The IT-Who?

T1B01: What is the ITU?

1. An agency of the United States Department of Telecommunications Management
2. A United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues
3. An independent frequency coordination agency
4. A department of the FCC

The correct answer is B–A United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(28))

I touched on this topic back when talking about T1A02. The International Telecommunications Union, or ITU, is a very important entity in the broader scheme of radio regulation. The ITU is an agency of the United Nations that deals with information and communication technology; prior to being adopted into the United Nations it was a treaty organization that dealt primarily with the cooperative regulation of telegraphy and other uses of radio across international borders. As radio signals
have a bad habit of refusing to stop at national boundaries, this is
pretty much necessary, especially with respect to the world-reaching HF
bands, in which a station in South America can easily interfere with a
station in Russia. The ITU's rules do not apply directly to amateurs, or indeed to anyone; rather, the ITU makes recommendations which member nations are encouraged to adopt.

The ITU has a significant influence over amateur radio; in their role of creating the International Table of Allocations, they set aside the spectrum that virtually all countries will reserve for amateur radio operators. An example of how the ITU influences amateur radio arose at the World Administrative Radio Conference (a quadrennial meeting of the ITU) in 1979 that resulted in the so-called "WARC" bands of 30 meters, 17 meters, and 12 meters being opened up to amateur use. The United States has historically been one of the most aggressive protectors of amateur radio at the ITU; few nations have as solid a history of arguing in favor of protecting amateur radio spectrum at the international level.

Special operations: Auxiliary stations

T1A11: Which of the following stations transmits signals over the air from a remote receive site to a repeater for retransmission?

1. Beacon station
2. Relay station
3. Auxiliary station
4. Message forwarding station

The correct answer is C–Auxiliary station.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(7))

This question broaches, albeit only lightly, the topic of what are called "special operations". There are, in subpart C of the amateur radio regulations, a number of special ways to use, or operate, a radio station that are subject to special rules. These special rules typically impose certain restrictions while relaxing others. For example, an auxiliary station (the topic of this question) is an amateur station (other than a packet station) that is transmitting communications point-to-point within a system of cooperating amateur stations. Auxiliary stations are not permitted to operate on bands below 222 MHz, but are allowed to be automatically controlled (that is, no control operator at the control point). Auxiliary stations which have been coordinated also gain some extra protection against interference, and the general rule against one-way communications is relaxed for auxiliary stations.

The most common use for auxiliary stations is in conjunction with a repeater station. Two linked repeaters may use a pair of auxiliary stations to establish the link, or a remote receiver may use an auxiliary station to connect back to the main transmitter. The W9DUP repeater, operated by the DuPage Amateur Radio Club (of which I am a member) uses an auxiliary station to connect its IRLP node to the repeater, since the IRLP computer cannot be placed at the repeater's location (no Internet access there).

There are several special operations listed in Subpart C, but this is the only one that the NCVEC Question Pool Committee saw fit to include on the Technician pool.

Just what is a "radio station"?

T1A10: What is the FCC Part 97 definition of an amateur station?

1. A station in an Amateur Radio Service consisting of the apparatus necessary for carrying on radio communications
2. A building where Amateur Radio receivers, transmitters, and RF power amplifiers are installed
3. Any radio station operated by a non-professional
4. Any radio station for hobby use

The correct answer is A–A station in an Amateur Radio Service consisting of the apparatus necessary for carrying on radio communications.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(5))

More regulatory jargon here. The correct answer above probably seems a bit circular, in that it essentially says that an amateur station is defined as a station in the amateur radio service. But that's about right. A radio station, generally, is simply any collection of devices that, when used together by a sufficiently trained operator make possible communication via radio. What makes a radio station an "amateur" station, and not some other sort of radio station, is simply the intent of its owner for the station to be used in the amateur radio service, as opposed to some other service. 

Not necessarily every radio owned by an amateur radio operator, or installed at the location of an amateur radio station, will necessarily be part of that amateur's station. For example, my Android phone contains five radios, and yet it is not part of either of my amateur radio stations since currently my Android isn't directly used for radio communication within the amateur service. (Not that it can't be. There are ways I could use my Android in conjunction with other devices to form an amateur radio station. I just haven't yet.)

Also, despite the term, stations need not be stationary. The use of "station" is something of an archaism from the days when radio transmitters were huge and effectively immobile. Modern transmitters can be quite tiny and thus very portable.  Amateurs may also have as many stations as they want. Originally we had to declare to the FCC the location of our "primary" station (and hams in many countries still have to do this) and were allowed only one such "primary" station, but the FCC has long since done away with this. US hams may have as many primary fixed stations as they want (including none), and may have as many additional portable and mobile stations as they can afford. The FCC used to require that certain classes of station (auxiliary, repeater, and beacon stations) be separately licensed, but that requirement has also been done away with and any ham (other than a Novice) may operate any number of stations in one of these special operational modes with no special notice to the FCC.

Frequency coordination

T1A08: Which of the following entities recommends transmit/receive channels and other parameters for auxiliary and repeater stations?

1. Frequency Spectrum Manager
2. Frequency Coordinator
3. FCC Regional Field Office
4. International Telecommunications Union

The correct answer is B–Frequency Coordinator.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(22))

T1A09: Who selects a Frequency Coordinator?

1. The FCC Office of Spectrum Management and Coordination Policy
2. The local chapter of the Office of National Council of Independent Frequency Coordinators
3. Amateur operators in a local or regional area whose stations are eligible to be auxiliary or repeater stations
4. FCC Regional Field Office

The correct answer is C–Amateur operators in a local or regional area whose stations are eligible to be auxiliary or repeater stations.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(22))

These questions only briefly touch on an issue in part because going deeper into it would touch on areas on which the amateur radio community is in disagreement. The prior version of the Technician pool had two questions on this issue, and one of the questions set forth the arguably controversial position that coordination "reduce[d] interference and promote[d]  proper use of spectrum". I don't know why the NCVEC dumped those two questions in favor of these, but at least these questions are much more closely tied to the actual definitions in the regulations.

Frequency coordination, in general, is the recommendation of operating frequencies (transmit and receive parameters) and other parameters (such as antenna gain, antenna directionality, and selective squelch) to allow multiple repeater and auxiliary stations operating in the same general area to interoperate with a minimum of interference. In the business services frequency coordination by an FCC-recognized frequency coordinator is mandatory for all applicants, and applicants must generally pay a fee to the coordinator for that service. In the amateur service, coordination is strictly optional; however, the regulations give an advantage to repeater and auxiliary stations that do coordinate by essentially giving them priority over uncoordinated stations in an interference dispute, but only when the other interfering station is also a repeater or auxiliary station.

In principle coordination, when properly done, should reduce interference and encourage better utilization of spectrum. Unfortunately, it rarely works out that way. Frequency coordinators have a tendency to become "old boy" clubs that seek to protect the interests of their friends at the expense of those who are not their friends. My personal recommendation with respect to coordination is that one should avail oneself of the service if and when it is offered under reasonable terms, but not let it get in the way of doing something interesting or useful, especially if the coordination body is nonresponsive or unreasonably obstructive.

The other interesting thing about coordinators is that there's no top-down process for selecting one. Instead, the amateur radio operators (at least those eligible to be repeater or auxiliary station operators, which is everyone except Novices, and the FCC has proposed allowing Novices to be repeater operators, too) in an area choose, by no defined process, who their coordinator is. What this means, as far as I can tell, is if enough hams in an area get together and coordinate frequencies amongst themselves, and are recognized as having done so, then they've formed a coordination body and are acting as a "frequency coordinator". The FCC's regulation is very silent on what happens if there's a disagreement over who has jurisdiction in a particular area or if there are two competing entities both claiming to be "the" frequency coordinator for a given area. The key here is that the recognition process is bottom-up rather than top-down.

Finally, don't confuse frequency coordination with the bands established by the FCC (and consistent with ITU policy directives). FCC-set band allocations establish the limits of the frequencies on which an amateur may operate, with specific power limits and modulations. Also do not confuse frequency coordination with the voluntary band plans recommended by the ARRL (and other entities) for general use of frequencies within the limits of the FCC allocations. Frequency coordination is always a specific recommendation for a specific repeater or auxiliary station, based on the particular characteristics and expected usage of that station.

(Edited 8/18 to add T1A09.)

Remote control and intelligence: telecommand and telemetry

T1A06: What is the FCC Part 97 definition of telecommand?

1. An instruction bulletin issued by the FCC
2. A one-way radio transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
3. A one-way transmission to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a device at a distance
4. An instruction from a VEC

The correct answer is C–A one-way transmission to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a device at a distance.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(43))

T1A07: What is the FCC Part 97 definition of telemetry?

1. An information bulletin issued by the FCC
2. A one-way transmission to initiate, modify or terminate functions of a device at a distance
3. A one-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument
4. An information bulletin from a VEC

The correct answer is C–A one-way transmission of measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(45))

Many of the questions in the first section of the licensing exams are about regulatory jargon, and these two are no exception. I've combined these two into one post because they're basically opposite sides of the same coin. Both are examples of one-way transmissions. Also, notice that the correct answer to each question is a distractor on the other one; it is therefore important to read the question closely to see which one you got.

Telecommand is what your TV remote does: it sends commands to your TV, causing your TV to "initiate, modify, or terminate functions" based on what button you pushed. Of course, your TV remote is probably infrared (very few television remotes are RF these days), but the principle is the same. Perhaps a better example that almost always uses RF is a garage door opener.

Telemetry is using wireless communication to receive data from a measuring device without a physical connection between the measuring device and the reporting or recording device. If you have a wireless weather station, what that uses to send the gathered data back to the base station is telemetry. The same would apply to a wireless security camera; in this case the data being reported back are the images being captured by the camera.

In the context of amateur radio, telecommand is the use of amateur radio frequencies to remotely control a device. This device can be anything at all, but two specific categories stand out: remote control of model craft (often model airplanes), and remote control of space stations; these two categories receive special treatment within the rules. But nearly anything, even another amateur radio station, may be controlled by telecommand.

One of the most common telemetry activities in amateur radio today are APRS telemetry stations (often called "beacons", which is technically a misnomer, as they're not really beacons, but instead telemetry stations). APRS telemetry stations periodically transmit their location (and possibly other data, such as weather observations, environmental conditions, or anything else the station operator feels like reporting) via a packet data format which may then be received by an APRS digipeater and eventually captured by an APRS gateway and published on the Internet.

Space stations: it's all about altitude

T1A05: What is the FCC Part 97 definition of a space station?

1. Any multi-stage satellite
2. An Earth satellite that carries one of more amateur operators
3. An amateur station located less than 25 km above the Earth's surface
4. An amateur station located more than 50 km above the Earth's surface

The correct answer is D–An amateur station located more than 50 km above the Earth's surface.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(40))

Yet another question about radio regulatory jargon. The term "station" is, itself, specialized jargon in the radio services; despite the name, a "radio station" does not have to be stationary. A "space station" is, within the context of regulated radio (and thus amateur radio), simply a radio station in space. "Space" is defined as "anything more than 50 kilometers above the earth's surface".

The common notion of a space station typically requires that the station be manned; however, this thinking will again throw one off the radio definition. Space stations, in the radio sense, may be remotely operated or automatically controlled, just as any other station, and so a manned presence is not required. Nor is a space station required to be in earth orbit (although as far as I know there are presently no amateur space stations which are not in earth orbit). An especially high-flying balloon would count (although typically amateur radio ballooning activities tend to top out below the roughly 160,000 feet that defines "space"); so would a station on an object in solar orbit (such as, say, Mars) or even on a solar escape trajectory.

Amateur radio space stations have a lot of special rules that apply to them, but unless you plan on launching something into orbit you probably won't need to worry about them. The key to getting this question right on the exams is remembering two things: stations do not have to be manned, and anything over 50 kilometers is "space".

Harmful interference

T1A04: Which of the following meets the FCC definition of harmful interference?

1. Radio transmissions that annoy users of a repeater
2. Unwanted radio transmissions that cause costly harm to radio station apparatus
3. That which seriously degrades, obstructs, or repeatedly interrupts a radio communication service operating in accordance with the Radio Regulations
4. Static from lightning storms

The correct answer is C–That which seriously degrades, obstructs, or repeatedly interrupts a radio communication service operating in accordance with the Radio Regulations.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(23))

"Harmful interference" is another term from the jargon of radio regulation. Interference, broadly speaking, is anything that tends to disrupt communication, regardless of source. Not all interference is "harmful", though. Merely being "unwanted" or "annoying" is not enough to rise to the level of "harmful"; the disruption has to be significant or repeated, or must completely prevent all communication, before it rises to the level of harmful. Finally, "harmful interference" never originates from a natural source, so static from lightning storms, no matter how annoying or disruptive, doesn't count as harmful interference.

All radio licensees, including amateurs, are prohibited from causing harmful interference with any other station. Stations who are suffering from harmful interference are entitled to relief from that interference, which means that the station causing the harmful interference can be made to stop, by force if necessary, by the governing administration that has authority over that station.

Harmful interference doesn't have to be intentional, although it often is. Jamming (that is, transmitting on top of other transmissions in order to block them) is an especially pernicious form of harmful interference. But that's not the only form of harmful interference; far more common are things like spurious emissions caused by malfunctions or maladjusted transmitters, leakage from cable television systems, and unwanted noise from defective household electronics like computers or televisions. All of these, if severe enough, count as harmful interference that can result in enforcement actions from the FCC.

In practice the FCC's effort to abate harmful interference is proportional to what the licensee suffering the interference pays in licensing fees for their license; since amateurs pay nothing for their licenses the FCC doesn't work terribly hard to resolve interference complaints. Basically that means we have to investigate the circumstances ourselves and wrap the whole thing up nice and pretty so all they have to do is some quick work to verify the complaint before they'll act. Fortunately the ARRL is actually pretty good at this; one of the few things they do do well.

This particular question is one that was improved in this version of the question pool; in the 2006 question pool the question misstated the definition of "harmful interference", leading me to complain about it when I blogged about it about a year ago.

Part 97 of how many?

T1A03: Which part of the FCC rules contains the rules and regulations governing the Amateur Radio Service?

1. Part 73
2. Part 95
3. Part 90
4. Part 97

The correct answer is D–Part 97.

The FCC, as I mentioned in the previous post, regulates all nonfederal use of radio for communication in the United States. In the course of doing this it issues lots and lots of regulations. These are gathered together (along with selected regulations from certain other agencies) in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations. For bureaucratic reasons, the regulations are divided into numbered "parts"; the FCC is allotted parts 0 through 199. The first twenty parts (0-19) are for administrative and general rules that apply to the FCC and its licensees generally. The remaining parts, 20 through 101, are rules for different types of licensed radio uses, or "services", as they are known in radio regulatory jargon.

The four answers the NCVEC offers for this question are therefore all rules for specific radio services. Part 73 contains the rules for the broadcast media services, including AM and FM radio, television, and the international broadcast service (shortwave). Part 90 contains all the rules for what is known as the "private land mobile" service; this rather large division includes business radio and public safety radio (such as police and fire services). Part 95 covers the "personal radio" services such as CB and GMRS. And, finally, Part 97, the correct answer, covers the amateur radio service. It's generally a good idea for hams to have a copy (at least in electronic form) of Part 97 simply because the FCC expects us to be aware of the rules of the service.

The astute reader will already have noticed that when I quote the questions in these posts, there is often an "authority" section at the bottom of the question (although not in this post, because the NCVEC didn't provide an authority for this question). These are references, provided by the NCVEC, to the portion of the FCC regulations that the question under discussion is testing. These references are hotlinked to the Government Printing Office's Electronic Code of Federal Regulations Service, which is updated daily and is therefore the most up-to-date and official source for these documents (even more so than the FCC itself). There are other sources for Part 97 out there, but if you use a source other than the GPO, please ensure that the source you use is up-to-date; the FCC has amended Part 97 twice already this year alone.

What does the FCC have to do with amateur radio?

T1A02: What agency regulates and enforces the rules for the Amateur Radio Service in the United States?

1. FEMA
2. The ITU
3. The FCC
4. Homeland Security

The correct answer is C–The FCC.

(Authority: 97.1)

This is another question that's in the question pool to ensure that aspiring licensees are educated about something that is very important to know: that amateur radio, in the United States, at least, is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, and not by any other entity.

The FCC has been charged since its creation in 1934 with the regulation of all uses of radio frequency energy for communication within the terrority of the United States, its coastal waters, and ships at sea sailing under the flag of the United States, except for use by instrumentalities of the federal government itself (over which the FCC has no jurisdiction). Amateur radio falls within this scope, and so amateur radio is regulated by, and the rules for amateur radio written and enforced by, the FCC. 

Two of the other three entities listed are other federal agencies that have no authority over radio: FEMA and Homeland Security. Hams have no specific duties, functions, or responsibilities with respect to either FEMA or Homeland Security. The third entity offered as a distractor is the ITU, or International Telecommunication Union. The ITU, unlike the others, is not a federal agency; it is instead an agency of the United Nations, formed originally in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union in 1865 by a multilateral treaty amongst 20 nations. The United States is a charter member of the ITU and, as a member nation, agrees to abide by the regulations the ITU sets forth regarding radio. However, while the FCC will only rarely write regulations that are inconsistent with those issued by the ITU, it remains the case that it's the FCC regulations, and not the ITU regulations, that apply to amateur radio in the United States. Which is just as well, because the FCC regulations anyone can get for free from the US Government Printing Office, while the ITU regulations are not available without the payment of a fee to the ITU, or more accurately the ITU's publisher.

The FCC isn't the only entity that a ham has to care about. Hams must also follow FAA regulations (when erecting towers over a certain height, as set forth in Part 17). Hams must also be aware of and follow certain regulations of the National Technology and Information Agency (NTIA), issued as part of the latter's authority to coordinate the use of radio by the federal government. Several amateur bands are shared with federal users (including the military) and amateurs must be aware of the NTIA's regulation of those shared bands and observe any restrictions placed by NTIA in the use of those bands. Finally, while FCC regulation preempts state and local regulation of radio with respect to radio frequency interference and radio frequency exposure safety, state and local authorities may still enforce "reasonable" regulations on antenna structures for the purpose of electrical and mechanical safety and other "legitimate" purposes.

In practice, the FCC governs with a relatively light hand. Amateur radio is a tiny tiny piece of the FCC's pie. Amateur radio licensing generates very little revenue for the FCC (as the licenses are free), and they put relatively limited resources into the amateur radio area. In general the FCC expects us to take care of ourselves. This is a mixed blessing: on one hand it means that the FCC isn't something we generally have to deal with much; on the other hand, when there is a problem, getting the FCC to act on it can be difficult. It's not clear to me that a heavier hand would be better for amateur radio, though, and the other alternative (no amateur radio at all) is clearly worse.

Who Is Amateur Radio For?

This is the first post in what is likely to be a long series that discuss the material on the Amateur Radio licensing examinations. Each post will typically focus on one question from the question pools; there are thousands of these questions so this will probably go on for some time. Some of this material will likely be repetitive with prior posts in this blog, but I will try to make it interesting nonetheless.

T1A01: For whom is the Amateur Radio Service intended?

1. Persons who have messages to broadcast to the public
2. Persons who need communications for the activities of their immediate family members, relatives and friends
3. Persons who need two-way communications for personal reasons
4. Persons who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest

The correct answer is D–Persons who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.

(Authority: 97.3(a)(4))

This question's presence in the Technician pool acts to ensure that people who are setting out to become hams will understand both what amateur radio is and also what it is not. Amateur radio is not (as is widely believed, if you believe the random noise I hear on Twitter and Backtype) a means by which one can broadcast one's opinions to myriads of rapt listeners. Nor is it intended as a personal communication service (either with your friends and family, or as a general chat service); people looking to do that should consider whether one of the Personal Radio services, or even a cell phone, would better serve their needs. Amateur radio is intended to allow those who have an interest in radio for its own sake a means to explore and develop their interest. If you are hoping to accomplish something useful, and you're just considering using radio as a means to do that, amateur radio may not be what you're looking for. Especially if the thing you're hoping to accomplish involves making money for yourself or someone else: that's specifically prohibited.

As it happens, the foregoing notwithstanding, there's quite a lot of use of amateur frequencies for what amounts to the broadcasting of opinion (as anyone who has listened to 75 meter phone, or to far too many VHF repeaters, can attest), and it's certainly common to see amateur radio used for personal communication between family members, or for general chatting (the latter is often called "ragchewing"). It's just that these are not part of the principle purposes of the amateur radio service, and the FCC offers other services which are explicitly intended for these purposes.

Fundamentally, if you think the whole concept of flinging signals through the air and catching them halfway across the world (or just halfway down the street) is really awesome and want to play with this more, and are willing to take quite a bit of time to learn some pretty complicated stuff, then ham radio is for you. If you just want to talk to people halfway around the world (or, again, halfway down the street), well, may I suggest Twitter? It's a lot easier to get on Twitter than it is to get a ham radio license, after all, and you don't have to buy nearly as much equipment. Fundamentally, ham radio is a geek thing; if you don't have the knack, then it might well not be for you.

Electrocution may be hazardous to your health

The first group of new questions from the 2010 Technician pool I'm covering are from subelement T0, which covers safety issues.  The NCVEC has been increasing the amount of safety-related content on the tests in recent years, and the new pool contains 13 new questions in this subelement.  The first of these is T0A02: "How does current flowing through the body cause a health hazard?"  I would think that most people understand that being electrocuted is bad for them, and generally something to be avoided.  However, for whatever reason, the NCVEC has decided that it's at least somewhat important for new hams to be prepared to demonstrate that they understand just why electrocution is bad for you. 

There are three main ways that electric currents within the body are hazardous.  First, any current flowing through any medium which is not a perfect conductor (which is to say, anything whatsoever) generates heat (sometimes called Joule heating).  The body's internal resistance is modest, typically between 300 and 1000 ohms; however, the skin resistance can be much higher, in the 10,000 to 100,000 ohm range depending on conditions.  A current passing through the body will heat and eventually burn tissue, preferentially at points of higher resistance; this will lead initially to burns on the skin and then later (as the skin blisters and its resistance lowers), to burns deeper within the body.  Second, many functions of cells depend on electrical charges, and the moving about of charged ions, to accomplish the purpose of the cells; electrical currents passing through these cells will tend to disrupt these electrical functions.  At very low currents (1 milliamp or less) this manifests itself as a tingling sensation.  At higher currents it will manifest as pain.  Sufficiently high currents (50 to 70 milliamps) may cause the third major effect: involuntary muscle contractions.  At even higher currents, 500 milliamps or more, the muscle of the heart can be disrupted leading to heart fibrillation, cardiac arrest, and death.

This particular question appears in the pool with an "All of the above" option.  Any experienced test-taker knows that "all of the above" is often the correct answer to any question that has such an option, and this question is no exception to that rule.  In any case, what really matters is that hams must understand that electrical voltages, even relatively low ones, are potentially dangerous, and must take precautions to avoid finding out about these effects first-hand.

New Technician Pool, coming soon to a VE team near you

The NCVEC announced a new Technician pool back in February; it's now June and that new pool goes into effect July 1.  I've been blogging about the old Technician pool (an activity which, of late, I have been kinda lax at), and I've decided to abandon that effort in favor of blogging about the new pool, on the grounds that that might be more useful.

The new pool has 396 questions, 5 more than the old one; there are 67 questions carried across unchanged, 142 carried across with some changes (either minor or, in some cases, major), and 187 questions that are entirely new.  182 questions were dropped.  I would say that this new pool is somewhat harder than the old one; the new pool has significantly more electronics on it as well as content related to ionospheric propagation and SSB and CW operations (reflecting the fact that all Technicians now get limited HF privileges, not just those few who pass a code test).  There's even a few basic antenna theory questions.  Overall I think this is a better pool, in that it will force candidates to learn more of what they should know as beginning amateur radio operators.

Future posts will discuss specific topics that are new or newly handled on the new pool.

Station identification

Anyone who has listened to broadcast radio knows at least a little about station identification requirements; I certainly remember listening to the Indy 500 coverage back in my youth (I grew up in Indianapolis, so we were blacked out for TV coverage and could only listen to the race on the radio) and remember well the periodic interruption of the coverage with "We now pause 15 seconds for station identification" followed by WIBC's identification as the network flagship station.  The general rule is that radio stations must, from time to time, transmit identification so that listeners will know who is transmitting.  The main regulatory reason for this is so that a station that is suffering harmful interference from another station can, merely by listening long enough, identify who that station is and seek relief appropriately, or determine that they are not entitled to relief.  Amateur radio stations are no exception to this general rule, although the specific requirements are different than for the broadcast services.

The general rule for identification in the amateur radio service in the United States (§97.119) is that station identification is required at the end of a transmission or series of transmissions, and at least once every ten minutes during a transmission or series of transmissions which lasts longer than ten minutes.  Note that there is no requirement to identify at the start of a series of transmissions, and identification at the start of a series of transmissions is insufficient to meet the requirements of the rule.  In general, the best way to remain in compliance with the rules is to ensure that you always end out your transmission with your identification. 

In general, transmissions which do not include identification (known as "unidentified communications or signals") are prohibited, with two very specific exceptions.  First, stations operating more than 50 kilometers above the earth's surface ("space stations") are not required to identify under any circumstance.  Second, stations being used solely to control a model craft (via telecommand) are not required to identify provided that the transmitter being used has a label affixed to it identifying the licensee's call sign, name, and address, and that the transmitter's power does not exceed one watt.  Note that while telecommand signals sent to a space station are permitted to be encrypted, such transmissions are not exempt from identification.  The only type of transmission which is both exempt from identification and permitted to be encrypted is telecommand of a model craft under §97.218.

The identification itself must be a call sign.  In general, it'll be the call sign of the operator, but there are several situations in which it can be a different call sign.  In general, when operating someone else's station you are supposed to use their call sign, not your own call sign.  When operating a station owned by, or being operated on behalf of, a club, the operator should identify using the club's call sign.  Also, a station which is operating within the scope of a "special event" may identify using the temporarily assigned special event call sign in lieu of his or her own call sign.  In all of these cases, the operator must have the permission of the station owner, the club's trustee or the special event coordinator (respectively) in order to use the call sign.  Furthermore, when using a temporarily-issued special event call sign the operator must identify with his or her own call sign at least once in every hour; however, this is not required when using someone else's permanently-issued station or club call sign. 

The rules stipulate that station identifications must be transmitted in one of four formats: Morse code, phone (in English), RTTY, or a video format as specified in §73.682(a) (which is part of the FCC's standards for broadcast video); the latter two options apply only if the transmission being identified was in a digital mode or video mode, respectively.  In practice, very few stations transmitting digital modes other than RTTY identify in RTTY, identifying instead in the same mode as the transmission, and the FCC has yet to take action against any station for failing to identify, but that's what the rules require.  (The regulations relating to digital modes are rather out of date in places, and actual practice is often rather at odds with the regulations, but nobody seems to care a whole lot.)

There's a lot of common myths in the amateur community relating to identification.  A common one that is seen with older VHF ragchewers is the practice of identifying in a roundtable with "K9XYZ and the group, this is W9ZXY", and some hams seem to think that this practice is mandatory.  The regulations never mandate transmitting the call sign of any station other than that the station transmitting.  It is not necessary (in regulation, at least) to identify the intended recipient of the transmission.  This particular practice seems to have arisen from an overly zealous interpretation of the regulations relating to broadcasting; someone decided that all communications had to involve exactly two stations, and that identifying in this manner would somehow satisfy this regulation.  The only requirements for two (or more) stations who are communicating with one another is that each station must end its final transmission in the exchange with its own call sign, and each station must identify with its own call sign at least once every ten minutes during the sequence of communications.

There's a few situations in which one is required to add indicators either before or after one's call sign, when identifying.  If you're operating someone else's station and you are exceeding the privileges alloted to the licensee of that station, you are required to identify by using the station owner's call sign followed by your own call sign, to explain why that station is entitled to operate in those frequencies or modes.  There's also three special suffix indicators (/KT, /AG, and /AE) used to indicate that the station operator has recently upgraded and is using the privileges gained thereby pending the processing of the upgrade by the FCC.  These are pretty rare now, though, given the speed with which the FCC processes upgrades these days.  Also, when operating in the United States pursuant to a reciprocity grant, the alien operator is required to prefix his or her own (non-US) call sign with a call sign prefix identifying the location of the station.  Perversely, for Canadians this goes after, not before, the call sign.  (The same rule applies for a US licensee operating in another country, except, of course, in reverse.)  Licensees may add additional voluntary designations either before or after their call sign if they so choose, as long as such designations do not conflict with any of the official ones.  It's quite common to see "/R" added to repeater station identifications, for example, even though this is (no longer) required by the rules, and many older hams will reflexively add "mobile" to their identification when operating mobile because that used to be required.  The requirement of not conflicting with official designations effectively eliminates most voluntary prefix options because nearly every possible code is a valid national prefix and would therefore be in conflict.  (Out of 1296 possible two-character codes, 1034 are currently assigned.)  However, voluntary suffix options are pretty much wide open.

Speaking of myths regarding identification, the NCVEC perpetuates the myth that the "KT", "AG", and "AE" suffixes are initialisms in question T2B11, which tests whether you know that "AG" supposedly means "Authorized General".  The regulations do not specify the use of "Authorized General" when identifying in English when operating pursuant to a CSCE granting General privileges; they specify the specific use of the suffix "AG", which in phone would be "Alpha Golf".  The reason "KT" is used for Technicians instead of "AT" (which would make more sense) is because "AT" is not a call sign prefix available to the FCC (it's allocated to India) and the FCC, when it selected those suffixes, wished to avoid conflict with other possible uses.  "Authorized General" is essentially a backronym from the fundamentally meaningless code.  (T2B11 is another example of a bad question; fortunately, this one, like the other bad question I wrote about a while ago, appears to have been dropped from the 2010 version of the pool.)

This post has been brought to you by pool questions T2A05, T2B01, T2B02, T2B03, T2B04, T2B05, T2B06, T2B07, T2B08, T2B09, T2B10, and T2B11.  Section references above are to Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, browsable via the GPO Access eCFR service.

More things you can't do on amateur radio

I wrote a while back about some of the things you cannot do on amateur radio.  Here's some more of them.

First of all, amateurs are forbidden from broadcasting: that is, amateurs are prohibited from making transmissions of content transmitted with the intention that it be heard by the general public, either directly or indirectly.  That doesn't mean that hams aren't allowed to make one-way transmissions, it just means that an amateur may not use his or her amateur station, in general, to talk to people who aren't also amateurs.  It's important to understand that certain one-way transmissions such as a CQ call, QST bulletin, or telemetry transmission are not "broadcasts" because they are not intended to be heard by the general public, but instead by "all amateurs" or "amateurs with an interest in this communication".  The key to the definition of "broadcasting", which is entirely prohibited to the amateur service, is that the communications must be intended to be received by the general public.  Obviously this regulation is to prevent amateur stations (with their zero license fee) from competing with the broadcast service.  If your interest in radio is to be a talk radio star, then amateur radio might not be you, and you should consider looking elsewhere.

Similarly, the transmission of music is also prohibited (with one exception: music incidental to an authorized retransmission of communications from the Space Shuttle is permitted).  However, there is reportedly a ruling that one ham singing "Happy Birthday" on the air to another ham does not count as the "transmission of music", presumably because most hams seem to be unable to sing.  Again, this is a noncompete regulation; if you want to transmit music the FCC wants you to use the broadcast service or a low power service to accomplish your purpose, not amateur radio.  If your interest in radio is to be an on-air DJ, again, amateur radio might not be for you, and you should consider looking elsewhere.

The use of codes, ciphers, encryption, or any other method for concealing meaning is prohibited, with two exceptions that are very similar in nature.  A station may use encrypted transmissions for the telecommand of an amateur space station (that is, an amateur station more than 50 kilometers above the earth's service; typically, a satellite, either manned or unmanned), or for the remote control of a model craft (such as a model airplane, boat, or car).  In the satellite station case, the FCC mandates that all satellite stations be able to be "remote killed" from the ground, and in any case a malicious operator could easily pervert a satellite's operation by tweaking its control parameters to the point that it could not be recovered.  Given the high expense of putting satellites in orbit, and the extreme difficulty in servicing them once they're there, the FCC lets us protect those stations in this way.  The same permission is granted for remote control craft for much the same reason; also, telecommand stations for remote control of model craft are subject to power limitations (one watt) that make it unlikely that the remote control transmissions will create difficulties for other stations, and to physical identification requirements that will allow identification of the station operator in the unlikely event that there is unacceptable interference.

Amateurs may not send "false or deceptive signals".  This mainly means that amateurs may not use fictitious identification to try to appear to be someone they are not, or to try to get someone else in trouble.  It also means that, e.g., false calls of distress are bad (but we've already covered that). 

Amateurs may not use indecent or obscene language on the air.  This one is probably one of the most violated rules on the bands, sad to say: there's quite a lot of indecent and no small quantity of obscene language on the HF bands (75 meters is especially notorious for this) as well as on VHF and UHF repeaters in many areas.  What exactly is meant by "indecent" and "obscene" is complicated, and it's probably best to play on the safe side here, not so much for the sake of not violating the rules, but simply out of respect for not only your fellow amateurs (who may well be very much not like you) but also anyone else who might be listening in.  Remember that kids, and even entire classrooms, listen to this stuff sometimes, and your name and address are published by the FCC so (unless you've been making "false or deceptive signals") anyone who does hear you swearing on the air will be able to find out exactly where you live.  And that might prove to be embarrassing. 

This post has been brought to you by pool questions T2A01, T2A02, T2A03, T2A04, T2A06, T2A07, and T2A08.

The Responsibility of the Amateur Radio Operator

As the casual reader of this blog has no doubt noted, I have been blogging about the question pools used for the amateur radio examinations in the United States, focusing (so far) on the Technician exam.  The NCVEC just announced the 2010 edition of that pool, and I'm going to have to take a look at it soon and comment on it the way I did on the 2008 Extra pool when it was released.  However, I want to grouse about a particular question on the old pool first, and I'm going to continue to blog about the old pool for now because that's what people will be testing against until July, at least.

Question T1D08 asks: "What is your responsibility as a station licensee?" and gives (like all other questions on these tests) four choices.  Now, of course, amateurs have many responsibilities as station licensees, many (but not all) of which are set out explicitly in the various regulations in Part 97 and elsewhere in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.  Hams are, obviously, required to follow those regulations; this is so blindingly obvious that it almost should go without saying.  Which is, I suppose, why the correct answer to this question is "Your station must be operated in accordance with the FCC rules".  There is really no excuse for getting this one wrong.

It is worth noting, however, that the other three options for this question are not only wrong, but relatively obviously wrong.  "You must allow another amateur to operate your station upon request" is nearly the exact opposite of the real rule, which is that you are never required to let anyone use your station and are responsible for any transmissions by anyone you do let use it.  "You must be present whenever the station is operated" is simply not true; there are many situations in which you may be absent from the station or its control point while the station is being operate.  And the third, "You must notify the FCC if another amateur acts as the control operator", is dismissable on the grounds that the FCC is certainly not interested in getting constant such reports from amateurs.

I question the merit of questions like this one: they're so easy that anyone with even mediocre test-taking skills can get the answer without knowing anything more about amateur radio than the fact that it's regulated by the FCC.  One small bright spot on this: it appears that this question has been dropped from the 2010 pool, although I won't know that for sure until I do the full match-up and comparison.

This post has been brought to you by pool question T1D08.

Renewing your amateur radio license

So you've had your license now for ten whole years and it's about to expire.  Obviously, you're going to want to renew it.  The question is, how do you go about doing this?

Well, you have several choices.  You can fill out a paper FCC Form 605 and mail it to the FCC.  The problem with doing this is that this form is used by the FCC for about a half dozen different services; filling it out correctly is something of a challenge.  So don't do that unless you have no other choice.

Second, you can renew through a VEC.  The ARRL offers free renewals (except for vanity calls) through ARRL/VEC for its members, and will process renewals for nonmembers for a small fee. 

Third, and probably simplest, is to renew online through the FCC's website.  Every amateur licensee has been issued a CORES account by the FCC, and using this account information, can log into the FCC's site to manage his or her amateur license (as well as any other FCC licenses that he or she might have).  This includes renewals, modifications of the various details on the license such as address or even name, and applications for vanity call signs.  The only thing you cannot change via CORES is your license class; that can only be done via a VEC. 

If you're like most people, of course, you've not used CORES since you got your license ten years ago (or never, if you got your license before CORES came online in the early 2000s) and so you don't know your password.  Don't fret, the FCC will send you a password at your mailing address if you ask them to.  (Of course, this assumes you've kept your address current on your license, but you're required to do that anyway.)

The only time the FCC charges a fee to renew an amateur license is if that license was issued a vanity call sign.  In this case, to renew the license you must pay a new regulatory fee for a vanity license.  If you do not wish to do so, you can first file a modification asking the FCC to issue you a new sequentially-issued call sign, which will convert your license back to a standard amateur license, which you can then renew for free.

You can renew your license beginning 90 days prior to its expiration, and for up to two years after it has expired.  If you go beyond the two year grace period, you will have to retest, and you won't be able to get your call sign back, except by using the "former holder" provision of the vanity call sign program (for which you will have to pay a fee).

Remember also that the two year grace period is strictly a renewal-without-retest grace period.  If your license expires, you may not operate on the air until the FCC has received, processed, and granted the renewal of your license, as reflected by the FCC's ULS license database.

This post has been brought to you by pool questions T1D06, T1D07, and T1D11.

Who can be a ham?

There aren't a lot of restrictions on who's allowed to be a ham radio operator, at least in the United States.  There's four basic requirements that every person wishing to obtain an amateur radio license from the FCC must meet.  The applicant must not be a representative of a foreign government, must have a mailing address somewhere where the United States Postal Service delivers mail, must not be prohibited by from being licensed by the FCC or by court order, and must successfully pass the required examination (or examinations) for the grade of license sought.  What's more notable in this list of qualifications is what isn't required: more specifically, there's no minimum age and no citizenship or residency requirements.

There is no minimum age for licensees.  The youngest licensee that I've been able to find record of was five; his license was earned back in the days when we still had the Novice exam.  With the end of the Novice license, all new licensees must now pass the (somewhat harder) Technician test, which would be somewhat difficult for most five year olds, and the youngest Technician I've ever heard of was nine.  (Unfortunately, I can neither find, nor remember, any details about either of these two child prodigies.) 

Nor are licensees required to be either citizens or residents of the United States.  Resident aliens are just as entitled to have a US-issued amateur license as citizens are, and even nonresident aliens can obtain one if they have an address in the United States at which they can receive mail.  (A PO Box or mail drop, or the address of a friend or relative who is willing to forward your mail to you, is sufficient for this purpose.)  However, if you do not have a Social Security Number, you will need to obtain a Federal Registration Number (FRN), via the FCC's website, prior to taking the license examinations, or the VE team will not be able to process your application.  It's entirely possible to obtain an FCC license without ever setting foot in the United States, although I'm not clear on why one would want to do this.

The FCC does reserve the right to deny a license or license renewal, or to cancel a license, if the applicant or licensee "lacks the requisite character qualifications to be and remain a Commission licensee".  This is pretty rare, though, and requires pretty signficant misconduct.

As a side note, there is no prohibition on federal government employees being amateur radio licensees.  While no federal agency may obtain an FCC license (federal agencies are required to coordinate their radio activities through the NTIA instead of the FCC), in general nothing prohibits a federal employee from being an amateur radio operator on their own time.  Federal employees who may have a reason to use amateur radio frequencies in the course of their duties must be specially authorized to do so by the FCC or by other relevant authority.

This post has been brought to you by pool questions T1D02 and T1D03.  Section references above are to Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, browsable via the GPO Access eCFR service.

Operator licenses, station licenses, and licensing-by-rule

The astute reader will, by now, have noticed that most of the recent articles on this blog have been related to questions on the amateur radio licensing exams used in the United States.  This one is no different, but I'm going to get to where I'm going a bit circuitously.  Bear with me here, there really is a point to all this.

In the United States, federal law (47 USC §301, the Communications Act) requires that any person who use a device which emits electromagnetic energy for the purpose of communications must do so pursuant to a license issued for that purpose.  The FCC issues a large number of different licenses for various different uses; the different categories of license are grouped into what are called "services", which is a term that itself derives from the international Radio Regulations, which govern radio worldwide under the auspices of the ITU (which I've talked about earlier).  However, some of these services include things like the Citizen's Band service and the Family Radio Service, which are commonly spoken of as being "unlicensed".  How does this make sense, given that the Communications Act requires a license for everyone who uses a radio for communication?

Well, the FCC has a clever way around not bothering with issuing individual licenses to everyone with a CB radio (which they used to do) or FRS radio.  The FCC declares that anyone (other than an agent of a foreign government) who possesses (for example) a Citizen's Band radio manufactured in accordance with FCC regulations is, by virtue of possession of that radio, "licensed by rule" to use it for the purpose of communications in accordance with the relevant regulations (in this case, Part 95 Subpart D, §95.401 through 428).  As a result, persons licensed in services which are licensed-by-rule do not receive individually identified licenses.

Amateur radio, of course, is not a license-by-rule service; amateur radio licensees are individually licensed and do, in fact, receive individually identified operator licenses.  And that's how we come back to the exam questions that I'm writing about:  Question T1D01, on the Technician test, gives a list of radio services regulated by the FCC and asks which one is issued an "operator station license".  Two of the services listed are "license-by-rule" services: the Family Radio Service and the Citizen's Radio Service.  The third, the General Radiotelephone Service, does issue licenses (the General Radiotelephone Operator License, or GROL) to individually-identified persons, but this license does not entitle one to establish a station, only to operate, repair, maintain, or adjust stations already licensed in some other service; such licenses must be independently obtained and maintained.  A GROL, or any other license under the General Radiotelephone Service, is an operator license only.

The amateur radio service is unique in that the license grant is a dual grant, both of an operator license and a primary station license, which is what the NCVEC is, somewhat inaccurately, calling an "operator station license" (the actual language in §97.5 is "operator/primary station license grant" and the NCVEC really should, but for some inexplicable reason did not, use the same language in the question as in the regulation).  So this question, as inartfully worded as it is, is really testing on whether one understands the duality of the license grant in the amateur radio service, and (for that matter) if one recognizes that the amateur radio service is, in fact, called the "Amateur Radio Service".  Not the best question, I must admit.  I have to wonder if it'll be carried forward into the next version of the pool.

This post has been brought to you by pool question T1D01.  Section references above are to Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, browsable via the GPO Access eCFR service.

Keeping the "amateur" in amateur radio

I've talked quite a bit about what you can do on ham radio here.  This post will talk about the restrictions that prevent the  commercialization of amateur radio: things you cannot do on ham radio.

The first restriction I want to talk about is the prohibition on the use of ham radio "on a regular basis" for communications that "could reasonably be furnished alternatively through other radio services" (§97.113(a)(5)).  This is basically the "noncompete" rule: the amateur radio service is not permitted to compete with or displace commercial radio services (for which the FCC collects licensing fees, some of which are quite substantial).  In practice this rule is impossible to enforce, and would only be enforced in the most egregious of cases.  However, hams should consider whether any proposed long-term ongoing use of amateur radio frequencies might be better accomplished in one of the other radio services, especially when the intent of that ongoing use is not very much in keeping with the basic purposes of the amateur radio service.

A more significant set of restrictions are the prohibitions on the use of amateur radio to facilitate commercial gain.  There are basically two of these in the FCC rules.  First, no amateur station may transmit any communication in which either the station licensee or the control operator has a "pecuniary interest"; this includes transmissions made on behalf of an employer (whether or not specific compensation is received).  You may not operate a business (either your own or your employer's) via amateur radio, even if your business is related to amateur radio.  You're not allowed to use ham radio frequencies to communicate with or about other employees of the business, with or about customers or vendors of the business, or with or about potential customers or vendors.  The only exception to this rule is that you may use amateur radio to notify other amateurs of the availability of equipment for sale or trade (so-called "swap and shop" traffic), provided such communications are not conducted on a regular basis.  If you're working on your friend's radio for him and he has promised to pay you for your time and effort when it's ready, you may not call him on the local repeater to tell him it's ready, as that would be a communication in which you have a pecuniary interest.  But if you have a radio you're willing to trade or sell, you may use amateur radio to attempt to find someone willing to buy or trade for it, and consummate the transaction via amateur radio, provided you don't do this on a "regular basis".

Second, you cannot be paid to operate an amateur radio station (with two very limited exceptions which I won't cover here; they're found in §97.113 if you want to look).  This has created some controversy of late because many local and state governments, as well as private entities that provide emergency services such as hospitals, have encouraged their employees to have and use amateur radio equipment for emergency communication purposes.  The FCC recently issued a public notice clarifying this regulation: such employees may not use amateur radio while "on the clock" except in an actual emergency.  The FCC has provided a waiver process for agencies who wish to allow their employees to participate in drills involving the use of amateur radio frequencies to obtain a waiver of this rule for the purpose of that drill.  So far one such waiver has been applied for and approved, for a drill in Kentucky.  A question I don't have an answer for yet is whether the Illinois indemnity and loss compensation scheme for volunteers accepted into service to the state during a disaster constitutes "employment" for the purpose of this rule.

This post has been brought to you by pool questions T1C11, T2A09, T2A10, T2A11, T2D04, G1B09, E1F10 and E1F11.  Section references above are to Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, browsable via the GPO Access eCFR service.

Hamming internationally

Historically, one of the major appeals of ham radio was the opportunity to use amateur radio to talk to people in far-off lands.  While the Internet and cheap international long distance has cut into this somewhat, it's still a significant draw of the amateur service, and in fact building international goodwill is an explicit purpose of the amateur radio service (§97.1).  Radio signals have a nasty habit of not respecting national boundaries, and as all of the HF bands have at least long-range if not world-wide propagation at least some of the time, it's very likely that any ham with HF privileges will at some time be involved in a conversation with someone in another country; even someone without HF privileges has a decent chance of it.  The availability of direct, personal international communications via ham radio has been quite controversial historically, and some of the special rules that apply to international communications can be clearly tied to the geopolitical history of the 20th century.

The general rule for international communications for amateur radio operators is that they are allowed.  However, if the national communications authority of either country involved has notified the ITU that it objects to international amateur radio communications, then the communication is prohibited.  The United States does not currently ban any countries, and at the present time there are, in fact, no banned countries.

In addition, all international communications must be "limited to communications incidental to the purposes of the amateur service and to remarks of a personal character" (§97.117).  This is much more restrictive than the rules for domestic amateur radio communications.  The main purpose of these restrictions is to prohibit communications of a political nature, and it is, in fact, a very bad idea in many countries.  Communications of a political nature are permitted in the US (although many of us believe they should be discouraged), but they are, in fact, forbidden across national boundaries and hams would be well advised to avoid them. 

In addition, when operating internationally there are limits on your authority to forward messages on behalf of others (so-called "third party communications").  Third party communications (messages forwarded for people who are not themselves amateur radio operators) are limited to the same terms mentioned above regarding content.  In addition, the general rule for third party communications is that they are prohibited except when specifically authorized, except for emergency and disaster relief communications.  So, while amateurs have the presumptive right to chat with one another, they do not have a presumptive right to pass messages for third parties.  Passing messages for third parties requires that a "third party message agreement" be in effect between the countries involved.  The United States presently has such agreements with about four dozen countries; the current list can be found on the FCC's website.  It should be noted that virtually none of Europe is on this list: third party traffic to European stations is generally prohibited.  This rule also applies to the situation where a nonlicensed person participates in the sending of a message (usually, by allowing someone other than a licensed amateur talk into the microphone).  In other words, if you're in the US talking to a ham in Germany, you may not put your kid on the radio unless your kid is also a licensed ham (the third party rule does not apply if the third party is eligible to be the control operator of the transmitting station).

Another small note: when operating internationally (or domestically, for that matter) it's perfectly acceptable to carry out the conversation in a language other than English.  However, you are required to identify in English, even if the conversation is progressing in some other language.  The internationally-standardized NATO phonetic alphabet, which is encouraged in the amateur service anyway, counts as "English" for the purpose of this rule (which is, for the record, §97.119(b)(2)).

This post has been brought to you by pool questions T1C10, T2B07, T2D05, G1E05, G1E07, G1E08, G1E09, G1E10, and E1F16.  Section references above are to Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, browsable via the GPO Access eCFR service.