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ZL3AI > RADIO 20.11.06 02:56l 72 Lines 3058 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 9077-ZL3AI
Read: DK5RAS GUEST
Subj: Re: ZL licensing scheme ?
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<DK0WUE<SP7MGD<SR7DWI<SR1BSZ<IW2OAZ<ZL2BAU
Sent: 061120/0050Z @:ZL2BAU.#79.NZL.OC #:15893 [Waimate] $:9077-ZL3AI
From: ZL3AI@ZL2BAU.#79.NZL.OC
To : RADIO@WW
Andy G0FTD asked:
>I wonder if our friends (Dave ZL3AI ?) can shed some light on the ZL
>model of radio licencing ?
>
>I was under the impression that ZL had a licence called the GMRS, which
>once obtained, allowed the licencee the ham bands, as well as CB and
>some other general purpose channels somewhere in the VHF or UHF region for
>general useage ?
>
>In UK, that would mean we would have a licence for our ham bands, cb and
>PMR446 (presumably without the need for type approval on the two latter
>bands).
>
>So, how is licencing done in ZL ?
I've not heard of GMRS in New Zealand.
Our ham licences are currently a matter of some concern and there is
ongoing negotiation between NZART and officialdom (RSM - Radio Spectrum
Management which is a branch of MED the Ministry of Economic Development)
A couple of years ago it was proudly announced at an NZART Conference that
our licences would be free. And in due course of time our individual
licences became free. Then "they" announced that to recover costs,
repeaters and beacons would be charged $50 per year (they had been free up
until now) and if the fee wasn't paid, they would be deemed to be
unlicenced and we'd have to go through the drama and red tape to get them
back on the air. After paying the $1200 fine for operating an unlicenced
transmitter, of course. This amounts to about $16,000 per year, and the RSM
has been sending the invoices to NZART, but only about 40% of hams belong
to NZART, so the rest are getting a free ride at NZART members expense.
Currently it has been decided that NZART will pay for the first year of
this shambles and continue negotiating vigorously with RSM. So far,
clubs/NZART branches have been either sending or looking into sending a
donation to NZART HQ to cover the unbudgetted $16k. We used to pay $35 per
year licence fee individually, so one club's donation of $10 per member
seems to be quite OK.....for a one off to keep our infrastructure going for
a year. As you can imagine, there has been a tremendous amount of formal and
informal debate about this.
We have only one grade of ham licence now. Except for five Novice class
hams who are a remnant of a now discontinued grade. Some hams who have seen
the success of Foundation licences in other countries would like to see
such a licence introduced here.
See http://www.rsm.govt.nz/licensing/gurls/gurl-amateur.html for more info
about ham radio in New Zealand, also http://www.nzart.org/nzart
PRS (Personal Radio Service) or "UHF CB" has no individual licence or fee,
and is 40 channels on UHF around 476 and 477 MHz. Eight channels are
allocated to repeater use. Type Approved equipment.
There are also 40 channels of AM/SSB CB centred on 26.5 MHz (similar to 27
MHz CB, but NZ did it differently). Type Approved also.
See http://www.rsm.govt.nz/licensing/gurls/gurl-cbr.html for more info,
and http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/~lovegrov/radio/prs.htm also.
I hope that is helpful.
73, David ZL3AI.
http://www.geocities.com/zl3ai
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