Why do radio users need a licence?

To stop chaos on the airwaves, most types of radio users around the world have to be licenced.

This applies to all sorts of users: aircraft pilots, ships, taxi firms, emergency services, businesses, broadcast TV and radio stations, the military, mobile phone companies, those using space communications, etc.

Without knowing what you’re doing on-air, radio users have potential to cause interference to other users, potentially causing major problems. As with other countries, the Government has a licensing process, to make sure everyone is properly licensed and understands the rules.

Radio amateurs have to be licenced because we can do a lot more than just talk – we can build transmitters, and send very high powered radio signals (up to a kilowatt with a Full licence). We can also use a wide range of frequencies and send messages worldwide and into space. Radio Amateurs, once they’ve passed a pretty simple multiple choice test (to demonstrate they know what they’re doing), get a free licence and callsign from Ofcom.

For those who want to talk without a licence, there is good old CB radio, as well as PMR446 walkie talkies, both of which are limited to one small frequency range and lower power than us radio hams.