Since the spring of last year, the Slovak Association of Radio Amateurs has been cooperating with the Telecommunications Office on changes to licensing conditions and related regulations. The amateur public was informed about it by Ing. Kováčová at the TATRA 2006 meeting. At the other meeting, which took place on Tuesday 16.1.2007 in the premises of the SZR, with the participation of Ing. Kováčová from TÚ SR and all three statutory officers of the SZR (OM3EI, OM3LU, OM3JW), a specific proposal was submitted by the SZR.
The proposal concerns the following points:
Change of operator classes from the previous four (A, B, C, D) to two (A and N). All bands are allowed in class A (CEPT) and max. power 750 W. In class N, parts of bands 1.8, 3.5, 10, 21, 28 MHz plus all VHF band and max. power 100 W.
The change of classes corresponds to the trend of development in Europe and other developed amateur radio countries of the world. Class A will be a full-fledged class with all bands, modes and highest power enabled. Class N is intended for newcomers and its purpose is preparation for class A. In class N, it will be possible to work in limited sections of HF bands, in the entire range of VHF bands, with a limited power of 100 W. A similar permit has, for example, in Germany.
Transformation of the existing operator classes: Permit holders A, B and C will move to class A. Permit holders of class D will move to the so-called transitional class N1, where only VHF bands and max. power 100 W.
Nothing will change for class A permit holders. Holders of class B permits will get the opportunity to work with full power of 750 W. Holders of class C will gain the most from the change, who will be able to work on all KV bands with full power of 750 W. Holders of class D cannot automatically switch to class N, because they did not pass the test of operation at KV. In order to continue broadcasting within their current class, the N1 class was created for them. If they want to get class N, they have to pass the exam for class N. When designing the criteria for class transformation, we tried to ensure that no class is damaged compared to the current state. Classes B and C will gain more power and more bands, classes A and D will gain nothing, but they won't lose anything either.
Abolition of the requirement for knowledge of telegraphy for the issuance of class A and N amateur radio permits. The condition for obtaining class A will be 1 year of operation in class N and the establishment of at least 500 connections (excluding local FM connections and connections through transmitters).
The change corresponds to the trend of development in Europe and other developed amateur radio countries of the world. Those who want to pass the telegraphy exam can apply to the Telecommunications Office, which will be obliged to test them and issue a certificate.
Addition of the 122 GHz band to the frequency table.
The frequency range 122.25-130 GHz is reserved as a secondary one for radio amateur service. SZR therefore requests that he complete the frequency table.
Conducting amateur radio exams: The exam will consist of two parts - written (test) and oral. The prerequisite for admission to the oral exam will be obtaining the specified number of points in the written part.
The SZR requests that the examinations be carried out transparently in the form of tests with scored answers. In order for candidates to prepare for the exams, the questions and the correct answers will be published on the SZR portal on the Internet.
Lowering the age limit for issuing a radio amateur permit to 10 years.
SZR requests that children from the age of 10 who pass the exams be able to obtain a radio amateur permit. The SZR is based on the experience of courses for youth, where even children significantly younger than 15 years old can master the exam questions and cannot take the exams just because of their young age. The condition for issuing a permit would be the consent of the legal representative.
The proposal was accepted positively by the Telecommunications Office. The Office, within its competence, discusses the proposed changes and moves them to the comment procedure at the interdepartmental level. This process has its own statutory time intervals intended for the statements of the concerned authorities, therefore the changes will only take place after a certain period of time. However, the process is already underway and the SZR will continue to cooperate with the TÚ SR on its implementation.
Organizing any coercive actions and petitions for the abolition of telegraphy as a condition for the issuance of a permit is completely unnecessary and rather counterproductive at this stage. The matter has been worked on for a long time and it is only a matter of time before the licensing authority changes the Regulation on Professional Qualification and the General Licensing Conditions for radio amateurs.
P.S. By the way, there is no mention of the necessity of knowledge of telegraphy in the Permit Conditions, therefore the Regulation on professional competence, which applies to all services, i.e., except for amateur ones, also for aviation, shipping, etc., needs to be changed. Lesson learned: If I want to change something, I read it first.
Roman Kudláč, OM3EI
president of the SZR
Note: published with the permission of OK1RR according to the original http://www.c-a-v.com/content.php?article.586