National Regulations and Guidelines
Technical Requirements
- The general conditions attached to an amateur station licence
include a number of technical requirements for the purposes of ensuring that:
- no harmful interference is caused to other licensed services, and
- the amateur station is constructed and maintained in such a manner as
to ensure that the safety of persons or property is not endangered
- The licence conditions do not include detailed equipment specifications,
however a number of broad requirements are listed …
- Mechanical and electrical construction of the amateur station installation
must be in accordance with best practice
- All controls, meters, indicators and terminals should be clearly labelled
- The licensee must have a device capable of measuring Standing Wave Ratio (SWR).
See VSWR
- The licensee must also have an accurate method to ensure that operations take place
on the correct frequency. In the case of home constructed equipment a simple
frequency counter or synthesised main receiver/ transceiver would suffice.
See Frequency Counter
- Attention should be paid to the location of antennas and feeders in
regards to their proximity to buildings and areas accessible to third parties.
Particular care should be taken when operating at temporary locations for the purposes of
contests, expeditions and during mobile use.
See Antenna (Aerial) Safety
- The licensee must ensure that non-ionising radiation emissions
from their amateur station are within the limits specified by the guidelines
published by the International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection
(“ICNIRP”)
- The ComReg Guidelines include limits for spurious emissions
(also called “spurious radiation”), which vary according
to frequency band and installation date of the transmitter