OFCOM vhf e mail

stu9000

stu9000

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I received this e mail from OFCOM re changes to vhf licences and I guessing most of you did too.
Text in full down below.
All the links in the email which were working now seemed to have stopped working for some reason but here is the emf compliance flowchart

emf-compliance-flowchart.pdf

My VHF is an icom ic m505 can transmits up to 25 w, although usually on the low 1w setting.

So I guess I would have to say "no" to the flow chart question "you do not transmit at power higher than 10 w EIRP"

I therefor flow into the next question "does your equipment transmit at an average power higher than 10w".

Answering "no" to this means the only action I need to take is to "... Keep a record of your average power with your licence document..."

Few questions...

Do I need to log each radio call, the duration and and whether low or high power?

The OFCOM page, which I think might be down, cites "EIRP means equivalent isotropically radiated power. ... For example, if you transmit at a power of 10 Watts ERP, you need to calculate the EIRP as follows: 10 Watts ERP x 1.64 = 16.4 Watts EIRP" . I am none the wiser for this.

I think a written statement in with ships papers citing I usually only transmit at 1 watt is probably enough, don't you?



Dear Licence Hol der,

We are writing to make you aware of some important changes to your radiocommunications licence(s) issued by Ofcom. The changes mean you may now need to take action to make sure your radio equipment complies with a new licence condition to protect the general public from exposure to Electromagnetic fields (EMF).

We wrote to you in March this year to let you know we were proposing these changes. They apply to virtually all licence holders. We gave licensees until 18 April to submit any representations they wanted to make about the changes. We have listened to licensees’ concerns and made some changes to the new licence condition and guidance document as a result.

Full details of our Final Decision are published on our website. The Decision means your licence has now been changed to include a requirement to comply with internationally recognised limits on EMF exposure.

Alongside the Final Decision we have published Guidance on what you should do to ensure compliance. We have also produced a simple EMF compliance flowchart which tells you whether or not you need to take action and, if you do, what action is needed.

To help further, we will also shortly publish an updated version of our on-line calculator which you can use to work out an appropriate compliance distance for your equipment. We are also preparing a new simplified version of the full Guidance, plus specific advice for holders of amateur, ship radio and aeronautical licences. We expect to publish these documents on our website by 8 June.

All documents – plus other relevant information – can be found on a dedicated EMF webpage.

Licensees will have the following time periods to make sure they have up-to-date records in place:

a) Until 18 November 2021 for any equipment which operates on frequencies at or above 110 MHz. 
b) Until 18 May 2022 for any equipment which operates on frequencies above 10 MHz but below 110 MHz.
c) Until 18 November 2022 for any equipment which operates on frequencies at or below 10 MHz.  

To view and download your new terms, conditions and limitations please click the appropriate link below:

Amateur Radio Licence Terms, Conditions and Limitations

Ship Radio and Ship Portable Radio Licence Terms, Conditions and Limitations

Please note: if we make any further changes to licences in future, we may not contact licensees individually. For that reason we urge all licensees to subscribe to email spectrum updates by going to this page on our website.

If you have any questions about this change and what it means for you, further information can be found on the dedicated EMF webpage using the address provided above.

Yours faithfully,

Ofcom
 
The email is generic to all kinds of licensed radio use, from taxi companies to microwave towers to amateur hobbyists. They are apparently still writing some specific guidance for ship station licensees like us. If they’re sensible, that will boil down to “if you have a standard 25w set with the antenna on a mast at least x metres above the deck, you can use this standard assessment. Please file it with your license document.”

They do seem to be handling this whole thing remarkably badly, though.

Pete
 
I'm sorry there are 3 threads but I have only seen this one.
Possibly the mods need to combine the threads or find some way to stop proliferation.

What really p155e5 me off is that the "simple EMF flowchart" doesn't exist.
That, in my view, is a sign that Ofcom is run by a bunch of bananas.
1621461618841.png
 
I had one as well today. Prior to that a few months ago I actually had a phone call from Ofcom as my email address from 2001 had changed after 20 years. Any thanks to previous posts on topic I was able to reassure the caller that with my aerial 20m up my mast I didn’t really see the application and my little handhelds didn’t count . He agreed but said they had no way of knowing those with masts hence the call and need to hit contact targets. So it’s not a scam but a well meaning and worthless exercise for many but I guess might be of interest to mobo folk somehow but what you do about it remains a puzzle.
 
I got the email, and was surprised that a boat is defined as somewhere the public might access. (More understandable for marinas and quays.)

I entered my power details and the frequency that marine VHF uses in the EMF checker tool provided, and it effectively tells me (as far as I can make out) that I mustn't use my VHF within 1.6 metres of a member of the public.

My antenna is at the masthead, and I haven't previously had problems with the public shinning up the mast uninvited. (If they want to, I'll promise to not use the VHF while they're up there, give them a few jobs to do while they are at it, and offer them a tea or a stiff whisky when they get down!)

I think that satisfies the new requirement to undertake an assessment.
 
These links were working but seem broken atm. I had downloaded the flowchart and have linked to it if your need it.
TwoHooter said:
I'm sorry there are 3 threads but I have only seen this one.
Possibly the mods need to combine the threads or find some way to stop proliferation.

What really p155e5 me off is that the "simple EMF flowchart" doesn't exist.
That, in my view, is a sign that Ofcom is run by a bunch of bananas.
View attachment 115820
Click to expand...
 
LittleSister said:
I got the email, and was surprised that a boat is defined as somewhere the public might access.
Click to expand...

It has a very broad definition of the general public - everyone except the license-holder and any employees they may have. Your friends and family count as “the public” for this purpose - though of course they’re still unlikely to be orbiting your masthead.

Pete
 
My radar is about 20m from the club's new balcony and lines up perfectly for four hours per tide. I suspect that is more our area of concern then the VHF and I would not be entirely unsurprised to find that it is powerful enough to be affected, while remaining not powerful enough to be effective...
 
By the time your alleged 25W has left the O/P stage, gone through a couple of PL259s a length of leaky RG58 and a rather inefficient 1/4 or 1/2 wave bit of wire in a glassfibre tube, doubt any ERP will be much above 10W ?
 
Iliade said:
My radar is about 20m from the club's new balcony and lines up perfectly for four hours per tide. I suspect that is more our area of concern then the VHF and I would not be entirely unsurprised to find that it is powerful enough to be affected, while remaining not powerful enough to be effective...
Click to expand...
At some locks (Chichester for example) there is a notice telling boats to switch off their radar and I always do this well before reaching any lock - obviously I never switch it on when actually in the marina. Also as mentioned previously I try never to use VHF while in a lock although I do have a hand-held set to "Lo" power, which is more likely to fry my cranium than anyone else's. It seems I have already been mitigating my risks, and now I need to document that.
The Single Side Band radio is another thing entirely, The antennae are beside the flybridge so would be a potential hazard for anyone there. But since I don't have a licence to use this radio it rarely gets turned on.
What to do about maintenance work on radars and VHF? For example, it's impossible to make our open array radar scanner revolve without also emitting EMR.
Edited - I always switch radar off before any lock
 
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The whole thing seems to be a pen pushing exercise that will have no direct impact upon the majority of us apart from hastening the onset of brain fade brought on by trying to make sense of it.
I think I will wait for a while until the RYA or some enterprising chandlery produce a simple easily understood form that the average mariner can simply add the details of their vhf kit then store with the ships radio licence, for no-one ever to ask me to show it. (When were you last asked to show your vhf licence.)
Hopefully never to be used but how does all this affect my PLB?
 
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