[UK-CONTEST] Foundation Licence

[Dave Lawley]

Although not directly related to the QRO thread, mention was made of the 
Foundation Licence in an earlier posting.

I think it is generally recognised that an opportunity was missed, in 
the interest of getting the scheme implemented, to bring in a true 
incentive licensing scheme. Furthermore, questions are frequently raised 
about whether this or that S9+ signal from an M3 on 40m really is only 
10w. It is very difficult or impossible to police.

The only HF band to which M3s don't have access is 28MHz which is 
especially perverse if we wish to see the band used, throughout the 
sunspot cycle, to try and keep CB intrusion at bay. In addition I 
believe M3s do not have access to 7.1-7.2MHz.

The result is that there is very little incentive for M3s to upgrade to 
Intermediate or Full level. At the risk of making myself unpopular with 
M3s I believe that, if BR68 is to undergo major change, the opportunity 
should be taken to limit Foundation licensees by frequency, in addition 
to power.

Unlike power levels, it would be easy for the amateur community to 
police limitations based on frequency. If we don't want to disturb the 
privileges of existing M3s, then simply move to a new callsign block (M4 
or whatever you like) and limit M4s by frequency. This gives them more 
of an incentive to upgrade. It's a matter of debate whether they should 
be excluded from whole frequency bands, or just limited to segments of 
the HF bands, as is done in the States.

My suggestion would be that the schedule to the Foundation Licence limit 
the HF frequencies available as follows:
1.850-2.000
3.550-3.650
7.025-7.100
10.100-10.150
14.050-14.250
18.068-18.168
21.050-21.250
24.890-24.990
28.000-28.450
Note that I would not apply a limit on the WARC bands since those bands 
remain under-used, despite the fact that (or perhaps because?) they are 
a haven for non-contesters during major contest weekends.

73, Dave G4BUO