Your license comes from your national regulator, but the frequencies it grants you were decided internationally. Radio does not respect borders, so spectrum is coordinated by treaty.
The ITU
The International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, maintains the international Table of Frequency Allocations — which services (broadcasting, aeronautical, amateur, satellite, mobile) may use which frequencies, and on what basis. It divides the world into three ITU regions:
- Region 1 — Europe, Africa, the Middle East and northern Asia.
- Region 2 — the Americas.
- Region 3 — most of Asia and Oceania.
Allocations differ by region, which is why the 40 meter band and parts of 2 meters are not the same everywhere, and why a DX station may not be able to work you on a frequency that is legal for you.
Allocations are revised at the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), held every few years. WRC decisions are why amateurs gained the WARC bands in 1979 (see WARC bands), and why the international Morse code requirement went away in 2003.
The IARU
The International Amateur Radio Union, founded in 1925, is the federation of national societies that represents the amateur service at the ITU and at regional telecommunications bodies. It is organized into three regional organizations matching the ITU regions.
What it does that affects you directly:
- Argues for amateur allocations at WRC — the amateur service has no seat of its own, so this is the
- Coordinates international band plans, so an allocation is used compatibly across borders.
- Runs the IARU Monitoring System, which documents intruders on amateur bands (broadcasters,
- Sponsors the IARU HF World Championship contest and issues the Worked All Continents award.
seat.
military and commercial stations operating where they should not be) so governments can be asked to act.
Callsign prefixes
The ITU also allocates callsign prefix blocks to countries — which is why a prefix identifies where a station is licensed. See grid squares and time for the other coordinate system you will use constantly, and DXCC for how "countries" are counted for awards, which is related but not identical.
Why amateurs get anything at all
The international rationale for the amateur service is written into the ITU Radio Regulations: it is a service of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigation, carried out by duly authorized individuals with a personal interest and no pecuniary motive. Every argument for keeping a band comes back to demonstrating exactly that.