The second full day of the Virtual General Conference opened with the first meeting of Committee C4 (HF). The meeting began with a review of the reports from the Committee Chair, the HF Beacon coordinator and the IARUMS coordinator. Discussions …
IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, formally opened the Region 1 VGC today.
Speaking from Calgary, Tim reminded delegates that we faced unprecedented challenges today, which would likely result in much more of IARU’s work being virtual. He reminded the meeting …
Ofcom is introducing new licence conditions for spectrum users, to ensure their equipment continues to operate within international electromagnetic field (EMF) guidelines.
All use of spectrum generates electromagnetic fields.
There are international safety guidelines – developed by the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) – that set the maximum levels of EMF exposure for protection of the general public. These levels are endorsed by Public Health England.
Manufacturers, installers and operators of wireless equipment should already be aware of the ICNIRP guidelines and factor them into how they plan their services.
To ensure this always remains the case, we proposed new conditions for spectrum licensees earlier this year. Following consultation, we have now decided to introduce the new licence conditions.
This means licensees using equipment that is authorised to transmit at power levels higher than 10 Watts must operate within the ICNIRP guidelines as a condition of their Ofcom licence – including keeping data and records of any testing to demonstrate their compliance.
NEW ONLINE TOOL
While most spectrum licensees should already be factoring the ICNIRP guidelines into their services, we will be launching an online tool (our EMF calculator) to help make it as simple as possible for people to check whether the use of their radio equipment is likely to comply with the guidelines. This will be available on a trial basis initially and we will take account of the feedback we receive before launching the full version.
NEXT STEPS
Alongside our decision to introduce the new licence condition, we have published a consultation covering the updated wording of the condition; our updated Guidance on EMF Compliance and Enforcement; and a trial version of our new online EMF Calculator. We welcome feedback to this by 16 November, after which we will then begin varying the relevant licences to include the new condition. We will also launch our finalised online EMF calculator
Colin M6BOY
Ofcom received 400 responses to their EMF consultation, 255 of which were from radio amateurs. Ofcom has addressed some respondent’s concerns, revised their proposals, and requested feedback. The RSGB will reply to Ofcom’s revised proposals and keep you updated on rsgb.org/emf. Ofcom intends to add a condition to all licences that allow more than 10W […]
Following on from the online RSGB Convention for 2020 taking place on Saturday, 10 October 2020, the AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2020 will be online on Sunday, the 11th. There will be a lecture stream from 11am to 4pm—you can find out more at amsat-uk.org/colloquium. You may be interested to know that the two live streams from […]
Provisional results for the last IARU R1 VHF Contest are available on IARU Region 1 VHF & Up Contest Robot .
We received a total of 1965 logs from 35 different countries.
The complaining period will end on October 30th, …
Jamboree On The Air (JOTA), the world’s largest and radio Scout event promoting friendship and global citizenship takes place over the weekend of 16 to 18 October 2020. There are of course a few difficulties this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the event is going ahead—often with creative ways of operating. Please listen […]
The IARU Region 1 General Conference, originally scheduled to take place in Serbia, is taking place online, starting this Sunday, the 11th. Taking advantage of online access, well over 200 delegates and observers have registered from nearly 50 national societies. Nearly 90 papers are scheduled for discussion, several from the RSGB. The conference will be […]
Tap or click the link below to download this week’s GB2RS news script GB2RS News Script for 11 October 2020 (12-page/222KB Microsoft Word document) Problems downloading the GB2RS news script? Try this alternative link.
Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen. PJ4TEN will be active during October to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Bonaire becoming a Special Municipality of the Netherlands […]
