By Steve Kennedy for The Register.
This story has been reproduced with permission.
Ofcom changed the regulations in line with the European
Commission Decision (2006/771/EC) establishing a framework for the
harmonisation of radio spectrum for use by short-range devices in
the community, which means micropower FM transmitters should be
legal in every EU member state.
Any transmitter will have to comply with the relevent ETSI
standard, but this has been available for a while and any device
with a CE mark will be compliant.
However, buyers should beware of buying US or Far East equipment
as that may not have gone through the approvals process and is
therefore still illegal to use.
Though low power transmitters may not seem very significant, to
legalise them has meant a change to the Wireless Telegraphy Act
(WTA), the law concerning radio reception and transmission. Though
the changes have been authorised and signed, they don't come into
force until 8 December.
It's been an odd situation as transmitters have been around for
quite a while. Ofcom used to have the power to prosecute people
selling such equipment as they could not be used legally in Europe,
but since they incorporated the standards into the CE mark
approvals, Ofcom has had to allow their sale, just not their use in
the UK. Now everything is hunky dory and anyone using this type of
transmitter stops being a pirate radio station (though with a very
limited audience).
Other changes
CB (citizen's band) users will no longer need to obtain a
licence in order to use CB equipment - there are currently around
20,000 licensed users in the UK.
It will no longer be necessary to obtain a license to use:
- Inmarsat BGAN and High Density Fixed Satellite Service (HDFSS)
satellite terminals.
- Narrow band use of 24GHz for short range radar (including
automotive applications).
- Radar level gauges.
- Digital PMR 446 ("walkie talkies").
Most of the above has little interest for the general public as
the radar applications are really relevent to industrial areas such
as car manufacturers who can now incorporate radar into car
designs, used for features such as collision avoidance systems.
Walkie talkies have been available for some time, most being
analogue systems. Digital walkie talkies using 446MHz have also
been around, but they used to include a a piece of paper in the
box, which was the relevent license and the manufacturer sorted out
the any payments. Now, the license requirement has been scrapped
altogether. Again, systems will require a CE mark to ensure they
meet the relevent European standards.
The WTA spies are us
The WTA is one of the most draconian pieces of legislation in
the statute books. It covers the transmission or reception of radio
and in the past has required licenses for the transmission and/or
reception of ANY radio signals and the penalities for not complying
with the laws are extremely heavy handed.
This is where the TV license stems from - you're paying for a
license to decode and receive TV broadcast signals. The £100 a year
pales into insignificance if you consider the fees the TV stations
have to pay to get a transmission license.
It's also why pirate radio stations can be prosecuted, as they
don't have a license to transmit (let alone in the commercial FM
space). Ofcom has powers to enter a building and confiscate
anything it feels has been involved in an illegal radio
transmission (which can mean it can completely clear out a flat,
and only when it goes to court will the Judge rule that your sofa
was nothing to do with the illegal activity. Meanwhile, you have to
sit on the floor for six months). Ofcom doesn't even need a search
warrant.
It all stems from wartime activity when spies used to have
illegal transmitters to send information out of the UK (or
receivers to get instructions etc). It's much easier to prosecute
someone for illegal use of a transmitter than being a spy.
There have been some "gotchas" in the past, speed radar
detectors used to be illegal as you couldn't get a license to
receive the frequencies used by radars (unless you were the
Police). Someone took it to court and it was ruled that a radar
detector only detected a radar, it didn't decode the signal and it
was the reception and decoding that was illegal according to the
WTA.
Welcome change
It's been a long time in coming, but Ofcom seems to be making
the right moves and making spectrum available to the masses, rather
than tightly controlling it as has been policy in the past. Some of
this is due to European regulatory change, but Ofcom is being
proactive rather than just reactive - as was the bent of its
predecessor Oftel.
So go out an buy your iTrip, you'll be able to use it in time
for Christmas.
© The Register
2006
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