foundation power level farce - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / rf-microwave

author: m3vuv
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2020, 01:13:46 pm
content: why is it as a foundation licence holder my max tx power is 10 watts yet a person unlicenced can legaly tx 12 watts on 11m ssb?,isnt that wrong?

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2020, 01:39:50 pm
content: Quote from: m3vuv on September 04, 2020, 01:13:46 pmBut that unlicensed CBer is not allowed to transmit on theotherbands that you are allowed to, is he?You may want to pose that question to OFCOM, they are the ones making UK rules. No point in ranting here where nobody can do anything about it. My guess is that it is an artifact due to the "import" of the international norms - CEPT and such - that was not made consistent with your domestic regs.Most of Europe has only a novice (usually some HF restrictions and limited to 100W) and full class (no restrictions, power up to 750-1000W depending on country) and there is no equivalent of the UK foundation class. So that could explain your discrepancy.

author: TheMG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2020, 08:24:41 pm
content: Different bands, different countries, different rules.At least with the foundation license looks like you're allowed to operate on pretty much all the available bands. Here in Canada with the "basic" qualification you're not permitted to operate on the HF bands below 30MHz, at all.The difference between 10W and 12W is really negligible, there's hardly any real-world difference, we're talking 0.8dB difference in signal.Anyways, you can still work the world on only 10W, as you have access to bands where long distance propagation (DX) occurs frequently. This is not the case with the 11m CB band, and actually in some countries it's forbidden to work "skip" on 11m (though a lot of people do it anyways and doesn't seem to be enforced much), but DX openings on 11m/10m in my experience are significantly less frequent than on bands like 15m, 20m, and 40m.I guess the rationale is the regulatory agencies don't want new inexperienced operators potentially making a fool of themselves round the globe at high power levels. You can always work your way up to the next licensing/qualification level and earn more privileges.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2020, 02:10:57 pm
content: Quote from: m3vuv on September 04, 2020, 01:13:46 pmIs your foundation power level PEP or continuous?If the UK follows everybody else, the SSB power level on 11m is PEP, pretty much the same as the 4w continuous for AM.

author: HB9EVI
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2020, 09:27:16 pm
content: such discussion pop up on a regular basis on the german ham forums I'm reading.reason of disappointment is mostly the limited access to the shortwave bands in DL/OE/HB, where the main DX bands (40/30/20m) novice license owners are excluded from.it somehow seems to be a kind of sport stucking to the novice license and complaining about its limitations rather than working on the upgrade exam.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2020, 11:08:23 pm
content: Quote from: HB9EVI on September 06, 2020, 09:27:16 pmOTOH, it is also a pretty much self-defeating thing, IMO. We are complaining that the HAM radio is dying, only old geezers are ever ragchewing on the bands, people have poor operating skills - but then we throw as many obstacles at the newcomers as we can by locking them out from the most interesting bands and/or confining them to useless places like the 28m band or morse-only segments of 80m and 160m, lest they could interfere with the precious DX or contest bands.How are they supposed to learn those skills needed for the upgrade exams when they are not allowed there? Not everyone has a club or a mentor nearby. Some countries are more enlightened in this regard than others (e.g. Denmark) but it is far from a rule.

author: oneplusx
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 10, 2020, 10:12:26 am
content: I agree with this matter discussed this time.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2020, 02:14:59 pm
content: Quote from: janoc on September 06, 2020, 11:08:23 pmCertainly not the case everywhere, the UK, in particular, is very generous with band allocations for Foundation licences.They are better than the VK ones, which are, in turn, more generous than the old VK Novice Licence was when it first appeared, (although it had more power, at 30w).Novices originally had allocations on 80m,15m, &11m!Yes, it wasn't the CB band, then---after the CBers stole it, the Novices finally got 10m, which is what the Wireless Insitute of Australia suggested in the beginning.Over time, the Novices agitated, & finally got more power, 2m & 70cm, then expanded HF privileges.This didn't sit well with us "Z Calls", who had done the full theory paper, but no Morse.Activism wasn't our thing, so we were stuck on "6m & above", until 2004.When the VK Foundation calls started appearing, most of us "Zs" were still so happy that we were finally let loose on HF, that they didn't much bother us.Maybe it was those who had HF all that time that were more "aggro", I dunno.More recently, I have noticed a degree of "coat tail dragging" & activism amongst a small minority of Foundation calls, but when I mentioned this, VK4HAT (who posts on this forum under his old Foundation callsign, VK4FFAB), pointed out the excellent rate of "upgrades" by "F calls"!The OP, who, with an m3 prefix, must have been licenced on or before 2008, has had ample time to upgrade.The very fact of restoring radios & building a linear amp points to someone well able to pass the requiredtests.