What is amateur radio?

Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is a hobby enjoyed by about 3 million people throughout the world. An amateur radio operator, ham, or radio amateur uses two-way radio to communicate with other radio amateurs for public service, recreation and self-improvement.

In Cyprus there are two classes of licences both recognised from CEPT (European Comitee for Postage and Telecommunications), class 1 (5B4) requires a theory exam and a morse code (CW) exam and class 2 (5B8) requires only theory. Since August 2005 a new law has been passed that unifies the two classes and gives all class 1 priveledges to class 2 licencees. However it has still not passed through parliament and thus is not active yet. You can download the current licencing documentation here.