GB5LIB Guernsey Amateur Radio Special Event

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Members of the Guernsey Amateur Radio Society (GARS) will activate the special event station GB5LIB between 0001 UTC, 8th May and 2359 UTC, 14th May 2021.

Activity will be on all bands and modes from 160-10 meters, and maybe 4/6m if conditions allow. Some satellite operation is likely too, including QO100.

The station will be on air to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the Liberation of the islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

QSL via LoTW (preferred), but see QRZ.com for more details

Ofcom Released Age of Radio Amateurs Data

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Following a Freedom of Information request about the age of radio amateurs, Ofcom said they do not hold Date-of-Birth information for many radio amateurs but released what information they do have.

Ofcom say "We do not hold a full breakdown of the age of issued amateur radio licensees as date of birth is not a mandatory field for licence applications."

In September 2000 the then communications regulator (RA) abolished the ban on people under 14-years-old holding a Full amateur licence, since that time a person's date of birth has served little regulatory purpose.

The data Ofcom released showed they only had Date-of-Birth information for:

  • 7,312 out of 28,845 Foundation licences

  • 4,104 out of 12,127 Intermediate licences

  • 44,944 out of 54,072 Full licences

As of 1st March 2021 there was a total of 95,044 valid UK amateur radio licences.

Download the FoI reply and the available age data - https://ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/214915/age-of-amateur-radio-licensees.pdf

Modified French Amateur Radio Callsign for Great Britain Nationals

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ANFR – Agence Nationale des FRequences - the French telecom regulator, published the following news on their website

“After the United Kingdom’s request to no longer be part of the European Union, nationals of Great Britain who come for the first time to France for a temporary stay are now assigned an F4W type (non-EU CEPT) code.”