UK radio amateurs: how does licensing for portable repeaters work? Is it the same as for fixed repeaters?
I'm curious because some foundation license holders I know want to make a low power portable repeater using back to back HTs and I think they almost certainly aren't allowed but I can't find anything obvious in the license terms about it.
@m0puh so, cross band repeat? 70cm in 2m out?
Ask 10 amateurs, get 15 answers on this... Some say even full licences aren't allowed to do this. Others (me) think it's fine...
I've certainly done it from a handheld through the car radio so I can listen to the morning net when wandering around the house.
@m0puh @M0YNG AFAIK this is still not allowed without a talk through permit, which used to be managed by Raynet on behalf of RSGB/Ofcom. Which almost certainly will only be issued for Raynet type temporary usage. And it's not as simple as putting two Baofangs (sic) back to back, although some mobile rigs have the feature built in.
@g0fcu
@m0puh @M0YNG
The property boundary restriction was the old BR68 licence conditions. The way licence clause 10(6) is written says Foundation and Intermediate licensees can use 500mW links to control their remote radios (car? :-)) while in theory full licensees can run full power. The catch is that in either case it is only for the sole use of the individual licensee.
@g0fcu @M0YNG I’m unsure of the circumstances they’d want to use it, but it would be temporary, and more remote than a car in the drive.
I was paraphrasing from an email where a full license holder suggested a setup (it wasn’t just “stick these together” 😄) but tbh it wasn’t far off.
It’s a shame there’s no clear and obvious bit of license I can point at but I think I’ll pass on that it’s almost certainly not allowed!
@m0puh @M0YNG
it is not 100% clear at all if a cross band repeater is even legal here (in spite of this functionality being built into some newer mobile radios)
however some documents mention "general *unsupervised access*" requiring an NoV - a set in a car that was nearby to the operator would not (IMO) be unsupervised.
Consider that until deployment of Airwave, many Police vehicles had exactly this arrangement to allow VHF mainscheme comms to be relayed to an officers personal UHF set..