I needed to look up the “regulations” for ham radio operation in Australia because of a Facebook post concerning some hams in the US berating two French-Canadians who were speaking in French to each other. Predictably, most of the discussion was by US hams, who were repeatedly citing FCC regulations about identifying in English, but confirming that the berating was rude behaviour.
Later in the discussion, the original poster added that he heard this on the NE Reflector. I don’t know exactly which one that is, but it would be one of hundreds of digital mode channels used by hams around the world. This one probably covers the Northeast corner of the US and close to the Quebec area across the border. Some are known as rooms, or talkgroups. This detail was missed by many people in the thread who did not bother to open every comment and sub-comment.
It was clear from this exchange that:
- Many hams have no idea what a “reflector” is. Perhaps they know about talkgroups, or they don’t care to learn about digital modes.
- Many did not even see the clarification about the reflector.
These digital channels are connected by the internet across the world to several cooperating local repeaters, so it’s possible for hams to join in the discussions from anywhere, if they have the correct interface. I have one such device, the SharkRF OpenSpot 1 hotspot. Alternatively, I could use a publicly accessible repeater in Melbourne, but I would need to use a keypad to select the correct reflector if it is not the default (and I am allowed to change it).
The American hams probably were on their local repeater, possibly unaware that it was linked to the internet, thus their FCC laws had no jurisdiction over the Canadian hams who, in turn, were probably talking on their local repeater. Just a normal thread on Facebook – these threads occur everywhere every day.
Where Are the Australian Amateur Radio Regulations?
I decided to look up two points mentioned in the above thread:
- What language must we speak on air?
- How often must we identify with our callsign?
I (being a professional SEO in the day job) turned to Google the answer and to my consternation I could not find it. I tried the following queries – all to no avail:
- amateur radio regulations in Australia “identification”
- amateur radio rules in Australia “identification”
- amateur radio rules in Australia
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- amateur radio “regulations” in Australia
- amateur radio identification in english
- amateur radio callsigns in english
- amateur radio regulations
- amateur radio regulations wia
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- amateur radio identify every 10 minutes
- amateur radio callsign every 10 minutes
- amateur radio callsign after 10 minutes
- acma station identification
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- acma transmitter identify
- wia transmitter identify
- wia stations identify
- wia amateur stations identify
- wia amateur stations announce
- wia operating procedures
- amateur radio operating procedure
- radio operating procedure
- amateur radio procedure
I could not believe it. I went to the Wireless Institute of Australia (of which I am a member) website. Of course they have a page from where the answer can be found, except that you’d need to open about 20 PDFs one by one to inspect them. It is this page:
Those PDFs are on government websites, so it’s not the WIA’s fault that their contents don’t show up in a Google search of the kind I was trying.
At this point I called my friend Trevor, VK3TWC, as he was licensed not too long ago and I asked him where did he learn the regulations, as they are part of the licensing examination syllabus. I operate in Australia on a reciprocal licence, having qualified in New Zealand in 1978. I have never needed to look up the regulations again, at least not for the two points I was looking for. I was also off-air for 32 years. That was part of the problem – terminology changes over time.
LCD
Trevor mentioned the “LCD”. Yes, I had seen references to it and it did not mean Liquid Crystal Display. It means Licence Conditions Determinations – only a government employee (OK, I was one too, when in the air force) can come up with that phrase. It can be found here:
8. Operation of an Amateur Station (extract here)
(1) Subject to subsection (2A), if the licensee makes a single transmission from an amateur station (other than an amateur beacon station or amateur repeater station), the licensee must transmit the call sign of any station being called, or communicated with, followed by the call sign of the licensee’s amateur station:
(a) at the beginning of the transmission;
(b) at the end of the transmission;
(c) if the transmission lasts more than 10 minutes — at least once during each period of 10 minutes, or part thereof, in the transmission;
by voice (using the English language), by visual image or by an internationally recognised code.
Interpretation
The above regulations/determination make it clear that:
- For Australian radio amateurs, there is no requirement to speak in any particular language.
- Regardless of the spoken language, we need to announce our callsign in English (voice or image) or code (Morse or other code), at least every 10 minutes.
Extrapolation
Equally, it follows that:
- Our VHF/UHF repeaters might be connected through the internet to overseas repeaters, so we will hear relays of overseas conversations locally.
- Our laws don’t apply to the overseas radio operators and it’s best not to tell them to speak in English. If you think they are breaking the law somewhere else, let their own authorities deal with it.
- The repeater operator can choose not to participate in such links if foreign languages upset their local users.