This page has news mainly about ham radio administration and representation, especially from ACMA and ham non-goverment organisations – WIA, AMC and RASA.
ACMA is the Australian Communications and Media Authority. They are the government body that controls all the radio spectrum.
WIA is the Wireless Institute of Australia. They are the peak body representing Australian amateur operators on the local and world stage.
AMC is the Australian Maritime College, a part of the University of Tasmania. They administer the licence exams and callsign allocations.
RASA is the Radio Amateur Society of Australia. They are a new organisation representing the interests of Australian amateur operators.
Another step forward for Amateur Radio education in Australia
The ACM distributed their first Amateur Radio Update Newsletter for 2022 last Wednesday. One item reported that the response to their survey question “Do you agree with the ACMA’s proposal to update the Advanced syllabus by adopting the syllabus contained in HAREC was met with a positive response of over 95%. This is great news as Australia has been one of many non-european signatories to the european developed “Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate” for a number of years.You can find a copy of the syllabus at ” https://docdb.cept.org/Docs/doc98/official/pdf/TR6102.PDF “.There’s still a long way to go but it’s a step forward. Turning the syllabus into a reasonable set of study notes and exam questions will take a while. SARC education can now get to work on a syllabus that should be stable even if the depth of knowledge required is uncertain. What about the Foundation and Standard levels? That’s another big question. Duncan VK2DLR speculates that Australia may transition from three levels of licence to just two with the Standard level being the one to go. Who knows???de Duncan VK2DLR
ACMA: review amateur licensing regulations submissions closed
The ACMA is reviewing amateur licencing arrangements – their preferred option is to have ham radio as a class licence, rather than as an apparatus licence as it is now. The deadline for submissions has passed and we now wait for the outcome. Many are of the opinion that this is a ‘fait accompli’.
ACMA SAYS NO TO AMATEUR 5MHZ ACCESS
The ACMA has announced its decision to not grant access to the 5MHz band, saying as follows (extract from email):
“In balancing defence’s existing use of the 5351.5–5366.5 kHz band against the impacts of introducing use by the amateur service, the ACMA has decided not to support amateur use in the band. The decision paper in the key documents section of the consultation gives the reasons for our decision.
Public and non-public submissions from the Department of Defence showed that expanding the use of the 5351.5–5366.5 kHz band to potentially several thousand amateur operators could impact important radiocommunications operations.
The ACMA recognises the high level of interest shown by the amateur community in adding this band, and understands there will be disappointment.
However, we are confident the decision is appropriate and consistent with the objects of the Radiocommunications Act. In particular, this includes supporting defence and national interest objectives.”
Available callsigns now on line
The Australian Maritime College has advised that the database of publicly available call signs is now live and can be found at https://csdb.utas.edu.au/Callsign/SearchUnallocated.