A3, TONGA. Paul, A35RK, informs OPDX that changes are (and will be) taking place in Tonga. He informs that he has recently made a visit to Nuku'alofa, the capital city, and during his stay there, Paul had a very productive meeting with the Radio Licensing Officer and the Technical Officer in the newly formed Department of Communications.

In the past amateur radio issues have been managed by a variety of different government agencies:
Tonga Telecom, Marine and Ports, the Post Office, the Treasury, and most recently the Prime Minister's Office. Pauls states, "All that has changed, and we now have a 'one-stop-shop' for amateur radio licensing and regulation.

Virtually all radio-related legislation is currently under review, and a number of changes will be coming soon. A brief summary of our discussion, and the outcomes, follows:
 INFORMATION AVAILABILITY - The Department of Communications is building  a website. They intend to make license application forms available online.

 LICENSING PROCEDURES - Licensing procedures for visiting operators and  yachts in transit will be simplified, especially for those entering the  country somewhere other than Nuku'alofa (ie Vava'u). They may also make  it possible to actually apply for a license online. However, they still  want to 'see' an applicant before actually issuing a license.

 ENTRY LEVEL LICENSE CLASS - A 'Novice' type of entry level license may be  created, in order to encourage more activity.  The formation of a club  station and licensing classes (possibly thru the Tonga Maritime Training  Institute) was discussed.

 CALLSIGN ALLOCATION -
    1) A35x (single letter suffix) callsigns may soon be issued to resident 'Advanced Class' licensees, and possibly to special event  and contest operations.
    2) A35xx (2 letter suffix) callsigns may be issued to entry level licensees.
    3) A35xxx (3 letter suffix) callsigns may be issued to short-term visitors and transitting yachts.
    4) The existing callsign registry will be 'purged' of all inactive callsigns, thus allowing for more new issues.  An effort will be made to publish a list of 'current' licensees annually.

 POWER LIMITS - Permitted output power will increase from the present 100  watts to 400 watts. This will bring Tonga up to the same level that is  authorized in New Zealand and Australia.

 ADDITIONAL 40 METER ALLOCATION - The current 40M allocation is 7.0-7.1 MHz. In addition, 7.1-7.2 MHz operation will be permitted on a secondary  basis.

 60 METER ALLOCATION -  This was discussed, but no allocation will be  considered until further studies and consultations are made, possibly next year.

 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS - Tonga now has a government Emergency Response Plan, and amateur radio participation is authorized in conjunction with the Tonga Defense Force, the Tonga Meteorological Service, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and the Tonga Red Cross.

 MONITORING and ENFORCEMENT - The government intends to more carefully monitor amateur and maritime communications in an effort to reduce 'boot-legging' and to insure compliance with regulations.

 I'll keep you advised as things develop. Discussions continue, and I must say that the new Department of Communications is very open and cooperative. If anyone needs further information, they may contact:
 Fe'ao Vakata  (That's pronounced "Fay AH oh Va ka TAH"), Radio Licensing  Officer This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text4748 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it "

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