February 12, 2025

This Week in Amateur Radio

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Netherlands

Netherlands: Novice ham radio license changes

VERON reports that after many years the changes to the Netherlands’ amateur radio Novice (equivalent to  CEPT Novice) have finally been published in the Government Gazette (Staatscourant)

A translation of the VERON post reads:

Radio amateurs with an N-registration had to wait a long time for it. But finally it’s a fact. Radio amateurs with an N registration have been given more frequency space to engage with the radio hobby. In addition to the extra power <30 MHz and the full 40-meter band, it has also been stated that the N registration is a full registration. But what does the N-Recalibration mean?

Not all recommendations in the joint report of VERON, VRZA and Agentschap Telecom have been adopted. In the upcoming Amateur Consultation, the update of the  N-Recalibration will be put on the agenda.

From Friday 18 June 2021, N-registration holders may:

• Use 100 watts PEP for frequencies below 30 MHz
• Use the full 40-meter band (7.0 – 7.2 MHz)
• Use 20-meter band (14.00 – 14.25 MHz)
• Use full 10-meter band (28.0 – 29.7 MHz)
• VHF and UHF unchanged

The minimum age for being able to take a Full or Novice exam has also been removed.

It had already been made clear that it would be a long process when the N-Recalibration Report was submitted by Agentschap Telecom.

None of the three amateur radio associations (VERON, VRZA and DARU), which participate in the semi-annual amateur consultation, could suspect that it would take longer than at the beginning of 2020.

Thanks to the cooperation between VERON, VRZA and DARU, the constant questioning of the status and the indication of the disappointment that the introduction of the N-recalibration is now taking a very long time, it is finally done.

So the outgoing State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate, Mona Keijzer, signed the scheme. After publication of the Government Gazette (Staatscourant), the “Regulation on the use of frequency space with reporting obligation 2015” will enter into force on 18 June 2021.

We would like to thank the cooperation of the Telecom Agency, which has been actively working to smooth this delayed process. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Also regrets the delay.

Source VERON https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Netherlands

Government Gazette announcement
https://www.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stcrt-2021-31799.html

Via Southgate: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2021/june/netherlands-novice-ham-radio-license-changes.htm