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Ok this possibly is an obscure question. I am currently a British citizen with a US Greencard, so I have “permanent residence”. I have a general class ham license in the US. I have no UK ham license.

How can I use my ham radio in the UK?

I checked that the UK is still in CEPT now that it left the EU - that was my first concern!

All the references I can find, and the exam questions in the extra class license exam say that to use your radio in the UK you need to be an American citizen (and have the relevant papers with you of course)

In most situations like tax etc the Greencard functions like a citizenship. Obvs I can’t vote and work for various government bodies and visit certain military institutes but is it the case that unless I get citizenship I also can’t be covered by CEPT?

Do I need to actually phone the FCC to ask?

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  • $\begingroup$ I am taking my extra class license test in May $\endgroup$
    – Natalie Downe
    Commented Jan 18 at 8:10
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    $\begingroup$ FCC has no say on what you are allowed in UK. You should look for UK authorities and their documentation. $\endgroup$
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented Jan 18 at 8:30

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Ofcom, the official body of the UK governing spectrum usage, says itself that as a CEPT member itself it applies the CEPT recommendation T/R 61-01, which recommends:

that CEPT member administrations recognise the principle of the CEPT radio amateur licence issued under the conditions specified in Annex 1 and Annex 2, on which the administrations of the countries visited will not levy administrative charges or spectrum fees

So, your license is accepted as long as you visit. Your nationality should make no difference.

That is very much the spirit of the cept recommendations - make it easier for people traveling, regardless of what their passport says, to do radio.

Note that you would have to check with ofcom's actual norms how that would look in detail, but come on: for this to become a problem, someone at ofcom would have to

  1. Find detailed regulations surprisingly making an exception that puts visiting UK citizens at a disadvantage,
  2. Look up your US call sign
  3. Correlate the name they get with a UK citizenship catalog, something that they probably don't even have access to for this purpose
  4. Have reasonable cause to assume that there's only one Natalie Downe between the US and UK, and that it's you
  5. Cause minor problems for you

(Southern states accent) Ain't nobody got time for that, (posh English accent) to be quite honest, dear.

Now, of course you shouldn't risk things if it can be avoided. And Hobbs seems to have found the relevant actual regulation for the UK!

It defines:

"CEPT radio amateur” means a radio amateur who holds a CEPT amateur radio licence issued by a CEPT country, other than the United Kingdom…

Note that it really makes no exceptions on the citizenship!

It says that these "CEPT radio amateurs" are exempt from requirements of UK licensing as described in "the act", which is in this case the UK radio amateur-governing law's 1(1), as found here.

To drink something long-brewed fast, that means that if any woman has a CEPT license from a nation that allows UK-licensed amateurs to do the reverse, then she won't need a UK license to operate as radio amateur in the UK.

You're fine!

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    $\begingroup$ Probably worth looking into this more deeply. You could say the same in reverse: the US is a participant in T/R 61-01 and anyone with a CEPT license has operating privileges here. But you'd be wrong: 47 CFR 97.5(d)(1) excludes US citizens. If you hold US citizenship you need a US license to operate in the US, even if you're a "visitor". We need to see the actual law from the UK, not an Ofcom factsheet that says "we do CEPT". So far I've been unable to find that. $\endgroup$
    – hobbs - KC2G
    Commented Jan 18 at 16:31
  • $\begingroup$ @hobbs-KC2G Ofcom is the UK equivalent of the FCC, and is the government body which sets the rules here. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/36/contents delegates authority to Ofcom to deal with spectrum licensing, including amateur radio. Ofcom's regulations are the law for amateur radio operations here; the RSGB (our ARRL equivalent) guidance at rsgb.org/main/operating/licensing-novs-visitors/… is a summary of what Ofcom says. $\endgroup$
    – Simon Farnsworth
    Commented Jan 18 at 17:47
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    $\begingroup$ @SimonFarnsworth right, I know all of that, but there's a difference between regulation and PR materials. In any case I think I've found the actual law implementing 61-01 and it's not picky about citizenship. $\endgroup$
    – hobbs - KC2G
    Commented Jan 18 at 20:34
  • $\begingroup$ @ConstantineA.B. I'd rather let you choose how to integrate it. You're welcome to it. $\endgroup$
    – hobbs - KC2G
    Commented Jan 19 at 4:04
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@Natalie Downe: It is no difference what kind of visa you have and what is your citizenship. You may be as a visitor and in this case you need to apply for a callsign in the EU country where you are living temporary, presenting your ham radio credentials not less as US Extra ham radio class. As I know, this temporary permission is limited by 90 days. Or you must have the CEPT credentials after the full course of examinations (as I did, taking all 3 exams in the RSGB, then presenting the OFCOM document to the Portugal ANACOM. How to do that you may found on this site). Having the CEPT credentials, issued by any CEPT country (that includes UK) you may apply for the callsign and then use it in any CEPT country adding the country prefix. But here is also some issue. The callsign can be issued only with proof of permanent residency. Some people told that they use the US callsign with the respective prefix indefinitely. I could not find the written proof for this permission, therefore I cannot recommend it. Anatoly, CT7BCL/AD8EQ

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Actually, your citizenship and licensing do have to agree for CEPT. For instance, the site https://www.arrl.org/cept gives advice for US amateurs and states: "Bring proof of US citizenship". I am a Canadian living in the US with a US license and got a Canadian license to be eligible for the CEPT license. Conceivably the country you're visiting wouldn't care, but the US does seem to think that they only extend the privilege to citizens.

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