Technical and Operational Conditions for Amateur Radiocommunication Service

DECREE No. 156/2005 Coll.

on the Technical and Operational Conditions
for Amateur Radiocommunication Service

Pursuant to Section 150 (2) of Act No. 127/2005 Coll., on Electronic Communications and on the Amendment to Certain Related Acts (Electronic Communications Act) (hereinafter "Act"), the Ministry of Informatics has determined the following to implement Section 16 (8) of the Act:

PART ONE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 1

The following definitions are made for the purposes of this decree:

1. amateur radiocommunication service - a radiocommunication service for purposes of self-training or for reciprocal communications performed on a not-for-profit basis by authorized persons,
2. amateur station - one or more transmitters or a set of transmitters and receivers together with the accessories required at a given location to perform amateur radiocommunication service (hereinafter "station"),
3. operation of a station - reception and transmission of radio waves,
4. call sign - each station's calling identifier which allows it to be identified during transmission ¹),
5. HAREC ²) (Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate) special competence certificate - certification for an amateur radiocommunication service operator which is internationally valid (hereinafter "HAREC certificate"),
6. NOVICE ²) special competence certificate - certification for an amateur radiocommunication service operator which is valid in the Czech Republic (hereinafter "NOVICE certificate"),
7. operator - a person operating a station,
8. chief operator - a person who is registered in an individual licence to use radio frequencies issued for a club station and who is a HAREC certificate holder,
9. system operator - a person registered in an individual licence to use radio frequencies issued for an unattended station and who is a HAREC certificate holder,
10. operator authorized to perform supervision - a person who is a HAREC certificate holder and who has been authorized by a chief operator to perform supervision of the performance of the activity of an operator without special competence certification at a club station and who is registered by the chief operator in the station log,
11. amateur repeater - a set of radio transmission equipment operated in frequency bands reserved for amateur radiocommunication service, which receives a high-frequency signal on a designated frequency and converts it to another frequency on which the received signal is retransmitted,
12. amateur beacon - a set of radio transmission equipment operated in frequency bands reserved for amateur radiocommunication service, which is used to study an assessment of radio wave propagation conditions and to check the receiver part of an amateur station,
13. packet node - a set of radio transmission equipment operated in frequency bands reserved for amateur radiocommunication service, which allows entry to a radio network for the transmission of data between stations, with the exception of Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) stations,
14. CEPT (Conférence Européene des Administrations des Postes et des Télécommunications) international organization - the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Authorities (hereinafter "CEPT"),
15. individual station - a station where the licence holder is a natural person,
16. club station - a station where one call sign is used by more than one person,
17. maximum power output - the maximum output of a transmission device supplied to an antenna feed.

PART TWO
OPERATIONAL CONDITIONS FOR AMATEUR RADIOCOMMUNICATION SERVICE
Section 2
Individual Licence to Use Radio Frequencies

(1) An individual licence to use radio frequencies (hereinafter "licence") for amateur radiocommunication service is granted for

1. an individual station,
2. a club station,
3. an unattended station (Section 6).

(2) A foreign national is entitled to operate a station on the territory of the Czech Republic without a licence if

1. he or she is a holder of a CEPT ³) licence or an equivalent recognized by the CEPT,
2. he or she stays on the territory of the Czech Republic uninterruptedly for a period of less than three months ⁴) and
3. a similar benefit is provided to citizens of the Czech Republic by the state in which he or she is a citizen.

(3) Foreign nationals from CEPT member states are granted a licence upon presentation of a HAREC certificate or an equivalent recognized by CEPT.

Section 3
Station Operation

(1) When operating a station, a foreign national as detailed in Section 2 (2) is to use his or her call sign preceded by the double letters "OK". The letters "OK" and the domestic call sign are divided by a slash or the English word "stroke".

(2) Test transmission must be performed in appropriate non-radiating resistance, which compensates for the input impedance of the antenna (artificial load), except in the case of the antenna setting and the transmitter antenna circuits.

Section 4
Operator Classes

(1) By virtue of passing an examination under a special legal regulation, operators are categorized in class A or class N.

(2) The maximum power output in class

1. A is 750 W in frequency bands detailed in Annex 1 to this Decree in Table 1, unless the status detailed in the table does not specify lower output,
2. N is 10 W in frequency bands detailed in Annex 1 to this Decree in Table 2.

(3) Within the limits of the frequency bands detailed in the tables of Annex 1 to this Decree, the operator may only use frequency sections for individual types of operation as recommended by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) for Region 1.

(4) At international amateur radio competitions or for communications requiring passive reflection from extraterrestrial objects, a class A operator may operate a station with a maximum power output of 1,500 W in an urban area and 3000 W outside this territory.

(5) The outputs detailed in paragraphs 2 and 3 must not be exceeded in the total output for individual transmission devices during concurrent operation at one frequency and modulation from a single source.

(6) The maximum power output for an unattended station is 50 W.

Section 5
Club Stations

(1) An operator who is not a holder of a HAREC or NOVICE certificate may only operate a club station within the scope of class N and under the supervision of an operator authorized to perform supervision.

(2) The first name and surname of the chief operator, the operator authorized to perform supervision, the club station operator and information on the operation of a club station are recorded in the station log of the club station. Information on operation is recorded in the station log by the operator.

(3) Information on operation as detailed in paragraph 2 is understood in particular to comprise the date, time and duration of the radio connection that was made, the frequency band used, the type of operation, the station call sign and the club station location with which the radio connection was made.

(4) Every club station operator must be acquainted with the content of a licence for a club station.

Section 6
Unattended Stations

An unattended station is understood to be an amateur repeater, an amateur beacon or a packet node.

Section 7
Station Locations

(1) A licence holder may only operate a station permanently at the location detailed in the licence.

(2) If a licence-holder temporarily operates a station

1. from another fixed location outside the location in paragraph 1, he or she is to add "/p" or the English word "portable" to the call sign,
2. from a mobile location, he or she is to add "/m" or the English word "mobile" to the call sign.

The addition of "/p", or "portable", "/m", or "mobile" is not compulsory in amateur radio competitions.

(3) To operate a station on ships or aircraft, the consent of the owner or operator of these craft is required. To operate a station located in a ship, the operator is to add "/mm" to the call sign, and on an aircraft "/am".

Section 8
Contents of Transmissions

(1) Transmissions must not include messages which have the character of commercial, radio or television broadcasting.

(2) A station cannot be used to send messages to third parties except in cases where an imminent threat is to be averted or there is a current danger involving a threat to human life, health, property or the environment. In such cases, amateur radiocommunication service is deemed to be emergency communication and any operator may use any frequency bands designated for amateur radiocommunication service for this purpose.

(3) For Amateur Radio Direction Finding, ARDF radio transmission equipment may only be used to transmit the internationally used signs MO, MOE, MOI, MOS, MOH and MO5 in the following frequency bands:

1. 3,520 to 3,600 kHz with A1A operation,
2. 3,600 to 3,750 kHz with A1A and A2A operation, or
3. 144,500 to 144,775 MHz and 145,225 to 145,575 MHz with A1A, A2A, F1A and F2A operation.

(4) ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction Finding) radio transmission equipment is understood to mean radio transmission equipment with limited output designated for transmitting beacon signals for competitions and training in Amateur Radio Direction Finding operated in the frequency bands detailed in paragraph 3.

PART THREE
TECHNICAL CONDITIONS FOR AMATEUR RADIOCOMMUNICATION SERVICE
Section 9
Station Requirements

(1) The output of individual frequency components of spurious radiation must not exceed the following values:

(2) The bandwidth occupied by the transmission must correspond to the minimum bandwidth required for the transmission of information by the given type of operation.

(3) During a change in transmission frequency during station operation, no electromagnetic energy may be emitted by the antenna; this condition does not apply to the operation of a station involving satellite amateur radio service.

(4) Radio transmission equipment (except for equipment with power output of less than 6 W) must be terminated with asymmetric output with an impedance of 50-100 ohms. There should be another type N or BNC output connector available at the station location for authorized state electronic communications inspection authorities to use for transmitter measurements, or a reduction from the transmitter output for this type of connector.

PART FOUR
CONCLUDING PROVISIONS
Section 10

A licence holder shall terminate operation of stations whose technical and operational parameters do not conform to this Decree no more than one month after the date on which this Decree comes into effect.

Section 11
Effectiveness

This Decree comes into effect as of 1st May 2005.

Minister:
Mlynář
in his own hand

¹) Decree No. 155/2005 Coll., on the procedure for creating call signs and identification numbers and codes, their usage and the types of radiocommunication services for which they are required.
²) Decree No. 157/2005 Coll., on requirements for an application for the examination to demonstrate special competence to operate radio transmission equipment, on the extent of knowledge required for individual types of special competence and on the procedure for holding examinations, on types of competence certificates and the period of their validity.
³) CEPT T/R 61-01 recommendations
⁴) CEPT T/R 61-02 recommendations

Annex No. 1 to Decree No. 156/2005 Coll.

OPERATOR CLASSES

Table 1: Class A

Table 2: Class N

P = priority (primary) band,
S = secondary band:

1. transmission must not cause harmful interference with priority service stations,
2. protection against harmful interference from priority service may not be sought,
3. however, claims may be made against harmful interference from the same or another secondary service,

NIB = on a non-interference basis:

1. transmission must not cause harmful interference with priority service stations,
2. protection against harmful interference from priority service may not be sought,

^I) only A1A, F1A, G1A operation
^II) only A1A, F1A, G1A, J2A operation
^III) only J1D, J2D, F1D, G1D operation
^IV) permitted output power 75 W
^V) permitted output power 25 W
^VI) permitted output power 10 W
^VII) until 29.3.2009 permitted output power 250 W, from 30.3.2009 status P

Annex No. 2 to Decree No. 156/2005 Coll.

1. The type of operation of radio transmission equipment is determined by
   • the required frequency bandwidth and
   • the class of transmission
2. The required frequency bandwidth is expressed by four characters: three digits expressing the rounded-off value of the required frequency bandwidth plus one letter. The letter has the position of a decimal point and represents the unit used where the required bandwidth
   1. between 0.001 Hz and 999 Hz is expressed in Hertz (letter H),
   2. between 1 kHz and 999 kHz is expressed in Kilohertz (letter K),
   3. between 1 MHz and 999 MHz is expressed in Megahertz (letter M),
   4. between 1 GHz and 999 GHz is expressed in Gigahertz (letter G).
   For the designation of the type of amateur radiocommunication service operation, information on the required frequency bandwidth is not compulsory.
3. The class of transmission is mandatory information and is expressed by three consecutive symbols with the following meaning:
   1. the first symbol designates the type of main carrier modulation, as follows:
      1. Emission of unmodulated carrier N
      2. Emission in which the main carrier is amplitude modulated (including cases where sub-carriers are angle modulated):
         1. Double sideband A
         2. Single sideband, full carrier H
         3. Single sideband, reduced or variable level carrier R
         4. Single sideband, suppressed carrier J
         5. Independent sideband B
         6. Vestigial sideband C
      3. Emission in which the main carrier is angle modulated:
         1. Frequency modulation F
         2. Phase modulation G
      4. Emission in which the main carrier is amplitude and angle modulated either simultaneously or in a pre-established sequence D
      5. Emission of pulses
         1. A sequence of unmodulated pulses P
         2. A sequence of pulses:
            1. Modulated in amplitude K
            2. Modulated in width/duration L
            3. Modulated in position/phase M
            4. In which the carrier is angle modulated during the period of the pulse Q
            5. Which is a combination of the foregoing or is produced by other means V
      6. Cases not covered above, in which an emission consists of the main carrier modulated, either simultaneously or in a pre-established sequence, in a combination of two or more of the following modes: amplitude, angle, pulse W
      7. Other cases X
   2. the second symbol designates the nature of the signal modulating the main carrier, as follows:
      1. No modulating signal 0
      2. A single channel containing quantized or digital information without the use of a modulating subcarrier 1
      3. A single channel containing quantized or digital information with the use of a modulating subcarrier 2
      4. A single channel containing analogue information 3
      5. Two or more channels containing quantized or digital information 7
      6. Two or more channels containing analogue information 8
      7. A composite system with one or more channels containing quantized or digital information, together with one or more channels containing analogue information 9
      8. Other cases X
   3. the third symbol designates the type of information to be transmitted, as follows:
      1. No information N
      2. Telegraphy (for aural reception) A
      3. Telegraphy (for automatic reception) B
      4. Facsimile C
      5. Data transmission, telemetry, telecommand D
      6. Telephony (including sound broadcasting) E
      7. Television (video) F
      8. A combination of the above W
      9. Other cases X