Lawful hobby listening in the UK
What Cross Reference UK is for: receive-only hobby radio, amateur and licence-free bands, and the lines we will not cross.
If you have just bought a scanner or an SDR dongle, the first question is not “what frequency do I punch in?” It is “what am I actually allowed to listen to?” Cross Reference UK exists to answer that in plain English for hobby, amateur, broadcast and licence-free listening — and to refuse everything else.
Receive-only is the default here
Owning a receiver is legal. Using it to follow amateur repeaters, PMR446, UK CB, marine calling channels, public ATIS/VOLMET loops, and licensed broadcast transmitters is the everyday hobby we support. Transmitting is a different activity. You need the right licence (or a licence-free allocation that you actually stay inside) before you press PTT. A listing in our database is not permission to transmit.
Ofcom is the UK regulator. The amateur licence, the terms for licence-free equipment, and the Wireless Telegraphy Act sit behind almost every argument on a radio forum. We will not pretend to replace those documents. When they disagree with a forum rumour, the licence wins.
What we catalogue
- Amateur radio — calling frequencies, simplex, and repeater outputs that keepers publish (for example via ukrepeater.net). Useful for Foundation licensees learning 2 m / 70 cm, and for listeners who want to hear a local box without guessing CTCSS.
- Licence-free — PMR446 analogue (and notes on digital 446 where relevant) and UK 27 MHz CB FM. These are the radios people already own legally.
- Marine VHF markers — distress/calling, DSC and AIS as published for the maritime mobile service. This is a coastal listening aid, not a ship-station operating manual.
- Aviation markers — public ATIS and VOLMET, plus the 8.33 kHz channel helper. Receive-only. We are not building an operational ATC directory.
- Broadcast checks — a handful of LW/MW/FM markers so you can prove a new radio actually receives something.
Every row is a starting point. Repeaters move output, tones change, ATIS frequencies are reassigned, and CB activity follows who is in the car park that evening. If a listing looks stale, say so on the forum with frequency, mode, place and the date you last heard it.
What we will not clone
We do not publish emergency-service, fireground, police, ambulance, or other protected operational catalogues. We do not host “scanner books” of private business radio. We will not take a dump from another website and relabel it as ours. If someone pastes that kind of list into the forum, it gets removed.
That is not a marketing slogan. It is how we keep the site lawful, useful, and distinct from the old “copy the whole country’s private nets” hobby that got people into trouble.
Interception and “can I listen to X?”
UK law draws a hard line around unlawful interception of private communications. A frequency being technically receivable on a cheap SDR does not make it fair game to log, share, or turn into a public database. If you are not sure whether a signal is amateur, licence-free, broadcast, or a public maritime/aviation information service — do not post it. Ask in general terms, or do not ask.
We would rather have a smaller, honest database than a huge one that copies other people’s private traffic.
Licences, in one paragraph
The amateur path in the UK is Foundation → Intermediate → Full, administered under Ofcom with training and exams through the RSGB and affiliated clubs. Foundation already lets you on 2 m and 70 cm with power limits; that is where most new listeners who later get a ticket start. PMR446 and UK CB have their own power, antenna and channel rules — “it is licence-free” does not mean “any aerial and 25 watts.” Read the booklet that came with the radio, then the current Ofcom notes.
How this site fits
Search and packs are the index. Guides are the explanation. The forum is where local knowledge lives — Scotland is not the Midlands, and a codeplug from YouTube is not a band plan. Tools such as the 8.33 converter and bandplan exist so you do not have to screenshot a Facebook thread.
If you want a one-line house rule: listen legally, write down what you actually heard, and do not publish other people’s private radio.