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(a) Except as specified elsewhere in this part, an amateur station may transmit a CW emission on any frequency authorized to the control operator.
(b) A station may transmit a test emission on any frequency authorized to the control operator for brief periods for experimental purposes, except that no pulse modulation emission may be transmitted on any frequency where pulse is not specifically authorized and no SS modulation emission may be transmitted on any frequency where SS is not specifically authorized.
(c) A station may transmit the following emission types on the frequencies indicated, as authorized to the control operator, subject to the standards specified in §97.307(f) of this part.
| Wavelength band | Frequencies | Emission Types Authorized | Standards, see §97.307(f), paragraph: |
|---|---|---|---|
| MF: | |||
| 160 m | Entire band | RTTY, data | (3) |
| -do- | -do- | Phone, image | (1), (2) |
| HF: | |||
| 80 m | Entire band | RTTY, data | (3), (9) |
| 75 m | Entire band | Phone, image | (1), (2) |
| 40 m | 7.000-7.100 MHz | RTTY, data | (3), (9) |
| 40 m | 7.075-7.100 MHz | Phone, image | (1), (2), (9), (11) |
| 40 m | 7.100-7.125 MHz | RTTY, data | (3), (9) |
| 40 m | 7.125-7.300 MHz | Phone, image | (1), (2) |
| 30 m | Entire band | RTTY, data | (3) |
| 20 m | 14.00-14.15 MHz | RTTY, data | (3) |
| -do- | 14.15-14.35 MHz | Phone, image | (1), (2) |
| 17 m | 18.068-18.110 MHz | RTTY, data | (3) |
| -do- | 18.110-18.168 MHz | Phone, image | (1), (2) |
| 15 m | 21.0-21.2 MHz | RTTY, data | (3), (9) |
| -do- | 21.20-21.45 MHz | Phone, image | (1), (2) |
| 12 m | 24.89-24.93 MHz | RTTY, data | (3) |
| -do- | 24.93-24.99 MHz | Phone, image | (1), (2) |
| 10 m | 28.0-28.3 MHz | RTTY, data | (4) |
| -do- | 28.3-28.5 MHz | Phone, image | (1), (2), (10) |
| -do- | 28.5-29.0 MHz | Phone, image | (1), (2) |
| -do- | 29.0-29.7 MHz | Phone, image | (2) |
| VHF: | |||
| 6 m | 50.1-51.0 MHz | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data | (2), (5). |
| -do- | 51.0-54.0 MHz | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, test | (2), (5), (8). |
| 2 m | 144.1-148.0 MHz | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, test | (2), (5), (8) |
| 1.25 m | 219-220 MHz | Data | (13) |
| -do- | 222-225 MHz | RTTY, data, test MCW, phone, SS, image | (2), (6), (8) |
| UHF: | |||
| 70 cm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test | (6), (8) |
| 33 cm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| 23 cm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test | (7), (8), (12) |
| 13 cm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| SHF: | |||
| 9 cm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| 5 cm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| 3 cm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test | (7), (8), (12) |
| 1.2 cm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| EHF: | |||
| 6 mm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| 4 mm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| 2.5 mm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| 2 mm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| 1 mm | Entire band | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
| -- | Above 300 GHz | MCW, phone, image, RTTY, data, SS, test, pulse | (7), (8), (12) |
(a) No amateur station transmission shall occupy more bandwidth than necessary for the information rate and emission type being transmitted, in accordance with good amateur practice.
(b) Emissions resulting from modulation must be confined to the band or segment available to the control operator. Emissions outside the necessary bandwidth must not cause splatter or keyclick interference to operations on adjacent frequencies.
(c) All spurious emissions from a station transmitter must be reduced to the greatest extent practicable. If any spurious emission, including chassis or power line radiation, causes harmful interference to the reception of another radio station, the licensee of the interfering amateur station is required to take steps to eliminate the interference, in accordance with good engineering practice.
(d) For transmitters installed after January 1, 2003, the mean power of any spurious emission from a station transmitter or external RF amplifier transmitting on a frequency below 30 MHz must be at least 43 dB below the mean power of the fundamental emission. For transmissions installed on or before January 1, 2003, the mean power of any spurious emission from a station transmitter or external RF power amplifier transmitting on a frequency below 30 MHz must not exceed 50 mW and must be at least 40 dB below the mean power of the fundamental emission. For a transmitter of mean power less than 5W installed on or before January 1, 2003, the attenuation must be at least 30 dB . A transmitter built before April 15, 1977, or first marketed before January 1, 1978, is exempt from this requirement.
(e) The mean power of any spurious emission from a station transmitter or external RF power amplifier transmitting on a frequency between 30-225 MHz must be at least 60 dB below the mean power of the fundamental. For a transmitter having a mean power of 25 W or less, the mean power of any spurious emission supplied to the antenna transmission line must not exceed 25 µW and must be at least 40 dB below the mean power of the fundamental emission, but need not be reduced below the power of 10 µW. A transmitter built before April 15, 1977, or first marketed before January 1, 1978, is exempt from this requirement.
(f) The following standards and limitations apply to transmissions on the frequencies specified in §97.305(c) of this Part.
(2) No non-phone emission shall exceed the bandwidth of a communications quality phone emission of the same modulation type. The total bandwidth of an independent sideband emission (having B as the first symbol), or a multiplexed image and phone emission, shall not exceed that of a communications quality A3E emission.
(3) Only a RTTY or data emission using a specified digital code listed in §97.309(a) of this Part may be transmitted. The symbol rate must not exceed 300 bauds, or for frequency-shift keying, the frequency shift between mark and space must not exceed 1 kHz.
(4) Only a RTTY or data emission using a specified digital code listed in §97.309(a) of this Part may be transmitted. The symbol rate must not exceed 1200 bauds. For frequency-shift keying, the frequency shift between mark and space must not exceed 1 kHz.
(5) A RTTY, data or multiplexed emission using a specified digital code listed in §97.309(a) of this Part may be transmitted. The symbol rate must not exceed 19.6 kilobauds. A RTTY, data or multiplexed emission using an unspecified digital code under the limitations listed in §97.309(b) of this Part also may be transmitted. The authorized bandwidth is 20 kHz.
(6) A RTTY, data or multiplexed emission using a specified digital code listed in §97.309(a) of this Part may be transmitted. The symbol rate must not exceed 56 kilobauds. A RTTY, data or multiplexed emission using an unspecified digital code under the limitations listed in §97.309(b) of this Part also may be transmitted. The authorized bandwidth is 100 kHz.
(7) A RTTY, data or multiplexed emission using a specified digital code listed in §97.309(a) of this Part or an unspecified digital code under the limitations listed in §97.309(b) of this Part may be transmitted.
(8) A RTTY or data emission having designators with A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J or R as the first symbol; 1, 2, 7 or 9 as the second symbol; and D or W as the third symbol is also authorized.
(9) A station having a control operator holding a Novice or Technician Class operator license may only transmit a CW emission using the international Morse code.
(10) A station having a control operator holding a Novice Class operator license or a Technician Class operator license may only transmit a CW emission using the international Morse code or phone emissions J3E and R3E.
(11) Phone and image emissions may be transmitted only by stations located in ITU Regions 1 and 3, and by stations located within ITU Region 2 that are west of 130° West longitude or south of 20° North latitude.
(12) Emission F8E may be transmitted.
(13) A data emission using an unspecified digital code under the limitations listed in §97.309(b) of this Part also may be transmitted. The authorized bandwidth is 100 kHz.
(a) Where authorized by §97.305(c) and 97.307(f) of this Part, an amateur station may transmit a RTTY or data emission using the following specified digital codes:
(2) The 7-unit code specified in ITU-R Recommendations M.476-5 and M.625-3 (commonly known as "AMTOR").
(3) The 7-unit, International Alphabet No. 5, code defined in ITU-T Recommendation T.50 (commonly known as "ASCII").
(4) An amateur station transmitting a RTTY or data emission using a digital code specified in this paragraph may use any technique whose technical characteristics have been documented publicly, such as CLOVER, G-TOR, or PacTOR, for the purpose of facilitating communications.
(b) Where authorized by §§ 97.305(c) and 97.307(f) of this part, a station may transmit a RTTY or data emission using an unspecified digital code, except to a station in a country with which the United States does not have an agreement permitting the code to be used. RTTY and data emissions using unspecified digital codes must not be transmitted for the purpose of obscuring the meaning of any communication. When deemed necessary by a District Director to assure compliance with the FCC Rules, a station must:
(2) Restrict transmissions of any digital code to the extent instructed;
(3) Maintain a record, convertible to the original information, of all digital communications transmitted.
(a) SS emission transmissions by an amateur station are authorized only for communications between points within areas where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC and between an area where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC and an amateur station in another country that permits such communications. SS emission transmissions must not be used for the purpose of obscuring the meaning of any communication.
(b) A station transmitting SS emissions must not cause harmful interference to stations employing other authorized emissions, and must accept all interference caused by stations employing other authorized emissions.
(c) When deemed necessary by a District Director to assure compliance with this Part, a station licensee must:
(2) Restrict SS emission transmissions to the extent instructed; and
(3) Maintain a record, convertible to the original information (voice, text, image, etc.) of all spread spectrum communications transmitted.
(d) The transmitter power must not exceed 100 W under any circumstances. If more than 1 W is used, automatic transmitter control shall limit output power to that which is required for the communication. This shall be determined by the use of the ratio, measured at the receiver, of the received energy per user data bit (Eb) to the sum of the received power spectral densities of noise (N0) and co-channel interference (I0). Average transmitter power over 1 W shall be automatically adjusted to maintain an Eb/(N0 + I0) ratio of no more than 23 dB at the intended receiver.
(a) An amateur station must use the minimum transmitter power necessary to carry out the desired communications.
(b) No station may transmit with a transmitter power exceeding 1.5 kW PEP.
(c) No station may transmit with a transmitter power exceeding 200 W PEP:
(2) When the control operator is a Novice Class operator or a Technician Class operator.
(d) No station may transmit with a transmitter power exceeding 25 W PEP on the VHF 1.25 m band when the control operator is a Novice operator.
(e) No station may transmit with a transmitter power exceeding 5 W PEP on the UHF 23 cm band when the control operator is a Novice operator.
(f) No station may transmit with a transmitter power exceeding 50 W PEP on the UHF 70 cm band from an area specified in footnote US7 to §2.106 of the FCC Rules, unless expressly authorized by the FCC after mutual agreement, on a case-by-case basis, between the District Director of the applicable field facility and the military area frequency coordinator at the applicable military base. An Earth station or telecommand station, however, may transmit on the 435-438 MHz segment with a maximum of 611 W effective radiated power (1 kW equivalent isotropically radiated power) without the authorization otherwise required. The transmitting antenna elevation angle between the lower half-power (-3 dB relative to the peak or antenna bore sight) point and the horizon must always be greater than 10°.
(g) No station may transmit with a transmitter power exceeding 50 W PEP on the 33 cm band from within 241 km of the boundaries of the White Sands Missile Range. Its boundaries are those portions of Texas and New Mexico bounded on the south by latitude 31° 41' North, on the east by longitude 104° 11' West, on the north by latitude 34° 30' North, and on the west by longitude 107° 30' West.
(h) No station may transmit with a transmitter power exceeding 50 W PEP on the 219-220 MHz segment of the 1.25 m band.
(a) Any external RF power amplifier (see § 2.815 of the FCC Rules) manufactured or imported for use at an amateur radio station must be certificated for use in the amateur service in accordance with subpart J of part 2 of the FCC Rules. No amplifier capable of operation below 144 MHz may be constructed or modified by a non-amateur service licensee without a grant of certification from the FCC.
(b) The requirement of paragraph (a) does not apply if one or more of the following conditions are met:
(2) The amplifier was manufactured before April 28, 1978, and has been issued a marketing waiver by the FCC, or the amplifier was purchased before April 28, 1978, by an amateur radio operator for use at that operator's station.
(3) The amplifier is sold to an amateur radio operator or to a dealer, the amplifier is purchased in used condition by a dealer, or the amplifier is sold to an amateur radio operator for use at that operator's station.
(c) Any external RF power amplifier appearing in the Commission's database as certificated for use in the amateur service may be marketed for use in the amateur service.
(a) To receive a grant of certification, the amplifier must:
(2) Not be capable of amplifying the input RF power (driving signal) by more than 15 dB gain. Gain is defined as the ratio of the input RF power to the output RF power of the amplifier where both power measurements are expressed in peak envelope power or mean power.
(3) Exhibit no amplification (0 dB gain) between 26 MHz and 28 MHz.
(b) Certification shall be denied when:
(2) The amplifier can be easily modified to operate on frequencies between 26 MHz and 28 MHz.