The present invention relates to a drilling hammer comprising a hammer tube (13) that is rotationally drivable inside a housing (10), a striking tool (14) located in the hammer tube (13) and provided with a piston (15) that can driven with a reciprocating motion, and an operating mode change-over switch (35) for the “impact drilling” and “chiseling” operating modes. The hammer tube (13) is decoupled from its rotary drive when in the “impact drilling” operating mode and is secured in the housing (10) in a non-rotative manner when in the “chiseling” operating mode. To obtain a switching mechanism (37) of the operating mode change-over switch (35) having a very flat design and requiring little installation space, an actuator ring (48) is fixed on the hammer tube (13) in an axially displaceable and torsion-proof manner, the actuator ring including at least one radially projecting locking spline (51) on its outer side facing away from the hammer tube (13), the locking spline being capable of engaging in at least one axial recess (52) in the gearbox and in locking toothing (53) in the housing. Rotational motion of a control button (36) of the operating mode change-over switch (35) is converted to axial displacement of the actuator ring (48) on the hammer tube (13) by the switching mechanism (37). In addition, the operating mode change-over switch (35) can be used to activate a “drilling” operating mode, in which the striking tool (14) is decoupled on the drive side.