Authorization for the Use of All Amateur Radio Frequencies by Class 2 License Holders

At the recently ended World Radio Conference (WRC 2003) in Geneva, it was decided that a Morse test as a requirement for access to the short wave bands is no longer obligatory.

Because of this decision, the Federal Office of Communication is discontinuing Morse tests and giving the holders of a Class 2 amateur licence permission to use all amateur radio frequency bands.

The amateur licences for radiotelephone and radiotelegraphy operators that are valid today will remain valid and will be equivalent to a new “certificate of proficiency for amateur radio”.

The same is true for the amateur radio licence 1 (CEPT Class 1) and amateur radio licence 2 (CEPT Class 2). These will be merged to create a new “CEPT amateur radio licence.”

Because of this we will not exchange the current amateur radio licence Class 2 nor the “certificate of proficiency for amateur radio” for new documents.

The regulations of the Federal Council for the management of frequencies and radio licences from October 6, 1997 and the regulations of BAKOM concerning management of frequencies and radio licences from December 9, 1997 will be changed in accordance. The changes will be effective on January 1, 2004.

Until this change in regulations is enacted as outlined above, we give you, as a holder of the amateur radio licence Class 2, immediate approval to use all amateur radio frequency  bands as listed in section 24 Bst. a Abs 1 and Bst. b Abs 1 of the amateur radio regulations¹⁾.  The footnotes concerning output power and the priority of other users should be observed.  This authorization is only valid in Switzerland.

The necessary changes in the CEPT recommendation concerning reciprocal recognition of the new licence privileges and the new certificate of proficiency for amateur radio are now under discussion on an international level. A decision is not expected before the end of September.

We wish you much fun and a lot of interesting QSOs on the frequency bands at your disposal.

Compliments, Federal Office for Communication Section Radio Licence i. A. P. Kumli

¹⁾ www.bakom.ch/de/funk/freq_nutzung/amateure/index.html