Proposed New Ham Radio Regulations in Slovakia

Eight years after it was requested by Slovakia's national society SZR, the communications regulator is proposing increasing the Novice power limit to 100 watts with access to all HF bands

After the approval of the amendment to the Act on Electronic Communications in Parliament, the Regulatory Office returned to our permission conditions (PP), which had been postponed for more than eight years. The SZR submitted its proposal already in 2014, and despite many meetings and our comments, progress was minimal.

The ice did not move until this spring when the office began to work intensively on the permit conditions. During this period, the SZR was in intensive working contact with the office and participated in the preparation of the wording of many parts, while we started from our proposal eight years ago.

The new licensing conditions mainly reflect changes in the field of digital communication technologies, define them and determine the conditions of their use. From a practical point of view, however, the biggest change concerns holders of class N, who according to the current PP can only broadcast in limited sections of some KV bands. The new PPs will allow them to operate fully on all KV and VHF bands with a maximum power of 100 watts.

The new frequency table will also include the 470 kHz, 5 MHz and 70 MHz bands, so it will no longer be necessary to apply for them separately. Part of the PP will also be a regulation for issuing amateur radio tags, according to which tags issued with suffixes starting not only with the letter A but also with other letters will be able to hold class N.

The new permit conditions are in the final stage of preparation and are going through the legislative process and interdepartmental comments. You can download the draft text of the new PP - https://www.slov-lex.sk/legislativne-procesy/-/SK/dokumenty/LP-2022-310