Pursuant to Regulation 9 of the Radiocommunications Regulations 2001 (“Regulations”) made under section 116(1)(b) of the Radiocommunications Act 1989 (“Act”), and acting under delegated authority from the chief executive, I give the following notice.

Notice

1. Short Title and Commencement—

(1) This notice is the Radiocommunications Regulations (General User Radio Licence for Amateur Radio Operators) Notice 2023.

(2) This notice comes into force on 15 December 2023.

2. Licence—

3. Spectrum—

4. Location—

(1) Transmit Location: All New Zealand.

(2) Receive Location: All New Zealand.

5. Special Conditions—

1. These frequencies are, or may be, allocated for use by other services. Amateur operators must accept interference from, and must not cause interference to, such other services.
2. These frequencies are designated for industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) purposes. These frequencies may also be allocated to Short Range Device (SRD) services. Amateur operators must accept interference from ISM and SRD services within these frequency ranges.
3. Allocated to the amateur service on a temporary basis until further notice.
4. Use is limited to telemetry or telecommand.
5. These frequencies may also be used for amateur satellite communications in the earth-to-space direction.
6. These frequencies may also be used for amateur satellite communications in the space-to-earth direction.
7. Amateur operators must ensure that unwanted emissions from 800–915 MHz must not exceed -79 dBW (-49 dBm e.i.r.p.). The reference bandwidth for emissions is 100 kHz.
8. The maximum power is the radiated power in dBW e.i.r.p.

6. General Conditions Applying to all Transmissions Under this Licence—

1. The use of callsigns, including temporary and club callsigns, must be in accordance with publication PIB 46 “Radio Operator Certificate and Callsign Rules” published at www.rsm.govt.nz.
2. Callsigns must be transmitted at least once every 15 minutes during communications.
3. National and international communication is permitted only between amateur stations, and is limited to matters of a personal nature, or for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and radio technology investigation, solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest. The passing of brief messages of a personal nature on behalf of other persons is also permitted, provided no fees or other consideration is requested or accepted.
4. Communications must not be encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning, except for control signals by the operators of remotely controlled amateur stations.
5. Amateur stations must, as far as is compatible with practical considerations, comply with the latest ITU-R recommendations to the extent applicable to the amateur service.
6. In accordance with Article 25 of the International Radio Regulations, amateur operators are encouraged to prepare for, and meet, communication needs in support of disaster relief.
7. Amateur beacons, repeaters and fixed links may not be established pursuant to this licence.
8. Unwanted emissions outside the frequency bands specified in this Schedule must comply with the requirements of technical standard ETSI ETS 300 684 published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
9. The frequency ranges, maximum power of transmissions within those frequencies ranges, and designated uses of frequencies are those prescribed in this licence. All transmissions in a given frequency range must comply with any special conditions relating to that frequency range.
10. Should interference occur to services licensed pursuant to a radio licence or a spectrum licence, the chief executive reserves the right to require and ensure that any transmission pursuant to this licence changes frequency, reduces power, or ceases operation.
11. Except as provided to the contrary in this notice, maximum power in dBW is the peak envelope power (PX) of the radio transmitter, as defined in the International Radio Regulations Article 1, No. 1.157.

7. Terms, Conditions and Restrictions Applying to New Zealand Amateur Operators

1. Persons who hold a General Amateur Operator’s Certificate of Competency and a callsign issued pursuant to the Regulations may operate an amateur radio station in New Zealand.
2. The callsign prefix of “ZL” may be substituted with the prefix “ZM” by the callsign holder for the period of, and participation in, a recognised contest, or as the control station for special event communications.
3. Operation on amateur bands between 5 MHz and 25 MHz is not permitted unless a person has held a General Amateur Operators Certificate of Competency for three months and logged 50 contacts during this period. The person must keep the logbook record for at least one year and, during this period, produce it at the request of the chief executive.

8. Terms, Conditions and Restrictions Applying to Visiting Amateur Operators

1. Persons visiting New Zealand who hold a current amateur certificate of competency, authorisation or licence issued by another administration, may operate an amateur station in New Zealand for a period not exceeding 90 days, provided the certificate, authorisation or licence meets the requirements of Recommendation ITU-R M.1544 or CEPT T/R 61-01 or CEPT T/R 61-02 and is produced at the request of the chief executive.
2. The visiting overseas operator must use the national callsign allocated by the other administration to the operator, in conjunction with the prefix or suffix “ZL”, except where subsection (3) applies, which is to be separated from the national callsign by the character “/” (telegraphy), or the word “stroke” (telephony).
3. The visiting overseas operator may use the prefix or suffix:
1. ZL7 when visiting the Chatham Islands
2. ZL8 when visiting the Kermadec Islands
3. ZL9 when visiting the Sub-Antarctic Islands

9. Consequential Revocation of Licence—

(1) The Radiocommunications Regulations (General User Radio Licence for Amateur Radio Operators) Notice 2017, dated 11 July 2017 and published in the New Zealand Gazette, 13 July 2017, Issue No. 73, Notice No. 2017-go3567, is revoked.

(2) Notwithstanding the revocation of the notice under subsection (1), every transmitter capable of making transmissions compliant with the requirements of that notice on the commencement date of this notice is deemed to be compliant with the requirements of this notice.

Dated at Wellington this 6th day of December 2023.

JEREMY LOGAN, Manager, Radio Spectrum Licensing and Technical, Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment.

Explanatory Note

This note is not part of the notice, but is intended to indicate its general effect.

This notice includes the following amendments:

1. adds a new provision to permit the use of the frequency range 5.3515 – 5.3590 MHz for amateur use.
2. Removes frequency ranges 3300 – 3400 MHz and 3400 – 3410 MHz, which are now covered by General User Spectrum Licence (GUSL). The use of frequency range 3300 – 3400 MHz is covered by Licence number 402228. The use of frequency range 3400 – 3410 MHz is covered by Licence number 402227.