ITU Radio Regulations

Permitted Communications

  • Radiocommunication between amateur stations in different countries ...
    1. Is permitted unless the administration of one of the countries concerned has notified that it objects to such radiocommunications
    2. Is limited to communications incidental to the purposes of the amateur service and to remarks of a personal character
    3. Cannot be encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning, except for control signals exchanged between earth command stations and space stations in the amateur-satellite service.  (So, for ordinary communications, Morse Code can be used, as can any other form of encoding, such as computer-generated digital modes, provided the form of encoding is not secret)
  • In general, licensed amateur stations are permitted only to contact other licensed amateur stations.  This restriction – and the restriction on the content of transmissions (point b. above) – may be eased for communications on behalf of third parties in case of emergencies or disaster relief
  • An example of the emergency communications referred to above is the Amateur Radio Emergency Network (AREN), a Public Service Voluntary Radio Emergency Network run by IRTS in co-operation with ComReg.  AREN operators are permitted to pass the third party messages of designated Emergency Services such as the Fire Service, Civil Defence and Mountain Rescue