Italy Radio Legal

Italy is the beacon’s home market, and its rules are representative of the CEPT harmonized approach across Europe. The short version: 433 MHz ISM use is license-free but power-limited, and genuine emergencies are exempt.

The 433 MHz ISM band in Italy

The band 433.050 - 434.790 MHz is harmonized for license-free use across the CEPT countries. Italian rules follow the ECC Decision 70(03) framework: no individual license for equipment that stays within the technical limits.

The power limit that matters

The beacon must respect the ISM effective radiated power limit of 10 mW ERP (see ERP vs EIRP) for standard operation. The firmware’s power settings map to this: the higher settings are intended for emergency use and controlled testing, and the Regulatory Compliance page explains the reasoning in full.

Duty cycle

The band’s duty-cycle rule applies: continuous transmission is not permitted for normal operation. The beacon’s scheduler enforces the gap between bursts precisely for this reason (see Duty Cycle Rule).

The emergency exception

Like the rest of the CEPT framework, Italian rules recognize that a genuine distress situation overrides the standard limitations: a person in danger may use any means to summon help. The beacon’s EMERGENCY mode exists for this case. The Emergency Use Legal page covers the boundary carefully: the exception protects you in a real emergency, not in a drill.

Amateur radio alternative

With an amateur radio license (A - B class or the newer FDP), the same hardware can be used on amateur-allocated channels in the 70 cm band with full amateur privileges and identification requirements (see Amateur License Process and Callsign Identification).

Related pages

• Regulatory Compliance for the full picture
• Emergency Use Legal for the exception
• Frequency Compatibility for the band table