[Closed] Two Way Radios - Licences

Far as I'm aware, you're right. It's all to do with not interfering with other technologies - you couldn't, for example, legally rig up a radio to operate at the same frequencies as Wi-Fi as it would cause untold disruption.

It's the same reason those in-car FM transmitters used to be illegal. They were legalised about a decade ago on the proviso that they're low-power devices (the same legislation removed the requirement for a CB licence).

(Caveat, this is "as I understand it" based on half-remembered knowledge so please don't take this as authoritative advice.)

yeah it's to do with the frequency they operate on, I work in communications.
over ten four rubber ducky

PMR446 is licence free no matter what you use it for. Almost everything else will require some kind of licence. dah-di-dah

I think the licence requirements is based on frequency but mainly power. You can use the licence free radios for any purpose, it’s just if you want to used the more powerful radios you need the licence.

We used to have a licence and use the more powerful radios years ago, but with mobile coverage bring so good now we haven’t used them in years.

I think they share frequencies?

However, it's the power output that is the difference, a PMR is limited to 0.5W. If you have a license then it can be up to 5W.

OFCOM

Not quite the same but the following may give you a steer on what you need to think about.

To operate a short range marine radio telephone (marine VHF radio) or other VHF based equipment you must:

Have a radio licence from Ofcom (free online) appropriate to the equipment

Have a Certificate of Competence and Authority to Operate (issued by a competent authority - in the case of boats this is the RYA)

The equipment must be 'type approved' for UK waters

There is an exemption for equipment that only transmits on channels M and M2, which are private channels used for race management.

Part of the licensing is a secrecy declaration (as marine radio is not inherently secure).

I would guess that unless the radios you want operate on private channels then you are going to need to register them with Ofcom and potentially hold some kind of operating licence.

I would guess that unless the radios you want operate on private channels then you are going to need to register them with Ofcom and potentially hold some kind of operating licence.

But actually it is the opposite. If he wants to use PMR radios he can for any voice comms regardless of the purpose. He’ll only need licenses if operating outside the pmr standard (eg. modified equipment, or with specialist frequencies like Marine, or Aviation, etc)

PMR radios (motorola talkabout etc) operate on 8 EU wide resevered frequecies on the UHF band, around 446mhz. Max ERP (transmit power) is limited to .4 or .5 of a Watt. You can use these whereever you fancy, but of course, as its a widely shared frequency, chances are you will get talked over at some point. IF you want different fequencies, or more TX power, then you need a Buisness radio lisence from offcom, which will give you a futher 8 or 16 channels in the UHF band. These aren't frequences lisenced exclusively to you however, and anyone else with the simple buisness radio lisence will have the same frequences.
You can of course use DCSS & CTSS codes to avoid receicving other transmisions on the same band, but it doesn't solve the problem of interference. A resevered UHF frequency is also purchacable from offcom, but the price & avaiablilty will vary widely, depending on where you are in the country, as the UHF frequency is rather congested & used for other purposes than voice communication.