Sweden’s telecommunications regulator PTS in February rejected the idea of an entry-level Amateur Radio license. According to Sweden’s International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member society SSA, the PTS “categorically rejected” the proposal, and that SSA must now find new ways to motivate prospective radio amateurs.

“Amateur Radio’s future in Sweden is an urgent issue that will be discussed during the upcoming annual meeting on Faro,” SSA said. The SSA estimates that fewer than 100 new licensees are joining the Amateur Radio ranks in Sweden each year. The PTS took into account some comments on rules that SSA posted last fall.

In 2004 the PTS exempted Amateur Radio transmitters in Sweden from individual licensing. Since then the SSA has issued Amateur Radio certificates that include a call sign. SSA said PTS not only has ignored its views on call signs, it has added conditions that could render many well-established contesting call signs invalid.

“SSA believes that it is impossible to construct a regulatory framework that foresees all the various reasons an individual user may have to seek allocation of a certain call sign,” SSA said. “The more detailed and complicated rules, the more difficult it becomes to interpret and the greater the risk of unforeseen and unwanted consequences in individual cases.”