Originally Posted by
Spitoon
And there's the problem - as soon as you use a frequency assigned to air-ground-air communications you are dragged into the licensing requirements for ground stations.
I continue to struggle with this constant referral back to frequency usage. There are a number of well known to the CAA PCL installations (generally airports that host the emergency services) and there are a number of probably well known unlicensed fields that are reasonably public about the fact they have PCL.
My local field (which does have PCL for Emergency Services) has been in dialogue with the CAA about allowing it to be used out of licensed hours for general traffic. I am told the answer they received from the CAA was
'You are a licensed field, just because you are not available for users requiring a licensed field out of hours does not mean your license has lapsed. The published rules specifically forbid the lights of a licensed field from being turned on by someone outside the airport boundary. PCL does just such a thing - therefore you can not have PCL for general use.'
There were not told, OFCOM prevents the use.... or OFCOM will only issue exemptions to emergency services...., or PCL is not legal in the UK. It was a very specific answer.