In 2005, the development culminated in us, which was heralded by significant changes in legislation both in the world and in Europe. One of the very strong impulses was the World Radiocommunication Conference WRC 2003, which decided that tests of knowledge of telegraphy cease to be a globally valid condition for radio amateurs to enter the KV bands and entrusted the assessment of the usefulness of such a test to national telecommunications administrations. Germany reacted immediately to this, allowing more than 30,000 operators on the KV bands without a telegraph test. And soon the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Services (CEPT) reacted, which merged the original two classes of international CEPT permits (Class A with exam, Class B without telegraphy exam) into one class for which knowledge of telegraphy is not a requirement. Both facts determined the development in a number of European countries, which is gradually becoming a norm, although non-binding: the cancellation of telegraphy exams and a significant reduction in the number of operator classes.
It should be emphasized that these tendencies are to some extent the result of the efforts of the international radio amateur organization IARU, however, the authorities put them into practice at a speed that they would never respond to the suggestions of radio amateurs themselves. It is obvious that the primary reason is efforts to simplify administrative procedures and reduce state expenditures. This is nothing new: similarly, austerity efforts affected radio amateurs in the US in the 1970s with the advent of the Reagan administration, and in the end did not bring evil, but rather what we envy American radio amateurs: a system of license examinations built on the work of volunteer examiners.
In Europe, however, we usually take things to the weirder end, as shown by the current effort of the British administration to transfer the authorization of amateur stations to a regime corresponding to our general licenses, that is, the possibility to broadcast without examinations, based on a simple application for registration. Even the radio amateur who has the most open arms towards newcomers can hardly wish for that. The efforts of European officials to save work and state expenses (to leave more for the salaries of officials) are therefore beginning to take a direction that can be feared.
Specifically, in the Czech Republic, these tendencies coincided with the finalization of the standard completing the process of harmonization of the telecommunications legislation of the Czech Republic with EU legislation, the Act on Electronic Communications. The preparation of implementing decrees for the law, which concerned radio amateurs, showed that even our officials, in their efforts to liberalize, harmonize and unify, were significantly ahead of the impulses coming from the ranks of radio amateurs themselves. The Czech Radio Club, as an organization for all radio amateurs, did not take a strong position on the development, knowing that among the members there are supporters and opponents of the changes in a fairly balanced ratio. However, he was also based on the fact that if it is necessary to open the entrance door to the amateur radio world for new entrants, and this corresponds to a retreat from the rigid insistence on the telegraphy exam, it is also necessary to protect the CW bands from the attempts of those who do not know telegraphy.
The draft of the new regulations prepared in this spirit outraged some of the extremely conservative-oriented members so much that they even tried to take over the leadership of the ČRK at the 2004 convention. However, this original proposal of ČRK was overcome by the development of the last months. The requirements of the authorities for the most thorough harmonization of our regulations with European ones were finally accepted by the ČRK. Especially because, in a situation where a number of important European countries, including our closest neighbors, are abandoning differentiated requirements for radio amateur exams, efforts to find a conservative solution "at least in our country" would bring absolutely nothing, and we would end up in an unacceptable situation where access to amateur bands would be more difficult in our country than in other comparable countries.
One stage of the development of legislation for radio amateurs has thus been completed, and as of May 1, 2005, a number of new regulations enter into force, of which we are most interested in Act No. 127/2005 Coll. on electronic communications, decree no. 155/2005 Coll. on the creation of call signs, identification numbers and codes, their use and the types of radio communication services for which they are required, decree no. 156/2005 Coll. on the technical and operating conditions of the amateur radio communication service and decree no. 157/2005 Coll. on the details of the application for the examination to demonstrate professional competence to operate broadcasting radio equipment, on the scope of knowledge required for individual types of professional competence, on the method of conducting examinations, on the types of professional competence certificates and their validity period.
Act on Electronic Communications No. 127/2005 Coll. is a very long and complicated regulation that deals with an extremely extensive issue of telecommunications, and radio amateurs are directly affected in only a few places. We recommend familiarizing yourself with the following provisions in particular: §§ 17–19 – individual authorization to use radio frequencies, § 26 – professional competence, § 89 – confidentiality of communications, § 100 – protection of electronic communications, § 113 – state control of electronic communications, §§ 118–119 – administrative offences, § 120 – misdemeanors, § 122 – relation to administrative order, § 123 – remedies.
The validity of the authorization can now be extended again (as before the period of validity of Act No. 151/2000 Coll.), usually for the period for which it was issued.
Decree no. 156/2005 Coll., operational regulation, introduces the following changes:
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The structure of the classes is completely changing: the current classes A, B, C and D have been merged into a single class A – HAREC (according to the interpretation of the Ministry of the Czech Republic dated 29.4.2005), the holders of which can work with a power of 750 W on all the bands allowed in our country (unless the tables in the annex to the decree specify a different power for some frequency segments).
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New class N – NOVICE with a permitted power of 10 W and with access to sections of KV bands 160, 80, 15 and 10 m and to VHF bands from 2 m above. It uses call signs with the prefix OK9 and a three-letter suffix.
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Telegraph keys Class A is harmonized according to HAREC and is therefore valid in Europe and other countries, class N is not yet harmonized. However, CEPT is also preparing harmonization principles for this type of classes, so the mentioned handicap will probably fall over time.
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The need for higher performances in competitions and at EME operation: Class A operators can work with 1,500 W from the intravillan and with 3,000 W from the extravillan.
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Permitted performances have actually decreased: in the previous regulations, the performance limits were set as effective, the new regulation understands them as top.
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Keeping a station diary is mandatory only for club stations.
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Entering "portable" or "mobile" data is not mandatory, only in competitions; the exception for dispatch operation (probably by mistake) dropped out.
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The types of operation in individual sections of the bands are determined bindingly according to the recommendations of the IARU.
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A person without an operator's license may only broadcast from a club station, under supervision and only in class N.
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For the first time in our country, the regulations recognize (and therefore recognize) the operation of unserved stations, meaning converters, beacons and packet nodes, and limit their power to 50 W.
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Permits issued according to the previous regulations remain valid until the period indicated on them and are considered as individual authorization to use radio frequencies according to Act no. 127/2005 Coll. operators of class A according to decree no. 156/2005 Coll. (according to the interpretation of the MI CR from 29.4.2005).
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The powers of several broadcasting devices that broadcast the same modulation on the same frequency are added together for the purpose of assessing compliance with the power limits. In § 4 par. 5 of the decree, this rule is limited only to normal operation, but according to still unofficial information, there was a typo (the correct wording should be "Performances listed in paragraphs 2 and 4..."), which will be corrected by the standard procedure for correcting a typographical error in the Collection of Laws.
Decree no. 157/2005 Coll., qualification regulation, is common to all radio communication services:
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It only recognizes operator licenses A – HAREC and N – NOVICE (the N license does not yet have international validity).
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There is no set minimum age or minimum education for an applicant for an operator's license, so for the first time there is no set minimum age for a concessionaire.
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The license has permanent time validity for amateur service.
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Although the telegraphy exam is no longer part of the exams, the applicant can take it at his own request (practical importance for those who would like the recognition of exams obtained in the Czech Republic in other countries that require knowledge of telegraphy).
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The content of the exams must adequately correspond to the recommendations of IARU Reg.I.
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ČTÚ is finally obliged to publish the text of the examination tests.
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The administrative fees remain unchanged: the issuance of an operator's license costs CZK 400, the issuance of a license costs CZK 500, and the fee for extending the validity of the concession is CZK 200.
In 2000, in the article "Małý Cech sa dočkal", we stated that the level of communication between ČRK and ČTÚ was poor. In five years, ČRK managed to significantly improve this situation. We have the opportunity to consult with high-ranking representatives of the CTU, and we have also built similar contacts at the new Ministry of Informatics. Of course, this does not mean that our every request is automatically fulfilled, but we can discuss, explain and receive clarifications.
Despite the progress, despite the fact that we can show in the regulations the places that are the success of our proposals, we must admit that the quality of the regulations adopted this year, if we judge the quality of the legal standard (not what it specifically gives or takes away), is the lowest since 1989. The reason is not the reluctance or incompetence of the officials, but the very essence of radio amateurs as a telecommunications activity and the countless partners whose radio amateurs as one of the many participants in telecommunication activities they have.
Simply put: it is no longer possible to regulate all telecommunications with a single law. The state, various media, various commercial providers of telecommunication services, education, science, transport, energy, the army, the police or secret services have different interests and tasks. Each of these circuits represents a complicated tangle of relationships and needs, and the law on electronic communications shows that getting everyone "under one roof" is only possible at the cost of immense headaches.
Lobbying for specific interests is inextricably linked to the legislative process in a democratic society. Radio amateurs also lobbied: in ZoEK you will find several places with a sentence like "this is not required for amateur radio communication service operators" - this is the impact of lobbying by ČRK and other radio amateurs. However, it was not only radio amateurs who lobbied.
With exaggeration, it can be said that when preparing such extensive material, on which dozens and hundreds of experts combine their expectations, each official has dozens and hundreds of lobbyists behind him, and under such circumstances a quality law simply cannot be created. We remember how much work MPs and senators put in to harmonize the ZoEK proposal with the needs of digital terrestrial TV broadcasting. Too broad a scope, too much lobbying and too much haste at the end of the legislative work made the regulations opaque and internally inconsistent, with a lot of mistakes.
Back in the nineties, the thought of a separate law on amateur service seemed like an unnecessary luxury. However, the experience of the last campaign to prepare telecommunications regulations shows that this is a goal worth striving for. A good example is the insidiousness that, for unknown reasons, was enshrined in the draft § 100 ZoEK - the draft rule that if the source of interference is an amateur station, it will be affected without an objective investigation of the case, which the law otherwise remembers in case of interference from any other source. In such extensive material, the matter could easily have been missed.
Fortunately, by combining the forces of radio amateurs and their political contacts, the danger was averted, however, the same situation can be repeated at any time in the future, for example with amendments to the law. A separate regulation of amateur radio matters would certainly facilitate the monitoring of such schemes. The Czech radio club should start striving for this change as soon as possible.
© OK1XU, 2005