Amateur radio licensing in Australia

In Australia, amateur radio licensing is governed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) under federal regulations. Licenses to operate amateur stations are granted to individuals of any age after they demonstrate a knowledge of the appropriate Amateur Operator's Certificate of Proficiency syllabus for their license grade. Operator's licenses are divided into different classes, and offer different operating privileges in accordance with the increasing knowledge required per license class. Over time these classes and their knowledge requirements have changed and there now remain three different classes.

Current license classes

The ACMA currently issues the following grades of license.

• The entry-level Foundation Class license. This license grants the use of portions of the 80-meter, 40-meter and 15-meter using AM and SSB voice as well as hand keyed morse code. Also permitted are portions of the 10-meter, 2-meter and 70-centimeter band using AM, SSB and FM voice as well as hand keyed morse code.
• The intermediate Standard Class license. This license class grants access to all the foundation class bands as well as 20 meters, 6 meters, 23 centimeters, 13 centimeters and 6 centimeters. Amateurs with the Standard class license or higher can use any emission mode provided their transmissions do not exceed a certain bandwidth.
• The highest level Advanced Class license. This license class grants access to all the standard class bands as well as 2200 meters, 160 meters, 30 meters, 17 meters, 12 meters, 3 centimeters, 1.25 centimeters, 7.5 millimeters, 3.7 millimeters, 2.5 millimeters, 2 millimeters and 1.25 millimeters. Advanced license holders may use any bandwidth on the 70 centimeter band and higher.

Also issued to amateurs are Repeater and Beacon licenses. These are issued to qualified radio amateurs that wish to operate an Amateur radio repeater or beacon respectively.

External links

• The Wireless Institute of Australia. Accessed 4 March 2015.
• Amateur Licence Examinations and Certification. Accessed 4 March 2015.