There have been developments about the use of encryption and the carrying-out of cryptographic experimentation in the amateur radio service. Two articles follow - 1) a press release from RAC on this subject; and 2) a portion of an article/FAQ by Dave Goodwin VE3KG – RAC Regulatory Affairs Officer.
RAC Press Release
2024-11-22
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Encryption in Amateur Radio: There are several Canadian Amateurs who are experimenting with encryption. Much of this experimentation uses some of the digital voice modes. Not all digital voice systems can be adapted to use encryption, but some can.
The Radiocommunication Regulations allow Amateurs to use encryption, but only if the codes they use are “published in the public domain”. Secret keys or obscurely published keys are simply not allowed.
Our regulator – Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) – has agreed that an open webpage on the RAC website would meet this regulatory requirement. As a result, Radio Amateurs of Canada has created an open webpage (www.rac.ca/encryption) to allow Canadian Amateurs to publish their encryption keys.
RAC has made this page available to all Amateurs – members and non-members alike.
If you are experimenting with encryption, please fill in the form at the bottom of the encryption webpage to report the details of your experiments. The content will be reviewed by RAC volunteer Ted Reinhardt, VE3EDE.
If you have questions about the regulations, please contact RAC’s Regulatory Affairs Officer Dave Goodwin, VE3KG, at
If you have questions about the requirements of RAC’s Encryption Registry, please contact Ted Reinhardt, VE3EDE, at
Codes and Encryption in Amateur Radio
Dave Goodwin, VE3KG – RAC Regulatory Affairs Officer
A small number of Canadian Amateurs are experimenting with encryption. Most of this experimentation is with some of the digital voice modes. Some of these experiments are on repeaters and some are on simplex frequencies – all in the Amateur VHF and UHF bands. A few experimenters have published their keys on obscure discussion boards on the internet, and a few have approached Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) for guidance on using encryption.
Can Canadian Amateurs use codes or encryption?
We Amateurs use codes all the time. Morse Code is a code. RTTY uses the Baudot Code. The Q-signals we use (QRZ, QSL, QTH, etc.) are also codes. APRS uses ASCII, and ASCII is a code. The popular digital data modes of FT8 and FT4 use codes. Digital Voice modes all use some form of coding system and a few can easily be set to “encrypt”.
In spite of all these codes, there are many Amateurs who will tell you that Amateurs may not use codes. Are they right? Well, like so many regulatory questions, the answer is “it depends”.
Here is what the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio Regulations say on the subject:
“25.2A 1A) Transmissions between amateur stations of different countries shall not be encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning, except for control signals exchanged between earth command stations and space stations in the amateur-satellite service. (WRC-03)”
The ITU regulations raise the question of the purpose of a coding system: this regulation clearly says we “shall not” encode transmissions “for the purpose of obscuring their meaning.” So, your intentions count. Clearly, Amateurs may not make their communications unreadable by others. How can you encrypt without making your communication unreadable? By sharing the “key.”
The Canadian Radiocommunication Regulations are based on the ITU regulations. There is specific mention of encryption in one section:
“47 A person who operates radio apparatus in the amateur radio service may only . . . (b) use a code or cipher that is not secret”
So, we can use “a code or cipher,” but it can’t be “secret”. From the current Basic Question Bank, there are three relevant questions that reveal nuances in ISED’s position. Here are the three questions and the related correct answers:
B-001-007-005
Q: You wish to develop and use a new digital encoding technique to transmit data over amateur radio spectrum. Under what conditions is this permissible?
A: When the encoding technique is published in the public domain
B-001-007-006
Q: When may an amateur station in two-way communication transmit an encoded message?
A: Only when the encoding or cipher is not Secret
B-001-007-007
Q: What are the restrictions on the use of abbreviations or procedural signals in the amateur service?
A: They may be used if the signals or codes are not secret
So, we are free to innovate and develop new techniques. We may not use any form of secret coding scheme, but we can use coding schemes “published in the public domain”. Morse, Baudot, ASCII – these are all codes that are widely and publicly available to anyone.
But how “public” does the code have to be, to be considered “published in the public domain”? RAC has had discussions with ISED on this question and we have come up with a solution. RAC has created a page on its website where any Canadian Amateur experimenting with encryption can publish the keys for their system. ISED has indicated that this page will meet the regulatory requirement for the keys to be “published in the public domain.”
The Place for Encryption Info
RAC’s and ISED’s objective is to make it possible for Canadian Amateurs to experiment with these techniques while being compliant with the regulations. We want to do this by providing a single, widely- recognized place to share this information. This is the one-stop shop for information on encryption in Canada.
The encryption webpages are available to anyone, whether they are members of RAC or not.
If you have questions on this subject, please send an email to