There has virtually always been a grey area about equipment modified for amateur use. This has been clarified by the WIA as below.....
Permitted Equipment For Amateur Use
Introduction
Sometimes a radio amateur is unsure of the type of transmitting equipment they can possess. This doubt may arise as the result of ACMA compliance activities involving station inspections, for example.
The WIA has successfully argued to the ACMA that compliance issues are, in almost all cases, one of behavior (illegal acts), rather than defining compliance with what type or classes of equipment a radio amateur may possess or operate.
Every amateur licensee needs to read and understand the Amateur Licence Condition Determination (
http://www.wia.org.au/members/legislatio...minations/ ). This sets out, in detail, the conditions under which licensed amateurs can operate their stations. The term 'operate', for the purposes of the LCD, means to cause a transmitter to transmit or cease to transmit.
In Australia, the ACMA has powers to make Standards (technical specifications) for radiocommunications equipment under the Radiocommunications Act 1992. However, the primary tenets of the Amateur Radio service are technical investigation, experimentation and self-training; hence, Australian Standards for radiocommunications equipment are not applicable to amateur stations.
There are no specific standards for equipment that is manufactured specifically for the world-wide amateur market. Note, however, there are some general technical conditions that apply to every amateur licence, and these are found in the LCD.
Put simply:
. an amateur transmitter, while required to meet certain technical standards in the LCD, does not have to comply with an Australian Standard, or be 'type approved';
. an amateur (other than a Foundation licensee) may build a transmitter;
. an amateur (other than a Foundation licensee) may modify a transmitter built for other services, so that it can work on an amateur band or bands; and
. all amateur licensees must operate any transmitter in accordance with the LCD, or any other condition printed on the licence issued to them.
Therefore, no matter what amateur licence (Foundation, Standard or Advanced) you hold, you may possess any piece of equipment manufactured specifically for the global amateur market, provided that you operate it in accordance with the type of licence you hold, even if the item of equipment is capable of operating in certain spectrum segments that are not available to amateurs in Australia.
A Foundation licensee may build or modify transmitting equipment to operate on the amateur bands for their own self-training, but can not operate it. Such equipment can only be operated by an amateur holding a licence appropriate to the equipment's capabilities.
See even more detail at http://www.wia.org.au/licenses/licensing...equipment/
Make sure you also read the topic "Station Inspections" at
http://www.wia.org.au/licenses/licensing...spections/ as there is relevant information there too.