Licence-Free Does Not Mean Free to Use However You Like

“Licence-free” is convenient shorthand, but it can hide the most important part of the sentence: no individual licence is required only when the equipment and operation satisfy the applicable conditions. Those conditions may specify the service, country, frequency, power, antenna, bandwidth, duty cycle, channel access, equipment conformity and permitted use.

Start With Four Separate Questions

This distinction prevents a common category error. A radio can be technically capable of transmitting on a frequency while remaining unauthorised for the service that uses it. “The band sounded empty” is useful interference awareness; it is not permission.

Similar-Looking Services, Different Rules

Therefore, an American FRS handheld is not a PMR446 radio with different labelling. It uses different frequencies and is authorised under different equipment rules. Likewise, 446 MHz is part of the amateur allocation in the United States, while PMR446 is a defined European personal-radio application around 446 MHz.

PMR446 Is a Complete Operating Framework

The CEPT PMR446 decision designates 446.0–446.2 MHz for analogue and digital PMR446 and describes the equipment as hand portable, using an integral antenna and operating in short-range peer-to-peer mode. It excludes base-station, repeater and infrastructure-network use. The UK’s current IR 2030 uses materially the same description.

A fixed rooftop node or repeater is also outside that model. A particular accessory or Internet-connected application should be checked against the current national rules and the equipment’s intended use rather than assumed lawful because the RF channel is PMR446.

EU SRD Rules: 868 MHz Is Not One Set of Limits

For EU short-range devices, the current harmonised framework is Commission Decision 2006/771/EC as amended, including the 2025 update. Its table contains many distinct combinations of frequency range, device category, power and channel-access or duty-cycle condition.

Examples make the point. The harmonised conditions include 25 mW e.r.p. with a duty cycle up to 1% in 868.0–868.6 MHz, 25 mW e.r.p. with a duty cycle up to 0.1% in 868.7–869.2 MHz, and other conditions elsewhere in the 863–870 MHz region. These are examples, not a configuration recipe: the current table, device category and national implementation must be checked for the actual transmission.

The 2025 EU decision states that compliant short-range devices are subject to no more than a general authorisation under national law. Belgium’s BIPT publishes the national frequency plan, interface specifications and free-use conditions. For a Belgian installation, those BIPT sources are the final practical check.

Duty cycle is a legal sharing mechanism

A duty-cycle limit is normally evaluated over a defined observation period and frequency band. It applies to the transmitter’s aggregate on-air time, not merely to the length of one application payload. Retries, acknowledgements, routing traffic and periodic beacons all consume airtime.

Some bands permit an appropriate spectrum-access and interference-mitigation technique as an alternative to a stated duty cycle. Whether a device actually implements the required technique is an equipment and firmware question; selecting a menu option does not prove it.

CE Marking: Module Evidence Is Not a Blank Cheque

EU market conformity and permission to use spectrum are related but distinct layers. Under the Radio Equipment Directive, a manufacturer placing radio equipment on the EU market must assess the radio equipment, draw up an EU Declaration of Conformity and take responsibility for compliance. The assessment must consider intended operating conditions and, where relevant, possible configurations.

A compliant radio module can make the integrator’s job easier, especially when it is installed exactly within the module manufacturer’s documented antenna, layout, power-supply, enclosure and software conditions. It does not automatically cover every finished product built around it.

Private experimentation and placing a product on the market are not identical legal acts. Even when a one-off hobby build is outside some market-placement obligations, its radio operation must still obey the applicable spectrum rules and must not cause harmful interference.

United States: “No Individual Licence” Still Means Part 95

The FCC’s Part 95 framework authorises eligible users to operate many Personal Radio Services without individual licences, subject to the rules for the service. GMRS is an important exception because it requires an individual licence.

FRS

Current FRS rules specify 22 shared channels. ERP is limited to 0.5 W on channels 8–14 and 2 W on channels 1–7 and 15–22. An FRS transmitter must have a non-removable integral antenna, must not transmit outside the FRS channels and must meet the applicable equipment-certification requirements. FRS data is narrowly defined; store-and-forward packet operation is prohibited.

Consequently, a wideband amateur handheld with a removable antenna is not converted into an authorised FRS transmitter by programming an FRS frequency and selecting low power.

MURS

MURS provides five VHF channels and permits voice, data, image, telecommand and telemetry within its rules. It does not permit repeater stations, signal boosters or store-and-forward packet operation. Its antenna-height, transmitter-certification and other service rules remain applicable even though an individual operator licence is generally not required.

CB

US CB rules define a CBRS station as an FCC-certified transmitter. They specifically prohibit using non-CB transmitters—including transmitters intended for amateur service—on CB channels, and prohibit external RF power amplifiers. Other countries have their own CB channel, mode, equipment and power rules, so a US CB configuration must not be assumed legal in Europe or the UK.

Meshtastic and MeshCore Do Not Determine Legality

Meshtastic, MeshCore and similar projects provide software and protocols. The lawful RF configuration still depends on the country, band, equipment, antenna, radiated power, bandwidth, duty cycle or channel-access method, unwanted emissions and how the node operates.

A licensed amateur may be able to run compatible mesh technology on an amateur allocation, but then amateur-service rules apply. Identification, permitted message content, third-party traffic, automatic operation, encryption and unattended stations are jurisdiction-specific; an amateur licence does not extend PMR446, SRD, FRS or CB privileges.

Antennas, Amplifiers and Filtering

Changing an antenna can change ERP or EIRP and can move the equipment outside the configuration covered by its conformity or certification. Where a service requires an integral antenna, replacing it with a connector is a more fundamental change than simply “improving range.”

An external amplifier can increase wanted power, harmonics, spurious emissions and broadband noise. It may also be explicitly prohibited, as it is for US CB. A receiver display or antenna analyser cannot establish transmitter spectral compliance; proper conducted or radiated measurements require suitable RF test equipment and methods.

A Defensible Pre-Transmit Checklist

1. Identify the country and service. Do not begin with frequency alone.
2. Read the current regulator or official rule. Check national implementation as well as a regional recommendation.
3. Verify the exact equipment identity. Find its Declaration of Conformity, certification identifier, instructions and permitted configurations.
4. Check the antenna and radiated-power limit. Connector type, antenna gain and cable loss can matter.
5. Check bandwidth, duty cycle and channel access. Include beacons, acknowledgements, retries and routed traffic.
6. Check the application. Fixed infrastructure, repeaters, store-and-forward, automatic operation or encryption can change the answer.
7. Reassess modifications. A different antenna, amplifier, filter, firmware region or power supply can invalidate earlier evidence.

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