License free radio in Germany

With those pages I want to make it possible for foreign visitors of Germany to find out what license free frequency ranges are available for two-way radio, and what the limitations are.

In Germany four types of license free radio are available (not mentioning LPD - with its 10mW on 433 MHz it is of very limited practical use). Those are CB (27 MHz), PMR 149 / Freenet (149 MHz), PMR 446 (446 MHz) and DMR 446 (446 MHz, digital modulation).

They all have in common that the regulations for them are just some basic rules, like bandwidth and output power. The demand for approved radios is not valid any more, just in case of interference the technical standards of approval are used to determine if the radio is legally operated, or not.

To make it clear, this means, you can use whatever radio you want, you just have to stay within the specs! It is no problem at all to program a commercial radio according to those specs, and here you go! Even using ham equipment is possible - when you exactly know what you are doing, and when you can rely on your radios or even better can verify by measurement the important parameters :-)

Here you can find the official documents of our regulation authority "Bundesnetzagentur" in German language:

CB

PMR 149 / Freenet

PMR 446

DMR 446

Please note that "PMR 149" is no official term, I am just using it as it is more clear than the official name "Freenet".