A number of questions were added to this section about the rules governing the operation of automatically controlled digital stations.
The FCC rules specify when and how an amateur radio station can transmit messages for persons who are not licensed radio amateurs. These messages are called “third party traffic.” For a non-licensed person to communicate with a foreign Amateur Radio station from a US amateur station at which a licensed control operator is present, the foreign amateur station must be in a country with which the United States has a third party agreement. (G1E08) Third party traffic is prohibited with every foreign country, unless there is a third party agreement in effect with that country, except for messages directly involving emergencies or disaster relief communications. (G1E07) Only messages relating to Amateur Radio or remarks of a personal character, or messages relating to emergencies or disaster relief may be transmitted by an amateur station for a third party in another country. (G1E05)
While most third-party traffic rules cover communication with amateurs in other countries, there is an important rule concerning third-party traffic within the U.S. In particular, amateurs may not pass third-party traffic for persons whose licenses have been revoked. If the third party’s amateur license had ever been revoked and not reinstated, it would disqualify that third party from participating in stating a message over an amateur station. (G1E01)
The 10m band is the only HF band in which amateur radio operators can operate repeater stations. The portion above 29.6 MHz is the portion of the 10 meter band available for repeater use. (G1E10) A 10 meter repeater may retransmit the 2 meter signal from a station having a Technician Class control operator, only if the 10 meter repeater control operator holds at least a General Class license. (G1E02)
All of these choices are conditions that require an Amateur Radio station to take specific steps to avoid harmful interference to other users or facilities (G1E04):
- When operating within one mile of an FCC Monitoring Station
- When using a band where the Amateur Service is secondary
- When a station is transmitting spread spectrum emissions
In the event of interference between a coordinated repeater and an uncoordinated repeater, the licensee of the uncoordinated repeater has primary responsibility to resolve the interference. (G1E06)
In recent years, the FCC has changed part 97 to clarify how and where automatically controlled digital stations may operate in order to prevent harmful interference to other stations. Automatically controlled digital station is the FCC term for an unattended digital station that transfers messages to and from the Internet. (G1E11) Automatically controlled stations transmitting RTTY or data emissions may communicate with other automatically controlled digital stations anywhere in the 1.25 meter or shorter wavelength bands, and in specified segments of the 80-meter through 2-meter bands. (G1E13) The station initiating the contact must be under local or remote control to conduct communications with a digital station operating under automatic control outside the automatic control band segments. (G1E03) Under no circumstances are messages that are sent via digital modes exempt from Part 97 third party rules that apply to other modes of communication. (G1E12)
English is the language you must use when identifying your station if you are using a language other than English in making a contact using phone emission. (G1E09)
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