What use is an F-call?

In the past I've talked about the difference between the various types of Amateur License in Australia. The three main types in use today in order of increasing privilege are Foundation, Standard and Advanced.

The Foundation License, referred to as an F-call, since the first letter after the state number is the letter F followed by three letters, is the beginners license. It allows you to use up to 10 Watts, use some bands and basically dis-allows any digital modes - other than hand-keyed Morse. Other restrictions are that you can only use commercially available radios and you can only home brew stuff outside the radio, power supplies, antennas, SWR meters, etc.

The Standard License, considered a step-up from Foundation, allows for 100 Watts, more bands and all digital modes. As a Standard Licensee you can supervise another operator, run your radio under computer control and home brew everything.

The Advanced License, the so-called Pinnacle of Amateur Radio Licensing in Australia, is identical to the Standard License in many ways. You get access to 400 Watts, can apply for a kilowatt license, use all Amateur Bands and apply for power to do Earth Moon Earth bounces. 

The education part of the Advanced License is more onerous, some say considerably more so, than that of a Standard Call, but I'm not at the point where I can comment from personal experience about this.

There is a natural progression from Foundation to Standard to Advanced, but the breakdown of Amateur Licences in Australia seems to indicate that Foundation Licensees appear to be skipping the Standard Licence in favour of the Advanced one.

I don't have historical data to comment either way, but time will no doubt tell.

Why do you hold the License that you do?

I'm Onno VK6FLAB