UNITED KINGDOM: CHANGES TO THE AMATEUR RADIO LICENSING FRAME

[IK0ZCW]

UNITED KINGDOM: CHANGES TO THE AMATEUR RADIO LICENSING FRAMEWORK

Ofcom, the United Kingdom's communications regulator, has made changes to UK amateur radio licenses. The key changes with highest impact on the DX and contesting community are:
* The use of a Regional Secondary Locator (RSL) has become optional. This is is the second letter which we use to identify the DXCC Entity (D for the Isle of Man, I for Northern Ireland, J for Jersey, M for Scotland, U for Guernsey, W fo Wales). For holders of an Intermediate Licence with a callsign starting with a 2, the use of an RSL is still mandatory. All other licensees can choose to either continue using an RSL or drop it.
* Stations in England are allowed to use the RSL 'E' if they wish to do so.
* Licensees are allowed to add any suffix they want to their callsign, following the 'slash' symbol (/), so long as the station remains identifiable.
* Holders of full licenses can now operate 1 kW output on the primary amateur radio bands (up from 400 W).
"The UK DX and contesting community envisage that most stations will continue to use their Regional Secondary Locators", John Warburton (G4IRN) says.
"However for contests where the DXCC Entity is a multiplier, it is recommended that contest organisers mandate the use of a prefix that identifies their DXCC Entity".