New UK amateur radio conditions

From today, new UK amateur radio licence conditions come into effect.

See https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/278345/amateur-radio-general-notice-decision.pdf

Beginners' licence?

For some time in the UK a couple of ideas have been considered. 

One is an exam (a bit like the old RAE) that would allow people to get a full licence with just one exam. the second is a beginners' licence to allow newcomers into the hobby easily. Some can use licence free gear, e.g. 446MHz gear in the UK without any licence, so the argument is why not a simple transition into amateur radio, perhaps only allowing use of ready built commercial gear on VHF or UHF only? 

I have mixed feelings over the latter. Yes,we badly need new blood, but are we happy to dumb down our hobby? This is a hard one.

All these were discussed at a recent RSGB board meeting. You have to be an RSGB member to read these I believe.

See https://thersgb.org/members/publications/board/5900.php

Online Foundation exam

The RSGB has moved to online Foundation licence exams. This simplifies things, but runs the risk of being abused. At the moment I am unsure if this will be an issue or not.

See https://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/for-students/foundation/

UK VHF/UHF-only beginners licence?

Southgate News has a piece on a possible "beginners licence" to encourage VHF/UHF activity. This would be non-technical and with restrictions on power and bands. Certainly a casual look at our VHF and UHF bands would suggest these are not well used and maybe we should be encouraging use of these bands. Back in the 1980s, these bands were busy.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/october/new-uk-entry-level-licence-proposed.htm

OFCOM statement: Updating the Amateur Radio Licence

OFCOM here in the UK have decided to make 470kHz and the 5MHz slots available to full licence holders without the need for an NoV. There are some other changes too, mainly affecting microwave bands in the UK.

See http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/amateur-radio-licence/statement?utm_source=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=amateur-statement-dec14 .