Licensing
information for Australia - VK, Including Islands
Prepared by: OH2MCN - Veke & PA0GAM - Gerben & 9M2/VK2CZ
- David & VK4DU - Glenn & K6USN - Allen
Status: March-97, May '98, July '99, Jan'00 & Sep '01 & Oct 2002 & Aug '05 & Feb '06
Intro: If you have a foreign ham license, you can get a license for Australia.
This gives only the addresses needed. VK is CEPT since
2008.
Newly formed Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is the licensing authority and
provides
information for visitors on their web pages and the very old Radiocommunications Technical
Licence Specification TLS
5/1995 Amateur can
be found on my Web server. ACMA has a page for Equivalents to
Overseas amateur Qualifications but these new ACMA web pages are not made to have any external links to
them! You have to surf there and find what you want with search commands! I
have purposely taken all the other http addresses off from here to guarantee
up-to-date information. (They have changed so too often lately, and once again,
and once again.)
There are also very good
but old SMA Information booklets (maybe now ACMA booklets): RIB 70 Information
for Prospective Amateur Operators, RIB 71 Amateur Service - Licence Conditions
and Regulations, RIB 72 Amateur Service - Operating Procedures (Nov '95) that
may be ordered from ACMA and are most probably given to you with your
Australian licence.
Addition
From: "Glenn VK4DU" < vk4du at gmdss.com.au >
Subject: Overseas amateurs visiting VK
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 13:10:32 +1000
Dear OM,
Just an additional note for VK.
You CAN NOT operate with your overseas license in VK, even on 2 m. You
MUST get a VK call before you can operate. (i.e. no CEPT)
73
Glenn VK4DU
WIA/ex ACA liaison committee
Good information about Norfolk Island
and Lord Howe Island can be found on the Web. Accomodation information elsewhere in
For Cocos (Keeling) Islands try THE COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS, Travel Docs, Out of Bounds
For Christmas Island try Christmas Island Tourism Association, Travel Docs
Some older information said
that apply VK9 via
Wireless Institute of
Australia [WIA]
Location: Suite 10, 229 Balaclava Rd., North Caulfield, Victoria 3161
Address: P.O. Box 2175, Caulfield Junction, Victoria 3125
Tel: +61 (3) 9528-5962 <National Office>, (8) 9409-9680
<VK6NE>, (3) 9802-6137 <VK3KI>
Fax: +61 (3) 9523-8191 <National Office>
Email: nationaloffice at wia.org.au <National Office>, president at wia.org.au <VK3KI>
Web: http://www.wia.org.au
President: Michael Owen, VK3KI
Secretary: Chris Jones, VK2ZDD
IARU liaison: Neil Penfold, VK6NE
Last updated: 28-Apr-2005
Countries
with which Australia has Reciprocal Licensing Arrangements (Sept 2001):
CEPT,
VE, OZ, F incl. FK, DL, SV, VU, 4X, JA, 9M, ZL, P29, SP, H44, EA, HB, G*, W
and countries with no reciprocal arrangements but which have a class of
certificate or licence accepted as equivalent to an Australian Qualification:
CEPT, LU, ZF, VR2, YB, EI, I, LX, 9H, A35, PA, LA, DU, 9V, ZS, 4S7, SM, YJ,
West Indies (meaning what ?)
Paperwork needed:
- Photocopy of current license
- Photocopy (if not applying in person) of current passport authenticated by
some local authorities such as police, embassy or consulate, etc.
- Completed application form (can be faxed to you from ACMA offices).
License fee is AUS dollars 40 (Autumn 2001). Payment by money order is not
preferred because of bad experiences and it takes too long (sometimes up to 6
months). ACA suggests to ask a friend in
Veikko Komppa (Veke) < oh2mcn at sral.fi >
and
"Gerben
A.Menting" < gam at wxs.nl >
Addition
from: K6USN at aol.com
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006
I've held a VK
call since 2001 and renewed it three times by walking into the
Telecommunications Authority in Sydney or
The 'new'
system is a lot more convoluted. Starting in mid 2005 the Telecommunications
Authority morphed into the Australian Communications and Media Authority. One
central point for processing license applications and no more walk ins at
convenient field offices!
The process
can take three months, and requires notarized copies of your ham license,
your passport, your airline ticket, and your visa. There is a fee of $58
Australian dollars, and this is the biggest bump of all for most of us. You
can't (on initial application) use VISA or Mastercharge. No personal checks.
Only checks through international banks that do business in
For those of
us who book the more economical 'non-refundable' airline tickets, this turns in
to a crap shoot. Will you get your license in the mail before you take off for
This new
system needs some fine tuning to be at least marginally user-friendly. Also
beware - some of the e mails I've exchanged with the ACMA have contained
incorrect information, such as saying 'personal checks are okay'. I've yet to
have any organization in
Allen K6USN Chico, CA
Addition
From: "PWC ." < pwc at maxis.com.my >
Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001
Subject: VK Licensing
The Australian Licensing authority is now called the "Australian
Communications Authority" (ACA). They have all VK licences online. see http://www.aca.gov.au Generally you need
to front any of their offices (check the web site for address, as they have
closed many sub-urban branches) with your original home licence, AUD$40 or so
(you can get licences from 3 months to 5 year blocks). You also have a choice
of ANY unused callsign appropraite to your Aussie grade - vanity calls are
no-charge (but hard to find free).
73 David Burger 9M2/VK2CZ, K3HZ Kuala Lumpur
DX Holiday: VK - Australia and VK9C - Cocos-Keeling Island and VK9L - Lord Howe Island and VK9N - Norfolk Island and VK9X - Christmas Island