Roland Turner

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Becoming an amateur radio operator in Singapore

A young woman with colorful hair sits in her Singapore apartment, focused on her modern handheld radio. Sunlight illuminates the room, filled with electronic equipment and vintage radio posters.

This guide is a companion to SARTS’ Getting a 9V Ham License and includes additional information that I frequently share with potential new amateurs who approach me as one of SARTS’ Elmers.

This is definitely a first iteration, there is much to add, feedback is most welcome.

The steps that I suggest to get on air as quickly as possible are:

  1. Understand your “Why?”
  2. Join SARTS
  3. Get qualified
  4. Plan your first station
  5. Get licensed
  6. Get equipment
  7. Get on air

Except that you can probably start planning your first station in parallel with getting qualified, experience suggests that the rest of the steps are best carried out in the sequence shown. Skipping steps to “save time” generally has the opposite effect.

0. Understand your “Why?”

It’s really helpful to understand — in concrete terms — why you’re doing this, particularly what you’d like your first few on-air activities to be. A hobby is your own personal pursuit, that’s the whole point! Even a preliminary sense of what you’re working towards is worthwhile, even though it will almost certainly evolve as you gain experience.

The temptation to instead just work through qualification and licensing and then just “see what happens” is understandable, but I’d strongly encourage not skipping this step, for three reasons:

  1. An amateur license may not in fact be the best way to do what you’re aiming to do. I can’t immediately recall the examples, but more than once it has become apparent late in the process of becoming an amateur that what the person was trying to do wasn’t actually amateur radio, so were wasting their time.
  2. There are some more hurdles to overcome in Singapore than in many other places, mostly resulting from the high population density here. Knowing what you’d like your first few on-air activities to be will help choose the most direct way to clear the hurdles.
  3. That also applies to working with an Elmer, whether it’s me or someone else. If we know specifically what you’re trying to do, we’re better able to help you get there as easily as possible.

Amateur radio is so broad that it’s difficult to prescribe a standard path, but there are some published “learning pathway”- and “challenge”- type guides that are useful to stimulate your thinking. I’d encourage spending a little time with these and selecting 2-4 specific activities that you’d like to work towards initially. Needless to say, these should be beginner level activities:

Places to look:

1. Join SARTS

As with almost any hobby, it’s both helpful and enjoyable to pursue it in the company of others with overlapping interests. SARTS is both the national body for amateur radio operators and (currently) the only local club in Singapore. We do a range of things, but of particular interest to beginners, we:

We will usually include non-members in both of those things so long as they’re working towards licensing in Singapore, but I’d encourage joining at this stage for three reasons:

  1. Particularly relevant if portable operation in Singapore appeals to you: We have a standing authorisation from NParks for SARTS members to operate in a handful of parks without obtaining a seperate authorisation for each operation, nor even notifying NParks. Anyone in Singapore is free to apply to NParks for a permit of course, but this is time-consuming and not something that most people would be willing to do for an hour’s casual operation. We are also working to greatly expand the list of pre-authorised locations.
  2. Being a formal part of the group is a different experience to being a permanent visitor.
  3. It helps us. The larger a fraction of Singapore amateurs SARTS has as members, the stronger its basis for negotiation with government bodies on behalf of amateurs.

To do this:

2. Get qualified

This is spelled out in SARTS’ guide:

3. Plan your first station

People frequently think of getting an amateur license as being a bit like getting a driver’s license: something that you need to complete before you start thinking about getting a car, and in many jurisdictions this is true. In Singapore, it is not. IMDA does not issue amateur operator’s licenses, instead it issues amateur station licenses, that is:

This means that your license application will include a make and model of radio.

You are free of course to put a random make and model onto your license application, then get your license, then plan your station, then request addition of the equipment that you really want, then get your updated license, then purchase the equipment, but this “shortcut” actually adds a step! You may as well do it the way that IMDA designed it and save yourself some time.

Some amateurs intend to get more than one radio from the outset, particulary a handheld and some sort of HF radio, but are still thinking through the details of their HF station. In this case, yes, it makes sense to get a license for just the handheld, then request addition of the HF radio later when you’ve decided what you want. Equipment changes are usually processed faster than new license applications, typically within days.

A really important section that needs adding here is an overview of HF antenna options, which are a bit more complicated in Singapore than in many places because of apartment-living constraints and use-limitations in national parks. At the moment, this is a “talk to your Elmer about it” topic.

4. Get licensed

This is covered in SARTS’ guide. Mostly work through the process in GoBusiness.

Important information to add here is for visitors bringing their own gear during a trip and for existing amateurs moving to Singapore and wanting to bring their gear with them. At the moment, these are “talk to your Elmer about it” topics.

5. Get equipment

A tempting assumption is that it is best to purchase through the local supply chain to (a) deal with compliance issues, and (b) support the local market. These are both true in many countries with larger amateur communities, but neither applies in Singapore:

So, by all means have a look at Blazer’s stock and buy there if something appeals, but in most cases this step will really be to place an order online somewhere.

6. Get on air

I may in future add a more general “here are useful ways to start in Singapore” guide but, as above, there are so many approaches this is really a discussion to have with an Elmer.