Radio Discussion Community

since the introduction of legal AM and SSB in the UK last year I have been trying to get confirmation as to the legal position of the current crop of AM/FM multi standard radios. these units only allow you to transmit on FM whilst they are set on the UK bands, but quite clearly its possible to switch to AM on the EU/CEPT block if you select one of the foreign bands. prior to june 2014 this procedure would have been illegal whilst within the confines of the UK, but now the AM mode is actually legal within the EU band of: 26965-27.405 it raises the question whether you are permitted to use multi standard AM/FM radios in order to access it. naturally if you were changing bands in order to use illegal frequencies, for instance those used by Germany well down in the 26mhz band, this would be an offence because it lies outside the UK frequencies, but if you changed to a band that only permits 4 watts or less on either mode within the 26.965-27.405 region then surely it should be perfectly legal to do so? after all we are not talking about old sidebanders, converted amateur radio gear or export radios here, we are talking about legal CB transceivers that are not capable of more than 4 watts output by default. some would say, that because these radios were released prior to the legalisation, they cannot be type approved for using AM within the permitted band, which seems totally unfair, especially when they meet all the necessary requirements. quite frankly iam surprised that no retailers, or for that matter anyone else has made an effort to make the position clear on this, especially when you consider that some users will automatically switch over their radio to use AM within the CEPT band, believing it legal do so, and if it is not permitted those persons could be unknowingly committing an offence without even realising so, after all some will see it like this: I have a legal CB radio and if iam using the correct mode of transmission on the correct frequencies, and the legal output power then why should I be breaking the law? because I have followed the guidelines, and although you could also use the same arguement for other types of radios, export radios and old sidebanders have never been legal to use in the UK regardless of what band you are using because they do not meet the requirements for legal CB operation in this country, unless you are a licensed radio amateur, in which case you can operate an export radio within the 10 meter band perfectly legally. I contacted OFCOM on this issue only days ago and amazingly they were UNABLE to provide an answer to my question. so if OFCOM dont know WHO DOES? because NOBODY has made ANY EFFORT whatsoever to make this issue clear. maybe this and maybe that and wild theories are of no use to anyone, WE NEED 100% confirmation which so far, nobody has been able to provide, which I find quite unbelievable.

SUMMARISING: quite clearly this is a grey area that needs clearing up. and I would also be very interested to hear Thunderpole's comments on this issue?

Or does this mean we are set to receive yet another specification of type approved AM/FM radios? Models Which will include the option to switch to AM on the UK band setting? somehow I doubt owners of current AM/FM equipment will want to get their wallet out again. after all we have seen this scenario all too often in the past: 1) pre 1981: campaigners for legal CB 'misunderstood' granted FM channels instead, users required to buy new equipment. 2) 1987: Introduction of CEPT band. Users required to purchase a seperate radio in order to use the new band legally. as a result many fitted conversion boards because of a ridiculous law that didnt allow more than 40 channels in the same rig. 3) 1990's: new specification of 80 channel sets introduced users required to purchase new equipment yet again in order to use both bands within one radio legally. 4) 2014: AM and SSB legalised users required to purchase new equipment in order to use these modes legally. 5) any guesses to what comes next? After all its not rocket science is it? At least not if your a long term CB operator anyway. In comparison amateur radio operators have suffered none of these problems. it almost seems like one law for the rich and another for the poor.

Jesus I had a nack of making things sound confusing back then! Its no wonder Thunderpole didnt reply lol their brains probably crashed just reading it lol