A wireless communication apparatus is provided that performs wireless communication using a specified wireless channel and forms part of an ad hoc wireless network. The device includes a recording portion that records country ID information and recording-time information in to a storage medium, where the recording-time information indicates the time at which the country ID information was recorded in to the storage medium, a time determination portion that uses the recording-time information to determine whether a predetermined time period has elapsed from the time at which the country ID information was recorded, and a channel setting portion that, when the predetermined time period has not elapsed from the time at which the country ID information was recorded in the storage medium, sets a wireless channel to a frequency channel that can be used in the country indicated by the country ID information recorded in the storage medium.