HF radio

Hi Tim.

As far as I know the basis of all this licensing is that you are allowed listen to any frequency you wish from DC to daylight. BUT to transmit on a frequency, you must hold a licence for that frequency or be "sponsored" by a club or organisation that holds a licence for that frequency. There may be some restriction to "listening" to some Government frequencies but I have never seen them.

I have a radio that is capable of receiving the whole HF. But it will only transmit on the amateur frequencies. Press the button and it just looks at you.

There isn't anything illegal about me using that radio to listen to VKS, but because I am not a VKS member, I am not permitted to transmit on the VKS frequency. The radio will not transmit there in any event.

So to get a whole bunch of frequencies in a radio may be legal. It's not illegal to listen.

Is it legal for your radio? Simply put if the radio is capable of transmitting on a frequency that it is not "covered" for by a club or organisation such as VKS, then the radio may well illegal. Someone must pay for and hold the licence, albeit a radio cllub or VKS etc. I have never read the actual regulation so I may be slightly wrong but I think not. Apart from the CB bands, if you want to transmit on a frequency then in some way you must pay to do so.

Phil

I'm not sure how we got onto the subject of licences. The original post was that the owner could not find VKS on his channels. I suggested a company who will program the EPROM in the radio with VKS737 along with a lot of other clubs etc etc. As you suggested, if you went to an ABC channel and tried to transmit the unit will not respond as it is an RX only frequency. All of the other channels which contain radio clubs and RFDS are RX/TX.

Obviously there are requirements to have be covered by a licence whether it be your own or via membership to a radio club (VKS737, bush telegraph etc) but as far as the radio itself goes, the only way to change the frequencies in an 8258 is to re-program the eprom.

The company I was speaking about is a reputable Codan/Barret dealer and I would be extremely confident he would not do something illegal.

Tim

I understand that this is not directly in line with the main thread topic but it is in response to your post about "All of the other channels which contain radio clubs and RFDS are RX/TX".

Let's say for this discussion that you are only a member of VKS and no other.

In this case it is illegal to posses a radio that will transmit on any frequency other than the VKS ones.

It is permitted to have as many frequencies as you wish other than VKS but the radio must not be capable of transmitting on the non VKS ones. A lot of people do not realise this part of having such off road HF equipment.

That's all. Nothing against any company or person who set your radio up.

Phil

Phil the question was as Tim said and there was no mention of if it's illegal or not.... who cares!

My Icom has full transmit and receive from 1.6 to 30Mhz but legally I can only use the VKS network and CB frequencies .... if I want to use any others I know I breaking the law.

Phil can you point me in the direction of where it says in the legislation "that one must not posses a radio that can transmit on a frequency that your not authorised to use."

Olcoolone

I have already answered Tim.

As far as your question is concerned. I cannot point you at that exact statement and I would hazard a guess that you, sir, are baiting me.

Alls cool. Okay

Phil

hi guys
i will pull out the big guns and found this. Licence Authority under Section 114 (1)of the Radiocommunications Act of 1992 . THE frequencies that each network so jealousy gaurd cost thousands of $$$$$ to lease and if any and espeseuly VKS 737 WILL complain to the Australian Communications Authority pursuant to s. 111 of the ACT.
Its no good having a HF radio if u can not Transmit There are short wave radios that you can buy to listen to the frequencies. A HF RADIO is to get you out of trouble and if you do not have a selcall no that the operator can find on there list they will not take your call. RFDS have asked the ACA to ban all networks from using there frequencies. so if you get into trouble and you have a HF radio which you are not a member network you may not be answered by a operated . THE HF radio have over 40 Licences to be able to use the Frequences the have leased from the ACA so u see it is a very regulated field and if you do not know how to use the radio properly with the correct jargon your may not be answered by the operator. ALSO if you are a ham and you do not have the Authority to use these the frequencies you will lose your ham licence.
I hapoie i have been clear in this please pm me if you want more info and i will try to get it for you
Terry

Phil the reason I asked the question is many think it's illegal to own a radio that can transmit on a frequency your not authorised to use...... If I by a HAM radio am I breaking the law even if I don't transmit on the HAM bands and use it for listening only.

It's not illegal to own a road going motor vehicle but it becomes illegal is your not authorised to operate the road going motor vehicle on a public road.

With HF (4WD type) radio nearly all the sellers of them will program all the frequencys for all HF networks (except HAM)..... so in other words anyone who buys them is committing a crime making the seller guilty of aiding and abetting.

Me think it's a thing of HAMs taking the law upon them selves and self policing!

Sorry mate but I got into a spot last week when I was tricked and the whole thread was deleted. That's why I said the bit about baiting me.

I just rang ACMA to be sure. According to section 47 of the Radio Communications Act it is illegal to possess a radio that will transmit on a frequency that you do not hold a licence for.

If you need further proof please feel free to call ACMA yourself on 1300 850 115 and ask to talk to a radio inspector.

You do not need to transmit to commit an offence.

Phil

I thought that you may have responded by now.

Do you still think that "it's a thing of HAMs taking the law upon them selves and self policing!"?

Phil

Hi vk1dx
I do not understand where or what you are saying.
Terry

Terry

If you check where the quote came from then I am sure you will understand.

Not you mate. Just a bit of a slur made by one old bloke. I though he would have the courage and common sense to pop in and acknowledged he was wrong.

Merry Christmas.

Phil

Thanks for the debate , but am still thinking of removing all non VKS channels . I hold a current VKS737 membership and and is the only one I use on my trips. Looking at the channel list supplied by the previous owner it has School of The Air and some outdated base channels so as i said in my origianal post I,m not the most tech savy person there is so looking for ease of operation for myself and the co-driver who is somewhat shy where two way radio chat is concerned. As for my previous radio it is a codan 8727 with 9 tap antenna which i gained for a carton supplied on our tanami trip this year which served previous owner for many a canning trip and myself without fault , but like all things is showing signs of a great life . Cheers Wayne

Also forgot to say I have an outpost license as well . cheers Wayne

Hullo Wayne
I seem to recall that VKS737 have an agreement to handle some RFDS HF traffic as sat phones have lessened RFDS HF use.
I also understand that most (all?) of the providers - certainly VKS and I think RFDS - will handle genuine emergencies even if you are not a member.
There was a VKS bulletin on this a relatively short time ago
Cheers
Andrew

Andrew

I don't know about the RFDS traffic being handled by VKS. I would find that strange. But then again who knows.

Regarding your "genuine emergencies even if you are not a member" comment; I think you are correct. I recall something along those lines years ago when I got my ham licence. Anyone ignoring a legitimate emergency or Mayday type call could be in breach of the ITU regulations.

For example: My young grand daughter picks up the mike and says, "Help! Grandad is lying on the ground and I cannot wake him". You would have to be an idiot not to answer. She has no idea of protocol. No idea of which channel she should be on and is most definitely not a member or licenced.

Does anyone here think she has done the wrong thing?

But it HAS to be a REAL emergency. Not just a call for a fuel drop.

I don't think that all HF radios will be compatible with RFDS tone calling. Not sure but I don't think my ham HF Radios are compatible and I am not about to try it to see if they are. That's why we have a sat phone and keep HF to the travellers nets.

Wayne
If the radio is blocked from transmitting on the "other" frequencies then there is no need to remove them. I believe you know this but just saying it for other readers.

Cheers

Phil

Have just been out at my car with the radio on flicking through the channels trying to hear vks sked which is on now [ with my other radio could hear] but nothing . Could hear abc and world news and a lot of overseas chat but no vks so again is it wise to remove other channels or leave as is .Just after ease of operation . Cheers Wayne

Wayne

I gather that you tried all the VKS channels. You could also be in a bad location to receive VKS. Just because you can hear the ABC does not mean that you should also hear VKS. You could also have tuned to a VKS frequency when one of the non base stations was talking. Did you wait for a reasonable time on each one.

HF can be funny like that. Many a time I joined world wide nets yet because of ionospheric conditions and where my antenna was pointed I could not hear all members.

Once to talk to Tasmania from Melbourne I turned my beam to the north and the tassie bloke did the same. It worked a treat.

If it was me and I did not have the sat phone I would leave them in. Blocked or not.

Phil

just another thought , if i send off my radio to be channel blocked and vks added , does the auto tune antenna also have to be recalibrated as well. just another thing to ponder i suppose . cheers wayne

Personally I do not have any knowledge of the autotune for the 4WD HF service. I doubt it though. However I cannot give you a definte answer. Maybe drop a personal message to Wombat100. He may know.

Can anyone answer him?

Phil

G'day Wayne,

Perhaps give Steve Johnson, VKS737 boss a call - he will be able to answer many of your technical questions and suggest techs in your area if needed. The VKS737 web site will also answer most of your questions about the relationship between the network and RFDS. You can either submit an enquiry via the VKS website or the telephone number is 08 8287 6222.

Darian, a member of this site is also a base operator and a good source of info.

Cheers
John

VKS737 mobile 2114

A follow up to a couple of items here.

1)As per Andrew and Jen, VKS now provides service for WA and QLD RFDS bases. You can call the RFDS as a selcall through VKS and WA/QLD no longer support their own HF, including the emergency signal. Other RFDS states still operate the old way. Frankly its a mess from a user perspective.

2)pilbara60 (WA), your autotune doesn't need to know about your programmed channels. Basically if you go to transmit at a frequency, your autotune will tune it's self to that frequency. ie there is nothing to change on your autotune.

Good one.

I even responded to one using morse by triggering a repeater high up in the Brindabella Range. The blokes microphone was broken and he was hitting the PTT wires together. It was a cop in a rolled car in the Goulburn Valley and he even dropped in to have a cuppa. That's why I hate the SMS sounds on a mobile phone. Its too close to SOS for my liking. I get suckered in all the time.

Phil