Irish radio amateurs to get 'licence for life'

ComReg has issued its response to the Consultation
Paper entitled "Review of Fees applicable to Rights of Use for Radio Frequencies". This new paper has significant implications for the EI experimenter community and promises a new licensing regime commencing in 2006.

As already suggested, all existing Experimenters' licenses, including Repeater and Club licenses, will become lifetime licenses at the time of next renewal, for a once-off fee of 30 Euro.

All new Experimenters' licenses, including Repeater and Club licenses, will be issued on a lifetime basis for a once-off fee of 100 Euro. Individuals who are over 65 years of age or in receipt of a Disability Allowance will qualify for a
reduced fee of 30 Euro.

Once-off Special event licenses will be subject to a fee of 30 Euro but Special event licenses for recurring events (e.g. an annual event) will be charged a once-off fee of 100 Euro.

Experimenter licenses issued under the proposed new
scheme will be valid for all modes and frequency bands
relevant to the class of license held. Previously, an
individual application was required for use of each
non-standard extension, for example 70 MHz.

There is a requirement outlined in the document for
Experimenters to confirm their license details to ComReg once every five years. This process will be originated by ComReg writing to all licensees but the obligation to confirm license details will lie squarely with the licensee. Failure to submit appropriate confirmation could result in loss of license.

The full ComReg document No. 05/89 is available on the
ComReg website www.comreg.ie under Consultations.

IRTS is pleased that most of the points raised in its
submission have been accepted by ComReg and
incorporated into the amended document.

Source: IRTS