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Ralph Mowery · July 4th 16, 05:02 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna

In article , says...

On 7/4/2016 5:34 AM, Rob wrote:
Roger Hayter wrote:
Rob wrote:

Michael Black wrote:
On Thu, 30 Jun 2016, Jeff wrote:
In practice yes, but I think that is true in any country.

However, to legally transmit on the amateur bands you need to register
a callsign at the authorities. You can register any callsign within
the range PA1-PH9 that has not yet been registered by someone else.
To be able to do such a registration, you must first prove your technical
knowledge by passing an exam at an accredited organization.

Before this change, the authorities organized the exams and those that
passed were issued a license, with associated callsign. The change
was motivated as "deregulation" and "cost saving" (the license had
a yearly fee and the registration was free), but in the meantime a
yearly fee for registration has been introduced, albeit much lower than
the previous fee for a license.

Maybe I'm a little slow, but I don't see what the difference is between
"license" and "registration". Both require passing a test, getting a
call sign and paying a yearly fee, even if the fee is less and the test
easier to pass and picking your own call sign. What am I missing?

BTW, the range PA1-PH9 is only 80 unique combinations, no (or is it only
72 since it seems to exclude '0')? How can that work? Maybe PA1 means
something other than what I am thinking?

In this case I don't really see the difference either.

In the US a license means that you usually have to take a test of some
kind that shows you are somewhat profecient . A registration is a piece
of paper stating you can do something or having a name and address.
such as a drivers license means that you have taken a test to
demonstrate you can safely operate a car, but the car neeeds to be
registered to a person to show ownership. Maybe like a doctor needs to
be licensed to do the medical work,but you register a lawn care
business.

The PA1 to PH9 I am sure means just the prefix an the full call would be
something like pa1aaa or ph9zzz.

Just as inthe states the calls have to start within certain leter and
numbers such as W1, K1, AA1, and then some leters after such as W1AW,
K9ZZ.