New Antenna Law in Switzerland

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National amateur radio society USKA reports on the implementation of FMG/LTC/TCA Article 37a into cantonal law which simplifies authorisation procedure for amateur radio antennas

USKA has succeeded in introducing an article 37a in the Swiss Telecommunications Act (TCA) which simplifies the authorisation procedure for the construction of simple amateur radio antennas.

The “planning and building law” in Switzerland is mainly regulated by the cantons. The municipalities then have their own “building regulations”.

Our federalist state structure means that federal law must be explicitly transferred to cantonal and communal law so that it can develop its full effect there.

The cantonal implementation is now being taken in hand by the sections of the USKA. The sections have been informed about this, including at the Section Presidents’ Conference 2021 in Möriken AG (21 August 2021). In the case of cantons with several sections, these will form working groups in this regard.

The Timetable

By December 2021, the sections will put together their teams and report this to the USKA Board (for the attention of Political Lobbying).

For cantons that do not put together a team, USKA will publicly advertise and award this task among the members residing in the canton in question.

Aluminium-Ion Battery Development

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The Graphene Manufacturing Group in Brisbane, Australia together with the University of Queensland have according to the GMG website developed a Graphene Aluminium-Ion Battery energy storage technology that has up to three times the capacity of a lithium-ion battery and can charge up to sixty times faster.

The battery was created by inserting aluminum atoms into perforations made in graphene planes.

The company claims that because the batteries lack an upper Ampere limit that would otherwise cause spontaneous overheating, the batteries are also safer. The stable base materials also facilitate their recycling later.

The company hopes to bring these cells to market by the end of 2021 or early 2022

More Information - https://graphenemg.com/

RSGB EMF Update June 2021

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The RSGB’s specialist EMF group has helped Ofcom customise its guidance for radio amateurs. This updated guide is much simplified from the earlier version and now comprises just four steps:

  • Step 1 - Do I need to comply?

  • Step 2 - Carrying out a compliance check

  • Step 3 - Managing compliance

  • Step 4 – Keeping an appropriate compliance record

The revised guidance document "What you need to know as an Amateur Radio user" has now been released and the Ofcom EMF calculator has been updated. Links to all of the documents and calculators can be found on http://www.rsgb.org/emf