Radio Licence information

[emsgeorge]

Thought I'd put together a little bit on licencing, for those who dont know.

Ofcom is the regulator in the UK - www.ofcom.org.uk

If you are using radio comms, in the uk, then you need a licence. (with the exception of pmr446). It is ILLEGAL to use a radio without a licence. The penalty is a fine (up to £5000) or prison (up to 2 years), or both !).

If you are unlicenced, you are also making others lives more difficult - If you've purchased some radios off ebay, and leave them on their current frequency, how do you know you aren't interfering with the local hospital's radio system ? (and I'm talking about a hospital that used uhf radios for the crash team, who were being interfered with by ebay purchased radios...)

For the 'business user' there are a few types of licence:

SIMPLE UK LICENCE - this is what was called 'uk general'. gives you access to a set number of frequencies (3 uhf ones, some vhf ones, and a couple lowband ones). Costs £75 for 5 years. You can choose what frequency you want to use from the list, and can change as often as you like.

Advangates are that you are licenced wherever you are in the uk, no licence issues.
Disadvantages are that every man and his dog could be on this type of licence, and many many shops etc are, so it can be quite crowded. If you are in a field in the middle of nowhere, then go right ahead !.
 

SIMPLE SITE LICENCE - this is for site only use, usually within 1k of the base station. Again, a list of standardised frequencies, and its up to you to make sure you  dont interfere with anyone else. Again, £75 for 5 years.

TECHNICALLY ASSIGNED / AREA DEFINED - this licence is for those who have anything from a wide area system, through to county or country wide systems. Ofcom will allocate you a frequency, which they wont assign to another close user - so in theory, you will never interfere with anyone else, nor will you be interfered with !.
With area defined channels, you can buy a certain frequency in 50 sq km 'slots', over the UK. If you were a courier company, and you needded the same freq all over london, you could buy a 50km square, allowing just you to use it.

Tech assigned channels vary in price - £75 a year, to £1480 a year !!!!

Area defined can go up to £9900 a year.

Only area defined that's uk wide that I know of in uhf is Tescos and M&S.

For those who want to use the licence free pmr446 radios - go buy some from Tescos. Dont buy proper radios, then come and ask us to help you put them on 446 channels. Its illegal. Your 'proper' radio will transmit at a lot more power than the 446's were ever allowed to.

If anyones got stuff to add, go for it !

[lixa]

They've changed the names slightly to:

Simple Site
Simple UK
Suppliers Light
Technically Assigned
Area Defined


Check out this pdf if you're not sure what type you need: https://secure.ofcom.org.uk/busrad/br_guidance.pdf

[scripter]

how can they find you though is there anyway of tracing you i have to get a licence soon got 1 broken radio and need to get another one so i have 2 before i get a licence only getting to cut down on fone calls to missus while im out n about in car plus theres no law on driving n useing a radio like there is with mobile fones

[bw18]

It's not really a case of tracking you, that in itself is very simple... It's purely down to using a frequency(s) that you/your business is not assigned to.

As George very rightly pointed out there is a serious side of picking a frequency of your fancy and just using it. Not only is this potentially dangerous (in a none direct sense), it is illegal and there are several instances of people being prosecuted for it.

I'm no expert on the road traffic act, however, I imagine there is something the Police could use against you for using a handheld radio- driving without due care etc etc... Slightly hypocritical considering their airwave terminals are in essence a mobile phone 

Scripter- Your radios will possibly only 'reach' a few miles from your home location (without the use of a repeater- and assuming you live in a built up area), being in a car also dramatically affects the TX/RX of the radios. You are in a big lump of metal that doesn’t really like letting radio waves through- I would consider putting a small VHF/UHF aerial on your car if this is something you intend to use on a regular basis 

If you do everything you need to operate legally there is bugger all to worry about!

BW

[scripter]

yeah if they can see your not in control of you car due care and attention is an issue theres 2 things one you have in a cradle and just press the button or you can obviously get a headset or a ptt button or wear on your top and press like police does
the other thing i was thinking if i was to get a uhf aerial at my home and affix to my roof then by rights i would have quite a clear range of sight meaning yes if i was to fit in my car with an aerial i should get quite a good signal all around problem is then i wouldnt be able to wear on my top and would have to fit into my car but while on the point of that if i had an aerial on my roof at home would my reception to radio be improved without having a car aerial

[emsgeorge]

Wow, someone felt so upset I am talking about licencing, they gave me a minus one for my reputation !
dont worry, I will ask Rob to tell me who it was, so I dont bother to help them !.


Scripter - I assume you are going to get a UK general licence when you can sort it out. If you have radios you dont know the freq of, then read them off, and post them here, a fair few of us can look it up and see who it is / was, and let you know.

Safest way is to put them on uk general (sorry, 'uk simple') channels:

449.312500 MHz
449.400000 MHz
449.475000 MHz

Those are the uk simple freqs for uhf. Pick any tone or dcs you want, theres no licensing conditions that stipulate you need to use certain tones.  

[MotoNut]

Nice one!! Very Helpful George and worth making a Sticky IMO.

If you have radios you dont know the freq of, then read them off, and post them here, a fair few of us can look it up and see who it is / was, and let you know.

Those are the uk simple freqs for uhf. Pick any tone or dcs you want, theres no licensing conditions that stipulate you need to use certain tones.  

How do you read Freq off the radios? and what are these tones/dcs you mention?

[emsgeorge]

In addition to the UK Simple freq's above, the UK Simple site licence allows repeaters.

simple site licence freqs :

459.05000 MHz 459.10000 MHz 459.12500 MHz 459.15000 MHz 459.17500 MHz 459.20000 MHz
459.22500 MHz 459.25000 MHz 459.27500 MHz 459.30000 MHz 459.32500 MHz 459.35000 MHz
459.37500 MHz 459.40000 MHz 459.42500 MHz 459.45000 MHz 459.47500 MHz

Bear it in mind that if you go for a simple site licence, ofcom will simply give you the licence - there is no co-ordination from their end to make sure you are the only one on the frequency, so expect interference at some point (may be worth programming a raido to your receive freq, and monitoring the area you want to put the repeater into, to make sure theres nobody else on it). If you use a dealer, make sure they come out and do a site survey for you, as a lot of them will charge if they have to come back and re program all your radios and repeater, if they find interference on it. (bstards !)

Radio suppliers with a suppliers licence can use: as short term hire:

453.687500 MHz 456.012500 MHz 456.337500 MHz 456.387500 MHz 456.462500 MHz 456.562500 MHz
456.687500 MHz 456.862500 MHz 456.925000 MHz 456.962500 MHz 456.987500 MHz
460.187500 MHz 461.512500 MHz 461.837500 MHz 461.887500 MHz 461.962500 MHz 462.062500 MHz
462.187500 MHz 462.362500 MHz 462.425000 MHz 462.462500 MHz 462.475000 MHz 462.487500 MHz
454.425000 MHz 461.42500 MHz

A couple of those in there are parking channels - a frequency for a dealer to put their clients on whilst they are waiting for a proper licence allocation to come through from ofcom.

A lot of the short term hire channels will be very active on events - its important that if you use your radios for events, then you speak to the organisers radio supplier, and make sure they know you are using whatever frequency. That way, they dont put anyone on it. You dont 'legally' have to, but it makes everyones lives a lot easier. 

[scripter]

yeah i also wanna use my radio as like a scanner as know a few freqs and can listen into a few interesting things how high is the risk of getting caught if say you used pmr freqs and if say caught with radio by police wud they check if u had licence

[emsgeorge]

Nobody can tell you the 'likelyhood' of getting caught. the penalties are laid out above for non licenced use. Its up to you to get one.

[scripter]

yeah i may get one depending on if i sort my radio out but that depends when n also its not illegal to use the radio as a scanner to listen to broadcasts is it

[emsgeorge]

In the UK, yes it is illegal to use scanners, to listen to stuff you shouldnt be.

If you take a moment to look up the case Ive given you above, people got jailed on other countries for having a scanner.

Tread carefully if you go to another country and use unlicenced radios. Even if you are 'listening', you (as the blokes above) will find yourself in a small cell, talking about who is going to pick up the soap, with 'bubba'.

[bw18]

I would say enjoy it while you can... The digital takeover is upon us, and for a few years (until/if a manufacturer brings a DMR scanner out) scanning will become a very boring hobby.

However, as George points out... It IS ILLEGAL to monitor ANY transmission you are not authorised to!

Of course there are ways to 'monitor' digital transmissions, but this comes with experience and knowledge! I still do find it slightly interesting that people want to listen to their local shopwatch/pubwatch/Tesco's etc! I have been involved with radio for years and really don't understand what's so fascinating about it  

Back in the old analogue police days then that was probably more exciting stuff... But that is a definite no no when it comes to scanning nowadays. GCHQ couldn't gain access to the Airwave system using their geniuses and had to have the license re-written to allow them access! If they can't do it...

BW

EDIT- The first line sounds like I'm encouraging scanning... I'm not, I am just explaining there isn't much left out there to scan anymore!

[iJamesNC]

I'm no expert on the road traffic act, however, I imagine there is something the Police could use against you for using a handheld radio- driving without due care etc etc... Slightly hypocritical considering their airwave terminals are in essence a mobile phone 

"When is a driver allowed to use a hand-held phone?

There is an exception for calls to 999 or 112 in a genuine emergency where it would be unsafe or impractical to stop. Using 2-way radio equipment when driving is not a specific offence. Remember that a conversation could still distract from the concentration needed to drive safely. If you do not have proper control, then the police can still take action. "

- http://www.highways.gov.uk/mobile/policyonmobileuse.aspx

[tony2404]

so do the new digital radios come under the licencing act as well as they are not on any on the uk simple channels