5 ms·

I'm based in the UK and have a passive interest in amateur radio. If I had to guess, it isn't outright forbidden, just a licensed activity. Maybe the license is

I'm based in the UK and have a passive interest in amateur radio. If I had to guess, it isn't outright forbidden, just a licensed activity. Maybe the license isn't easy to get or widely granted?

dylan604 4y ago
you have to have a license to watch television for chris' sake, so it absolutely falls in line you'd need licensing to transmit. you probably have to have licenses in your kid's walkie-talkies. this is the same country that has the national power grid introduce "hum" (or whatever it is technically callled) in the signal so that a time reference can be decoded from it.
- Twisol 4y ago
  > this is the same country that has the national power grid introduce "hum" (or whatever it is technically callled) in the signal so that a time reference can be decoded from it. I don't think that's intentionally introduced. My understanding was that mains hum in any grid is an artifact of a noisy signal that just happens to be useful as a forensics fingerprint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_hum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_hum
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Yes, it seems I crossed a few streams in my head. Here's an article[0] talking about how the forensics is done because someone is creating a database of all of the fluctuations that give it the forensic finger print rather than it being deliberately injected. [0]https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-20629671 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-20629671
    - ErikCorry 4y ago
      Fascinating
    - roywiggins 4y ago
      I believe that the frequency actually is deliberately managed... to keep old clocks synced. https://www.kccscientific.com/the-dirty-little-secret-about-mains-power-line-frequency/ https://www.kccscientific.com/the-dirty-little-secret-about-...
- bodge5000 4y ago
  Its not really a license as much as it is a fee, even if it is called that. It'd be like calling taxes a life-license or something. Also worth noting its not the only country that has one, just off the top of my head I know that Ireland, Switzerland and Japan have them as well
throwaway67743 4y ago
Transmission outside of unlicensed bands requires a license, amateur radio has a license requirement to teach responsibility and proper clue, which isn't a bad thing per se
alibarber 4y ago
Obtaining an amateur radio licence in the UK is fairly trivial. The courses and exams are administered by volunteers so the hardest part is finding availability to align with your schedule. COVID really helped because it became possible to take the exams online. There are 3 levels, Foundation through to Full which come with different privileges. You can achieve a lot with the basic Foundation. In terms of airborne transmitting - yes the UK is an outlier. It is forbidden to make amateur radio transmissions in the air over the UK, or use a UK licence to do so anywhere I think. The key word here is amateur - so specifically on those bands and with that licence. I think the ISM bands would be fine - and there are balloon projects and clubs in the UK. I have a Finnish amateur licence in parallel and that doesn't have this restriction but naturally it would still not be allowed to use it to transmit from an aircraft over the UK. And even if it were to be elsewhere there are still some rules surrounding that, and it's hopefully obvious that you need permission of whoever's in charge of the aircraft.

I'm based in the UK and have a passive interest in amateur radio. If I had to guess, it isn't outright forbidden, just a licensed activity. Maybe the license isn't easy to get or widely granted?

dylan604 4y ago

you have to have a license to watch television for chris' sake, so it absolutely falls in line you'd need licensing to transmit. you probably have to have licenses in your kid's walkie-talkies. this is the same country that has the national power grid introduce "hum" (or whatever it is technically callled) in the signal so that a time reference can be decoded from it.

Twisol 4y ago
> this is the same country that has the national power grid introduce "hum" (or whatever it is technically callled) in the signal so that a time reference can be decoded from it. I don't think that's intentionally introduced. My understanding was that mains hum in any grid is an artifact of a noisy signal that just happens to be useful as a forensics fingerprint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_hum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_hum
- dylan604 4y ago
  Yes, it seems I crossed a few streams in my head. Here's an article[0] talking about how the forensics is done because someone is creating a database of all of the fluctuations that give it the forensic finger print rather than it being deliberately injected. [0]https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-20629671 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-20629671
  - ErikCorry 4y ago
    Fascinating
  - roywiggins 4y ago
    I believe that the frequency actually is deliberately managed... to keep old clocks synced. https://www.kccscientific.com/the-dirty-little-secret-about-mains-power-line-frequency/ https://www.kccscientific.com/the-dirty-little-secret-about-...
bodge5000 4y ago
Its not really a license as much as it is a fee, even if it is called that. It'd be like calling taxes a life-license or something. Also worth noting its not the only country that has one, just off the top of my head I know that Ireland, Switzerland and Japan have them as well

throwaway67743 4y ago

Transmission outside of unlicensed bands requires a license, amateur radio has a license requirement to teach responsibility and proper clue, which isn't a bad thing per se

alibarber 4y ago

Obtaining an amateur radio licence in the UK is fairly trivial. The courses and exams are administered by volunteers so the hardest part is finding availability to align with your schedule. COVID really helped because it became possible to take the exams online. There are 3 levels, Foundation through to Full which come with different privileges. You can achieve a lot with the basic Foundation. In terms of airborne transmitting - yes the UK is an outlier. It is forbidden to make amateur radio transmissions in the air over the UK, or use a UK licence to do so anywhere I think. The key word here is amateur - so specifically on those bands and with that licence. I think the ISM bands would be fine - and there are balloon projects and clubs in the UK. I have a Finnish amateur licence in parallel and that doesn't have this restriction but naturally it would still not be allowed to use it to transmit from an aircraft over the UK. And even if it were to be elsewhere there are still some rules surrounding that, and it's hopefully obvious that you need permission of whoever's in charge of the aircraft.