The future of Amateur Radio update - Jan 2018

[VK4AQJ]

"The first survey showed that future Amateur Radio licencing must not be less than what is in the current apparatus licencing."

I think your response is out-of-context. 

I participated in the three surveys last year and the questions to ponder were about what we envisaged for the future of the amateur service in VK plus the future role of the WIA.

The "must not be less" was more in respect of any degradation in allocated frequency bands, emission modes, authorised transmit power etc.. in any future amateur LCD.  It didn't deal with the licensing costs - because much of that is defined by the WIA <--> ACMA Agreement about cost recovery levels.

As a WIA Assessor, I would like the fees to be lower to encourage more to attempt to get newer faces to enter this hobby but you will have to admit that there does need to be a reasonable level of fees applied to offset the cost of employing a person in a full time examinations role, and these days that does not come at a low cost either. Do you work for a $0 annual salary ??

Doug VK4ADC
WIA Assessor 4-040

Doug, 

Thanks for the clarification. I have no problem with charging small fee for the exam, but the licensing process itself should be improved.  If the UK, Canada and Sweden can do it, why can't Australia? 

There is no justification for charging a renewal fee every year - and if the organisation which is supposed to be working for amateur radio in Australia itself takes a sizeable cut for allocating a callsign, then maybe it's not working in the interests of Amateur Radio. For vanity calls, if we had them, a charge would be justified, but new callsigns could be allocated by a simple computer program.

What we need is a class licence system for Amateur Radio, and basically one exam for each licensing class, which should be the only cost.  Other countries have a small charge for the Foundation booklet. I understand that it's about $15 in the US. There is no reason why an amateur radio licence couldn't be issued for life (barring any misdemenours). 

"Do you work for a $0 annual salary ??"   - actually in my role at Volunteer Marine Rescue, I do. 


- Jim