FCC Regulations - Part 97 Amateur Radio Service

[Revised 2001.]

(a) In all respects not specifically covered by FCC Rules each amateur station must be operated in accordance with good engineering and good amateur practice.
(b) Each station licensee and each control operator must cooperate in selecting transmitting channels and in making the most effective use of the amateur service frequencies. No frequency will be assigned for the exclusive use of any station.
(c) At all times and on all frequencies, each control operator must give priority to stations providing emergency communications, except to stations transmitting communications for training drills and tests in RACES.
(d) No amateur operator shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communication or signal.

§97.103 Station licensee responsibilities.

(a) The station licensee is responsible for the proper operation of the station in accordance with the FCC Rules. When the control operator is a different amateur operator than the station licensee, both persons are equally responsible for proper operation of the station.
(b) The station licensee must designate the station control operator. The FCC will presume that the station licensee is also the control operator, unless documentation to the contrary is in the station records.
(c) The station licensee must make the station and the station records available for inspection upon request by an FCC representative. When deemed necessary by an EIC to assure compliance with FCC Rules, the station licensee must maintain a record of station operations containing such items of information as the EIC may require in accord with §0.314(x) of the FCC Rules.

(a) The control operator must ensure the immediate proper operation of the station, regardless of the type of control.
(b) A station may only be operated in the manner and to the extent permitted by the privileges authorized for the class of operator license held by the control operator.

A non-citizen of the United States ("alien") holding an amateur service authorization granted by the alien's government is authorized to be the control operator of an amateur station located at places where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC, provided there is in effect a multilateral or bilateral reciprocal operating arrangement, to which the United States and the alien's government are parties, for amateur service operation on a reciprocal basis. The FCC will issue public announcements listing the countries with which the United States has such an arrangement. No citizen of the United States or person holding an FCC amateur operator/primary station license grant is eligible for the reciprocal operating authority granted by this section. The privileges granted to a control operator under this authorization are:

(a) For an amateur service license granted by the Government of Canada:: (1) The terms of the Convention Between the United States and Canada (TIAS No. 2508) Relating to the Operation by Citizens of Either Country of Certain Radio Equipment or Stations in the Other Country;; (2) The operating terms and conditions of the amateur service license issued by the Government of Canada; and; (3) The applicable rules of this part, but not to exceed the control operator privileges of an FCC-granted Amateur Extra Class operator license.
(b) For an amateur service license granted by any country, other than Canada, with which the United States has a multilateral or bilateral agreement:: (1) The terms of the agreement between the alien's government and the United States;; (2) The operating terms and conditions of the amateur service license granted by the alien's government;; (3) The applicable rules of this part, but not to exceed the control operator privileges of an FCC-granted Amateur Extra Class operator license; and
(c) At any time the FCC may, in its discretion, modify, suspend or cancel the reciprocal operating authority granted to any person by this section.

§97.109 Station control.

(a) Each amateur station must have at least one control point.
(b) When a station is being locally controlled, the control operator must be at the control point. Any station may be locally controlled.
(c) When a station is being remotely controlled, the control operator must be at the control point. Any station may be remotely controlled.
(d) When a station is being automatically controlled, the control operator need not be at the control point. Only stations specifically designated elsewhere in this Part may be automatically controlled. Automatic control must cease upon notification by an EIC that the station is transmitting improperly or causing harmful interference to other stations. Automatic control must not be resumed without prior approval of the EIC.
(e) No station may be automatically controlled while transmitting third party communications, except a station transmitting a RTTY or data emission. All messages that are retransmitted must originate at a station that is being locally or remotely controlled.

§97.111 Authorized transmissions.

(a) An amateur station may transmit the following types of two-way communications:: (1) Transmissions necessary to exchange messages with other stations in the amateur service, except those in any country whose administration has given notice that it objects to such communications. The FCC will issue public notices of current arrangements for international communications;; (2) Transmissions necessary to exchange messages with a station in another FCC-regulated service while providing emergency communications;; (3) Transmissions necessary to exchange messages with a United States government station, necessary to providing communications in RACES; and; (4) Transmissions necessary to exchange messages with a station in a service not regulated by the FCC, but authorized by the FCC to communicate with amateur stations. An amateur station may exchange messages with a participating United States military station during an Armed Forces Day Communications Test.
(b) In addition to one-way transmissions specifically authorized elsewhere in this Part, an amateur station may transmit the following types of one-way communications:: (1) Brief transmissions necessary to make adjustments to the station;; (2) Brief transmissions necessary to establishing two-way communications with other stations;; (3) Telecommand;; (4) Transmissions necessary to providing emergency communications;; (5) Transmissions necessary to assisting persons learning, or improving proficiency in, the international Morse code;; (6) Transmissions necessary to disseminate information bulletins;; (7) Transmissions of telemetry.

§97.113 Prohibited transmissions.

(a) No amateur station shall transmit:: (1) Communications specifically prohibited elsewhere in this Part;; (2) Communications for hire or for material compensation, direct or indirect, paid or promised, except as otherwise provided in these rules;; (3) Communications in which the station licensee or control operator has a pecuniary interest, including communications on behalf of an employer. Amateur operators may, however, notify other amateur operators of the availability for sale or trade of apparatus normally used in an amateur station, provided that such activity is not conducted on a regular basis;; (4) Music using a phone emission except as specifically provided elsewhere in this Section; communications intended to facilitate a criminal act; messages in codes or ciphers intended to obscure the meaning thereof, except as otherwise provided herein; obscene or indecent words or language; or false or deceptive messages, signals or identification;; (5) Communications, on a regular basis, which could reasonably be furnished alternatively through other radio services.
(b) An amateur station shall not engage in any form of broadcasting, nor may an amateur station transmit one-way communications except as specifically provided in these rules; nor shall an amateur station engage in any activity related to program production or news gathering for broadcasting purposes, except that communications directly related to the immediate safety of human life or the protection of property may be provided by amateur stations to broadcasters for dissemination to the public where no other means of communication is reasonably available before or at the time of the event.
(c) A control operator may accept compensation as an incident of a teaching position during periods of time when an amateur station is used by that teacher as a part of classroom instruction at an educational institution.
(d) The control operator of a club station may accept compensation for the periods of time when the station is transmitting telegraphy practice or information bulletins, provided that the station transmits such telegraphy practice and bulletins for at least 40 hours per week; schedules operations on at least six amateur service MF and HF bands using reasonable measures to maximize coverage; where the schedule of normal operating times and frequencies is published at least 30 days in advance of the actual transmissions; and where the control operator does not accept any direct or indirect compensation for any other service as a control operator.
(e) No station shall retransmit programs or signals emanating from any type of radio station other than an amateur station, except propagation and weather forecast information intended for use by the general public and originated from United States Government stations and communications, including incidental music, originating on United States Government frequencies between a space shuttle and its associated Earth stations. Prior approval for shuttle retransmissions must be obtained from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Such retransmissions must be for the exclusive use of amateur operators. Propagation, weather forecasts, and shuttle retransmissions may not be conducted on a regular basis, but only occasionally, as an incident of normal amateur radio communications.
(f) No amateur station, except an auxiliary, repeater or space station, may automatically retransmit the radio signals of other amateur stations.

§97.115 Third party communications.

(a) An amateur station may transmit messages for a third party to:: (1) Any station within the jurisdiction of the United States.; (2) Any station within the jurisdiction of any foreign government whose administration has made arrangements with the United States to allow amateur stations to be used for transmitting international communications on behalf of third parties. No station shall transmit messages for a third party to any station within the jurisdiction of any foreign government whose administration has not made such an arrangement. This prohibition does not apply to a message for any third party who is eligible to be a control operator of the station.
(b) The third party may participate in stating the message where:: (1) The control operator is present at the control point and is continuously monitoring and supervising the third party's participation; and; (2) The third party is not a prior amateur service licensee whose license was revoked; suspended for less than the balance of the license term and the suspension is still in effect; suspended for the balance of the license term and relicensing has not taken place; or surrendered for cancellation following notice of revocation, suspension or monetary forfeiture proceedings. The third party may not be the subject of a cease and desist order which relates to amateur service operation and which is still in effect.
(c) At the end of an exchange of international third party communications, the station must also transmit in the station identification procedure the call sign of the station with which a third party message was exchanged.

§97.117 International communications.

Transmissions to a different country, where permitted, shall be made in plain language and shall be limited to messages of a technical nature relating to tests, and, to remarks of a personal character for which, by reason of their unimportance, recourse to the public telecommunications service is not justified.

§97.119 Station identification.

(a) Each amateur station, except a space station or telecommand station, must transmit its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel at the end of each communication, and at least every ten minutes during a communication, for the purpose of clearly making the source of the transmissions from the station known to those receiving the transmissions. No station may transmit unidentified communications or signals, or transmit as the station call sign, any call sign not authorized to the station.
(b) The call sign must be transmitted with an emission authorized for the transmitting channel in one of the following ways:: (1) By a CW emission. When keyed by an automatic device used only for identification, the speed must not exceed 20 words per minute;; (2) By a phone emission in the English language. Use of a standard phonetic alphabet as an aid for correct station identification is encouraged;; (3) By a RTTY emission using a specified digital code when all or part of the communications are transmitted by a RTTY or data emission;; (4) By an image emission conforming to the applicable transmission standards, either color or monochrome, of §73.682(a) of the FCC Rules when all or part of the communications are transmitted in the same image emission.
(c) One or more indicators may be included with the call sign. Each indicator must be separated from the call sign by the slant mark (/) or by any suitable word that denotes the slant mark. If an indicator is self-assigned, it must be included before, after, or both before and after, the call sign. No self-assigned indicator may conflict with any other indicator specified by the FCC Rules or with any prefix assigned to another country.
(d) When transmitting in conjunction with an event of special significance, a station may substitute for its assigned call sign a special event call sign as shown for that station for that period of time on the common data base coordinated, maintained and disseminated by the special event call sign data base coordinators. Additionally, the station must transmit its assigned call sign at least once per hour during such transmissions.
(e) When the operator license class held by the control operator exceeds that of the station licensee, an indicator consisting of the call sign assigned to the control operator's station must be included after the call sign.
(f) When the control operator who is exercising the rights and privileges authorized by §97.9(b) of this Part, an indicator must be included after the call sign as follows:: (1) For a control operator who has requested a license modification from Novice to Technician Class: KT;; (2) For a control operator who has requested a license modification from Novice, Technician or Technician Plus Class to General Class: AG;; (3) For a control operator who has requested a license modification from Novice, Technician, Technician Plus, General, or Advanced Class operator to Amateur Extra Class: AE.
(g) When the station is transmitting under the authority of §97.107 of this part, an indicator consisting of the appropriate letter-numeral designating the station location must be included before the call sign that was issued to the station by the country granting the license. For an amateur service license granted by the Government of Canada, however, the indicator must be included after the call sign. At least once during each intercommunication, the identification announcement must include the geographical location as nearly as possible by city and state, commonwealth or possession.

§97.121 Restricted operation.

(a) If the operation of an amateur station causes general interference to the reception of transmissions from stations operating in the domestic broadcast service when receivers of good engineering design, including adequate selectivity characteristics, are used to receive such transmissions, and this fact is made known to the amateur station licensee, the amateur station shall not be operated during the hours from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., local time, and on Sunday for the additional period from 10:30 a.m. until 1 p.m., local time, upon the frequency or frequencies used when the interference is created.
(b) In general, such steps as may be necessary to minimize interference to stations operating in other services may be required after investigation by the FCC.