ARRLWeb: Know Your Privileges! Misconceptions Abound Regarding Tech HF Privileges

NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 19, 2007 [Updated Mar 20, 4:30 PM] -- Some Technician licensees who gained new privileges February 23 remain unaware or uninformed as to what they may and may not do on the HF bands, says ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist Dan Henderson, N1ND. In addition to all Amateur Radio operating privileges above 50 MHz, Technicians who never passed a Morse code test now have CW privileges on certain segments of 80, 40 and 15 meters plus new CW, RTTY, data and SSB privileges on certain segments of 10 meters. And that's it. "Know your privileges," Henderson advises all Amateur Radio licenses. He says some Technicians apparently believe their new HF phone privileges go far beyond what they really have.

"Technicians have no phone privileges on any HF band other than 10 meters, period!" Henderson emphasizes. "That's the bottom line. If you want to operate phone on the other HF bands, you'll have to upgrade to General or Amateur Extra class."

A lot of Technician licensees appear to have done just that, according to statistics compiled by Joe Speroni, AH0A. So far in March, the number of General class licensees is up by more than 2700 over the February figure to 134,173, after hitting a 5-year low of just under 131,000 in January. The number of Technicians dropped by 4655 in the same period to 318,838 -- although there are still far more Techs than licensees of any other class. Meanwhile, the number of Amateur Extra licensees is at a 10-year high of 109,010 -- up by more than 400 since February.

Most Technician license holders face a learning curve to take advantage of their new CW privileges on HF, but they no longer have to pass a Morse code examination. Technicians also may use their new HF privileges without having to apply for them first. No other license class automatically acquired additional privileges February 23. The "omnibus" rule changes effective last December 15 did not give Technician licensees without Morse code credit any additional privileges either.

Henderson further warns new Techs not to extrapolate additional phone privileges by misconstruing the FCC Part 97 rules to mean something they don't.

"Calls I've been getting lately indicate that some misinformed individuals believe Technicians may operate 'digital voice' on 80, 40 and 15, where they have only CW privileges," he says. "Not true. Digital voice is really digitized voice, and it's not permitted in non-phone band segments."

Henderson reiterates that Technicians do not have FM voice privileges on 10 meters -- or on any other HF band, for that matter.

The HF privileges all Technicians now have are equivalent to those that Novice licensees have enjoyed for years, Henderson notes. "This also means the 200 W maximum power limit still applies, regardless of where you operate in the HF bands," he says. Technicians may operate at up to the legal limit on VHF and UHF, however.

On 10 meters, Technician and Novice licensees have CW, RTTY and data privileges from 28.000 to 28.300 MHz, and CW and SSB privileges from 28.300 to 28.500 MHz. "We're sorry that the sunspots aren't favoring 10 meters at this point in the sunspot cycle, but they will in a few years," Henderson allowed.

In addition, Technicians and Novices have CW -- and only CW -- privileges on from 3.525 to 3.600 MHz on 80 meters, from 7.025 to 7.125 MHz on 40 meters and 21.025 to 21.200 MHz on 15 meters.

Hearing SSB signals doesn't necessarily mean the FCC rules permit phone operation in that segment of a band, even if a licensee may operate CW there. "Remember, just because you hear phone signals doesn't mean you have phone privileges there," Henderson said. "Not only do US operator privileges vary on HF, some regions of the world have different phone allocations than ours."

Henderson believes at least some of the confusion may have originated with a few brand-new or inexperienced Technician licensees who heard that the FCC deleted the Morse code requirement to obtain an Amateur Radio license, but paid little attention to the fine print.

"And we all know the devil's in the details," Henderson says. "Remember, the FCC requires you to know where you may and may not operate and with what modes. Stick to the privileges your license allows or risk hearing from the FCC."

80 meter Amateur Radio privileges
40 meter Amateur Radio privileges
15 meter Amateur Radio privileges
10 meter Amateur Radio privileges