must also complete a practical skills test to obtain the Foundation Licence, the first of three licensing stages. Each licensee is normally assigned a unique
call sign. Some countries issue additional station licences, or recognise club and organisational licences. /
UHF transceiver Licences are generally valid only in the issuing country or in states with reciprocal agreements. In some jurisdictions, a licence is also required to purchase or possess amateur radio equipment. In the United States, the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issues three licence classes: Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. Examinations are administered by accredited Volunteer Examiners through the FCC's Volunteer Examiner Coordinator system. Higher licence classes provide access to more frequency bands and higher transmitter power. The tests cover regulations, operating practices, electronics theory, equipment design, and safety. Morse code is no longer tested. Licences are valid for ten years, and the national question pools are published in advance and updated every four years. Some developing countries, especially those in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America, require the payment of annual license fees that can be prohibitively expensive for most of their citizens. A few small countries may not have a national licensing process and may instead require prospective amateur radio operators to take the licensing examinations of a foreign country. In countries with the largest numbers of amateur radio licensees, such as Japan, the United States, Thailand, Canada, and most of the countries in Europe, there are frequent license examinations opportunities in major cities. Granting a separate license to a club or organization generally requires that an individual with a current and valid amateur radio license who is in good standing with the telecommunications authority assumes responsibility for any operations conducted under the club license or club call sign. A few countries may issue special licenses to novices or beginners that do not assign the individual a call sign but instead require the newly licensed individual to operate from stations licensed to a club or organization for a period of time before a higher class of license can be acquired.
Newcomers Many people start their involvement in amateur radio on social media or by finding a local club. Clubs often provide information about licensing, local operating practices, and technical advice. Newcomers also often study independently by purchasing books or other materials, sometimes with the help of a mentor, teacher, or friend. In North America, established amateurs who help newcomers are often referred to as "Elmers", as coined by Rodney Newkirk (), within the ham community. In addition, many countries have national amateur radio societies which encourage newcomers and work with government communications regulation authorities for the benefit of all radio amateurs. The oldest of these societies is the
Wireless Institute of Australia, formed in 1910; other notable societies are the
Radio Society of Great Britain, the
American Radio Relay League,
Radio Amateurs of Canada,
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, the
New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters and
South African Radio League. (
See :Category:Amateur radio organizations)
Call signs An amateur radio operator uses a
call sign on the air to legally identify the operator or station. In some countries, the call sign assigned to the station must always be used, whereas in other countries, the call sign of either the operator or the station may be used. In certain jurisdictions, an operator may also select a
"vanity" call sign although these must also conform to the issuing government's allocation and structure used for amateur radio call signs. Some jurisdictions require a fee to obtain a vanity call sign; in others, such as the UK, a fee is not required and the vanity call sign may be selected when the license is applied for. The FCC in the U.S. discontinued its fee for vanity call sign applications in September 2015, but reinstated it at $35 in 2022. Call sign structure as prescribed by the ITU consists of three parts which break down as follows, using the call sign '''''' as an example: : The combination of the three parts identifies the specific transmitting station, and the station's identification (its call sign) is determined by the license held by its operator. In the case of commercial stations and amateur club stations, the operator is a corporation; in the case of amateur radio operators, the license-holder is a resident of the country identified by the first part of the call sign. Many countries do not follow the ITU convention for the second-part digit. In the United Kingdom the original calls '
, , , , were Full (A) License holders along with the last full call signs issued by the City & Guilds examination authority in December 2003. Additional Full Licenses were originally granted to (B) Licenses with , , , and 1991 onward with call signs. The newer three-level Intermediate License holders are assigned and , and the basic Foundation License holders are granted call signs , or '. Instead of using numbers, in the U.K. the second letter after the initial 'G' or 'M' identifies the station's location; for example, a call sign '
becomes and becomes when the license holder is operating their station in Scotland. Prefix & are Scotland, & are Wales, & are Northern Ireland, & are the Isle of Man, & are Jersey and & are Guernsey. Intermediate licence call signs are slightly different. They begin 2'
0 and
21 where the is replaced with one of the country letters, as above. For example '
and are Scotland, and ' are Wales and so on. The exception however is for England, whose letter would be 'E'; however, letter 'E'
is used, but
only in intermediate-level call signs, and perplexingly never by the advanced licenses. For example '
& ' are used whereas the call signs beginning 'G' or 'M' for foundation and full licenses never use the 'E'. In the United States, for non-vanity licenses, the numeral indicates the geographical district the holder resided in when the license was first issued. Prior to 1978, US hams were required to obtain a new call sign if they moved out of their geographic district. In Canada, call signs start with '
, , , , and '. Call signs starting with 'V' end with a number after to indicate the political region; whereas the prefix '
indicates geographic islands. Prefixes and are used for Nova Scotia; & for Quebec; & for Ontario; & for Manitoba; & for Saskatchewan; & for Alberta; & for British Columbia; for the Northwest Territories; for New Brunswick; for Nunavut; for the Yukon; for Prince Edward Island; for Newfoundland; and for Labrador. is for amateurs operating from Sable Island () or St. Paul Island ('). Special permission is required to visit either of these: from
Parks Canada for Sable and
Coast Guard for St. Paul. The last two or three letters of the call signs are typically the operator's choice (upon completing the licensing test, the ham writes three most-preferred options). Two-letter call sign suffixes require a ham to have already been licensed for 5 years. Call signs in Canada can be requested with a fee. Also, for smaller geopolitical entities, the digit at the second or third character might be part of the country identification. For example, '
is in the British West Indies, which is subdivided into Anguilla, Montserrat, and British Virgin Islands. is in the Turks and Caicos Islands, is on Pitcairn Island, is in the Falklands, and ' is in Bermuda. Online
callbooks or call sign databases can be browsed or searched to find out who holds a specific call sign. An example of an online callbook is
QRZ.com. Various partial lists of famous people who hold or held amateur radio call signs have been compiled and published. Many jurisdictions (but not in the U.K. nor Europe) may issue specialty
vehicle registration plates to licensed amateur radio operators. The fees for application and renewal are usually less than the standard rate for specialty plates.
Privileges In most administrations, unlike other RF spectrum users, radio amateurs may build or modify transmitting equipment for their own use within the amateur spectrum without the need to obtain government certification of the equipment. Licensed amateurs can also use any frequency in their bands (rather than being allocated fixed frequencies or channels) and can operate medium-to-high-powered equipment on a wide range of frequencies so long as they meet certain technical parameters including occupied bandwidth, power, and prevention of
spurious emission. Radio amateurs have access to frequency allocations throughout the RF spectrum, usually allowing choice of an effective frequency for communications across a local, regional, or worldwide path. The shortwave bands, or
HF, are suitable for worldwide communication, and the
VHF and
UHF bands normally provide local or regional communication, while the
microwave bands have enough space, or
bandwidth, for amateur television transmissions and high-speed
computer networks. member societies. The diamond holds a
circuit diagram featuring components common to every radio: an antenna,
inductor and
ground. In most countries, an amateur radio license grants permission to the license holder to own, modify, and operate equipment that is not certified by a governmental regulatory agency. This encourages amateur radio operators to experiment with home-constructed or modified equipment. The use of such equipment must still satisfy national and international standards on
spurious emissions. Amateur radio operators are encouraged both by regulations and tradition of respectful use of the spectrum to use as little power as possible to accomplish the communication. This is to minimise interference or
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) to any other device. Although allowable
power levels are moderate by commercial standards, they are sufficient to enable global communication. Lower license classes usually have lower power limits; for example, the lowest license class in the UK (Foundation licence) has a limit of 25 W. Power limits vary from country to country and between license classes within a country. For example, the
peak envelope power limits for the highest available license classes in a few selected countries are: 2.25
kW in Canada; 1.5 kW in the United States; 1.0 kW in Belgium,
Luxembourg, Switzerland, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand; 750 W in Germany; 500 W in Italy; 400 W in Australia and India; and 150 W in
Oman. Output power limits may also depend on the mode of transmission. In Australia, for example, 400 W may be used for
SSB transmissions, but FM and other modes are limited to 120 W. The point at which power output is measured may also affect transmissions: The United Kingdom measures at the point the antenna is connected to the signal feed cable, which means the radio system may transmit more than 400 W to overcome signal loss in the cable; conversely, the U.S. and Germany measure power at the output of the final amplification stage, which results in a loss in radiated power with longer cable feeds. Certain countries permit amateur radio licence holders to hold a Notice of Variation that allows higher power to be used than normally allowed for certain specific purposes. E.g. in the UK some amateur radio licence holders are allowed to transmit using (33 dBw) 2.0 kW for experiments entailing using the moon as a passive radio reflector (known as
Earth–Moon–Earth communication) (EME).
Band plans and frequency allocations The
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) governs the allocation of communications frequencies worldwide, with participation by each nation's communications regulation authority. National communications regulators have some liberty to restrict access to these
bandplan frequencies or to award additional allocations as long as radio services in other countries do not suffer interference. In some countries, specific
emission types are restricted to certain parts of the radio spectrum, and in most other countries,
International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member societies adopt voluntary plans to ensure the most effective use of spectrum. In a few cases, a national telecommunication agency may also allow hams to use frequencies outside of the internationally allocated amateur radio bands. In
Trinidad and Tobago, hams are allowed to use a repeater which is located on 148.800 MHz. This repeater is used and maintained by the
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), but may be used by radio amateurs in times of emergency or during normal times to test their capability and conduct emergency drills. This repeater can also be used by non-ham NEMA staff and
REACT members. In Australia and New Zealand, ham operators are authorized to use one of the UHF TV channels. In the U.S., amateur radio operators providing essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available may use any frequency including those of other radio services such as police and fire and in cases of disaster in Alaska may use the statewide emergency frequency of 5.1675 MHz with restrictions upon emissions. Similarly, amateurs in the United States may apply to be registered with the
Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS). Once approved and trained, these amateurs also operate on US government military frequencies to provide contingency communications and morale message traffic support to the military services. ==Modes of communication==