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Subpart B - Station Operation Standards
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Subpart B -- Station Operation Standards
S 97.101 General standards.
(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.
© 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.
S 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.
© 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 the 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 S 0.314(x) of
the FCC Rules.
S 97.105 Control operator duties.
(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.
S 97.107 Alien control operator privileges.
(a) The privileges available to a control operator holding
an amateur service license issued by the Government of Canada
are:
(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 provisions of the FCC Rules, but not to
exceed the control operator privileges of an FCC-issued Amateur
Extra Class operator license.
(b) The privileges available to a control operator holding
an FCC-issued reciprocal permit for alien amateur licensee are:
(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 issued by the alien's government;
(3) The applicable provisions of the FCC Rules, but not to
exceed the control operator privileges of an FCC-issued Amateur
Extra Class operator license; and
(4) None, if the holder of the reciprocal permit has
obtained an FCC-issued operator/primary station license.
© At any time the FCC may, in its discretion, modify,
suspend, or cancel the amateur service privileges within or over
any area where radio services are regulated by the FCC of any
Canadian amateur service licensee or alien reciprocal permittee.
S 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.
(b) When a station is being remotely controlled, the control
operator must be at the control point. Any station may be
remotely controlled.
© 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.
(d) No station may be automatically controlled while
transmitting third-party traffic, except a station retransmitting
digital packet radio communications on the 6 m and shorter
wavelength bands. Such stations must be using the American Radio
Relay League, Inc. AX.25 Amateur Packet -- Radio Link -- Layer
Protocol, Version 2.0, October 1984 (or compatible). The
retransmitted messages must originate at a station that is being
locally or remotely controlled.
S 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) Transmissions necessary to remotely control a device
from a distant location;
(4) Transmissions necessary to providing emergency
communications;
(5) Transmissions necessary to assisting persons learning,
or improving proficiency in, the international Morse code; and
(6) Transmissions necessary to disseminate information
bulletins.
S 97.113 Prohibited transmissions.
(a) No amateur station shall transmit any communication the
purpose of which is to facilitate the business or commercial
affairs of any party. No station shall transmit communications as
an alternative to other authorized radio services, except as
necessary to providing emergency communications. A station may,
however, transmit communications to:
(1) Facilitate the public's safe observation of, or safe
participation in, a parade, race, marathon or similar public
gathering. No amateur station shall transmit communications
concerning moving, supplying and quartering observers and
participants for any sponsoring organization unless the principal
beneficiary of such communications is the public and any benefit
to the sponsoring organization is incidental.
(2) Inform other amateur operators of the availability of
apparatus normally used in an amateur station, including such
apparatus for sale or trade. This exception is not authorized to
any person seeking to derive a profit by buying or selling such
apparatus on a regular basis.
(b) No station shall transmit messages for hire or for
material compensation, direct or indirect, paid or promised. The
control operator of a club station, however, may accept
compensation for such periods of time during which the station is
transmitting telegraphy practice or information bulletins
provided that:
(1) The station transmits the telegraphy practice and
information bulletins for at least 40 hours per week;
(2) The station schedules operations on all amateur service
MF and HF bands using reasonable measures to maximize coverage;
(3) The schedule of normal operating times and frequencies
is published at least 30 days in advance of the actual
transmissions; and
(4) The control operator does not accept any direct or
indirect compensation for periods during which the station is
transmitting any other material.
© No station shall transmit communications in order to
engage in any form of broadcasting, nor to engage in any activity
related to program production or newsgathering for broadcasting
purposes. A station may, however, transmit communications to
convey news information about an event for dissemination to the
public when the following conditions are present:
(1) The information involves the immediate safety of life of
individuals or the immediate protection of property;
(2) The information is directly related to the event;
(3) The information cannot be transmitted by any other means
because normal communications systems have been disrupted or
because there are no other communication systems available at the
place where the information is originated; and
(4) Other means of communication could not be reasonably
provided before or at the time of the event.
(d) No station shall transmit: music; radiocommunications or
messages for any purpose, or in connection with any activity,
that is contrary to federal, state, or local law; messages in
code or ciphers where the intent is to obscure the meaning
(except where specifically excepted elsewhere in this Part);
obscene, indecent, or profane words, language, or meaning; and/or
false or deceptive messages or signals.
(3) No station shall retransmit programs or signals
emanating from any type of radio station other than an amateur
station, except communications originating on United States
Government frequencies between a space shuttle and its associated
Earth stations. Prior approval for such retransmissions must be
obtained from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Such retransmissions must be for the exclusive use of amateur
operators.
(f) No amateur station, except an auxiliary, repeater or
space station, may automatically retransmit the radio signals of
other amateur stations.
S 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.
© 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.
S 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.
S 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 10 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
phonetic alphabet as an aid for correct station identification is
encouraged;
(3) By a RTTY emission when all or part of the
communications are transmitted in the same digital code as the
station identification, or when the communications consist of a
data emission transmitted on the VHF 6 m or shorter wavelength
band;
(4) By an image emission conforming to the applicable
transmission standards, either color or monochrome, of S
73.682(a) of the FCC Rules when all or part of the communications
are transmitted in the same image emission; or
(5) By a CW or phone emission during SS emission
transmission on a narrow bandwidth frequency segment.
Alternatively, by the changing of one or more parameters of the
emission so that a conventional CW or phone emission receiver can
be used to determine the station call sign.
© An indicator may be included with the call sign. It must
be separated from the call sign by the slant mark or by any
suitable word that denotes the slant mark.
(d) 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.
(e) When the control operator is using privileges on the
basis of holding a CSCE, an indicator must be included after the
call sign as follows:
(1) KT for Technician Class operator;
(2) AG for General Class operator;
(3) AA for Advanced Class operator; or
(4) AE for Amateur Extra Class operator.
(f) When the station is transmitting under the authority of
a reciprocal permit for alien amateur licensee, an indicator
consisting of the appropriate letter-numeral designating the
station location must be included before the call sign issued to
the station by the licensing country. When the station is
transmitting under the authority of an amateur service license
issued by the Government of Canada, a station location 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.
(g) A self-assigned indicator may be included after the call
sign. The identifier must not conflict with any other indicator
specified by the FCC Rules or by a prefix assigned to another
country.
S 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.
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