1. Amateur Radio is a technical hobby that allows participants to initially listen to other amateur radio operators talking to each other ‘over the air’ by radio on the many allocated frequency bands and, once licensed, to also transmit on those bands. It is open and free to anyone to join in and participants may, subject to their license grade, construct and test their own radio equipment to use on the air.
Communications can take place direct or via repeater, satellite, the International Space Station, meteor scatter, aurora and moon bounce. There are also Internet access points linked to VHF transceivers to communicate across the world.
There are many national and international competitions available for entry by both listeners and licensed amateurs.
There are many local radio clubs and the national society in the UK is the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) whose website is here.
Available amateur bands giving many types of communications include:
- Long wave (low frequency or LF) bands
- Short wave (high frequency or HF) bands where intercontinental communications take place
- Very/Ultra High Frequency/Microwave (VHF/UHF) bands which are primarily limited to line of site distances unless conditions are unusually good when communications paths can reach or exceed 2000Km on some of these bands. Moon bounce and satellite based communications are also possible.
2. In the UK there are three grades of transmitting license - Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced with terms and conditions defined in the license document which was last updated in February 2024. Each grade requires attendance on a training course (provided by a lot of radio clubs) which includes learning the appropriate technical and operating details, completing a series of optional practical exercises and taking an online examination. Successful candidates may select from a list of unassigned callsigns or are assigned the next unused callsign which includes a country prefix and is unique across the world. The entire process is managed by the RSGB on behalf of Ofcom.
- Foundation is the entry grade with restrictions on transmitter output power (25 watts maximum) and access to most but not all bands
- Intermediate has less restrictions and a higher maximum power of 100 watts
- Advanced licence holders may use the full allowed transmitter power on each band (mostly 1000 watts) and have full access to all of the available UK amateur radio bands.
Modes of operation include:
- Speech: Frequency Modulation (FM), Amplitude Modulation (AM), Single Sideband (SSB)
- Morse: Manual, or computer based sending and receiving
- Data: There are a variety of data modes available on most bands using your Personal Computer (PC) plus a suitable modem including Teletype, Packet, WSPR and some specialised data modes on bespoke transceiving equipment.
- Television: Full speed scan on the UHF bands and slow scan on most other bands including the short waves.
3. There is a wide range of new and second hand ready built radio equipment plus a range of self build kits available to suit most budgets.
This is an exciting and challenging hobby that can also lead to a career in electronics.