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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:
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.
I’d strongly encourage not skipping this step, for three reasons:
- 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.
- There are 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.
- 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” 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 with to get started. Needless to say, these should be beginner level activities:
- Experimenting with CW (Morse code) is a common choice.
- Working a VHF/UHF repeater is a very common choice, and one that I’d suggest including in almost any Singapore beginner’s list. Not only are very cheap handhelds (“HTs”) now available for ~$50, SARTS holds a repeater and digial voice net most Sunday afternoons which usually includes a local RF priority slot specifically to help people get on air in a supportive environment.
- At the other extreme: Experimenting with EME (Earth-Moon-Earth, or using the Moon as a passive reflector) would be a rather unreasonable starting point.
Places to look:
- Steph Piper’s Amateur Radio Skill Tree
- Raleigh Amateur Radio Society’s Ham Tracks
- The 52 week ham radio challenge which tends to get a new set of challenges each year. Most of these are a bit beyond beginnner range, but some are appropriate starting points.
- The Radio Society of Great Britain’s Brickworks
1. Get qualified
This is spelled out in SARTS’ guide:
- The IMDA exam is currently suspended.
- For most beginners, the shortest available path is to get an FCC license:
- Technician, if your “why” list only includes VHF/UHF activities or if you’re willing to start with only those activities.
- General (or Extra!), if your “why” list includes HF activities.
- If you’re visiting or moving to Singapore and have an existing amateur qualification or license then IMDA will usually accept it as adequate evidence of qualification as-is, so there’s no action for you to take on this step.
2. 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:
- specific make and model of equipment
- at a specific location
- to a named licensee, who is also the operator (i.e. you).
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.
3. 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.
4. 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:
- The amateur community here is so small that almost no-one carries inventory. About the only exception is Blazer in the Sim Lim Tower basement, and the one time I purchased from them they put “for export only” on their invoice, which is to say: they are apparently taking no responsibility for local compliance anyway.
- Even if you do place an order through one of the local dealers to avoid being the importer (and assuming that they’ll accept it), what tends to happen is that it joins an endless manufacturing queue. The factory will say “six weeks”, but what they actually mean is “when/if enough other orders come in to warrant a manufacturing run”, which could be six weeks, six years, or never. Note also that even if a local dealer is willing to accept your order, they’ll generally do it on a non-warranty basis because there are no local technicians who’ll do warranty work.
- Fortunately we secured IMDA’s agreement in early 2024 to permit Singapore amateurs to place on their licenses any equipment that was manufactured commercially for amateur use anywhere in the world, on the basis that what the regulations actually require is that individually qualified and licensed amateurs operate within the regulations, not that we only possess equipment that the manufacturer has constrained to do so. The result is that you can simply import amateur gear so long as IMDA has put in on your license, but do bear in mind that they’ve handed us more than enough rope to hang ourselves with. The fact that we’re allowed to possess radios that can receive and transmit on non-amateur frequencies does not mean that we’re allowed to operate them that way. We’re not aware of any recent prosecutions for unauthorised operation, and only one confiscation (from someone who didn’t hold an amateur license anyway), but the penalties set out in the Act and Regulations are a bit sobering.
- The more usual approach for Singapore amateurs is to order our gear from any dealer who has it anywhere in the world. If Customs does intercept it (rare, but not unheard of), simply showing your IMDA license identifying that make and model of equipment will generally be enough to get it released immediately.
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.
5. 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.