How to become a radio-telephone operator

Official title: Radio-telephone operator (land-based)

Radio-telephone operator (land-based) operates land-based radio telephone equipment to transmit messages to or receive them from ships, aircraft, vehicles, field or other installations. He/she tunes radio set to desired frequency and adjusts as required in addition to transmitting and receiving operational messages in ordinary language or in codes.

Main tasks

• Controlling radio communications systems, satellite services, and multiplex systems on land, sea or in aircraft
• Making emergency repairs to equipment

Ways in

• Apprenticeship: Work-study diploma. Related ITE work-study diplomas: Work-Study Diploma in Land Transport Engineering (Operations Management). You are employed by a company and study at ITE at the same time. Peernovo matched these from course names.

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Telecommunications service supervisor
• Media/Broadcasting operations technician
• Video camera operator
• Television/Motion picture camera operator
• Radio/Television studio equipment operator
• Sound engineering technician

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Questions people ask

How do I become a radio-telephone operator?

Ways in include: Work-study diploma.

Will AI change the work of a radio-telephone operator?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026