4 ms·

I could be wrong on this (it's been years and years since I got my ham license), but I think the licensing of individual operators is intended to _ensure_ that

by mhink 10y ago

I could be wrong on this (it's been years and years since I got my ham license), but I think the licensing of individual operators is intended to _ensure_ that ham radio is preserved for individual operators. The idea being that keeping the band available for... say, emergency communication, is in the public interest. Also, for what it's worth, transmitting on CB (Citizens' Band) radio doesn't require a license, but I think it's restricted to very low-power bands.

bigiain 10y ago
CB radio is legal (in Australia and the US at least) thanks to "class licences". A manufacturer can sell equipment that meets certain limitations (eg: 5W max transmit power for 27Meg CB, from 26.965MHz to 27.405MHz), and customers can then buy and use them under the manufacturers "class licence". This is the same for heaps of other radio transmitters - your wifi, you garage door opener, your baby monitor, your bluetooth headphone, the video downlink on your quadcopter, the zigbee network for you lightbulbs etc. All of those run in specific frequency bands with capped maximum transmit powers (if legally sold. My local .au rules say 2.4GHz analog video is limited to 100mW, it's cheaper to buy 600mW transmitters from China than legally class-licenced gear locally, so a lot of people do - much to the disappointment of neighbours who's 2.4GHz wifi reception turns lousy when a 600mW video Tx gets powered up nearby...)