Foundation licences to be allowed 10 watts all permitted modes

As the new amateur licence structure, including the Foundation licence, came into effect on 19 October 2005, WIA President Michael Owen, VK3KI, said that "Our only regret is that we believe that the power limit of 3 watts for AM, FM and CW for the Foundation licence, while perfectly logical, is unrealistic given the output power of commercially available equipment, particularly older equipment, and that the power limit should be 10 watts."

Michael had already advised ACMA that the WIA believed that a power output limit of 10 watts would not result in any difficulties but would enable the use of many older transmitters, particularly VHF transmitters, that would be attractive to the Foundation licensees.

The WIA was advised by ACMA today that "Following reconsideration of the issues involved, it is agreed, under the Foundation licence, to permit a transmitter output power of 10 Watts pX on all permitted emission modes instead of the present 10 Watts pX for J3E emissions and 3 Watts pY for all other permitted emissions."

The change will formally come into effect with the other amendments to the Amateur LCD into force in some months time.

The WIA President said that the WIA welcomed ACMA's decision, which should assist many Foundation licensees, and was grateful that the regulator was prepared to make an early announcement.

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