General/Chapter 3 Study Guide

Chapter 3: Rules and Regulations

Section 3.1: Regulatory Bodies

• Operation on 7.175 - 7.3 MHz allowed in Region 2
• max height of antenna structure without FAA/FCC notification is 200 feet
• amateur auxiliary are volunteers enlisted to monitor airwaves for rule violations
• amateur auxiliary is to encourage self-regulation and rule compliance
• hidden foxhunts help with direction finding to locate rule violators

Section 3.2: Amateur Licensing Rules

• Any person who once held expired General, Advanced, or Extra license not revoked may receive credit for elements
  • must pass Element 2
• Accredited General class VE may administer Tech class exam only
• If you are Tech class operator and have CSCE for General privileges, you may operate on any Tech or General band segment
• To administer Tech class license exam, at least 3 General class VEs must be observing
• To adminsiter a Tech license exam, you must be General or higher and be VEC accredited
• Add identifier AG if you have CSCE for General and if you are on General frequencies
• VEs are accredited by a VEC
• To be a VE, all you need is an FCC General license
• A CSCE certificate of succ. completion of exam is valid ovfor 365 days
• Minimum atge to be VE: 18 y/o
• If applicant has expired license of General or higher, must pass Element 2 exam
• If using non-English, must identify your station in English

Section 3.3: Control Operator Privileges

• General class has all amateur privileges on 160, 60, 30, 17, 12, 10 m
• Phone is prohibited on 30 m
• Images are prohibited on 30 m
• 5 channel: 60 m
• General class 40 m band: 7.0-7.3 MHz (7.250 MHz in band)
• General class 75 m band: 3.5-3.6, 3.8-4.0 MHz (3.900 MHz in band)
• General class 20 m phone band: 14.225-14.350 phone (14305 kHZ in band)
• General class 80 m band: 3.5-3.6, 3.8-4.0 MHz (3560 kHz in band)
• General class 15 m band: 21.0-21.4 MHz (21300 kHz in band)
• Frequencies open to General on 10 m: 28.0-29.7 MHz (28.020, 28.350, 28.550 all ok)
• If general class not permitted to use entire voice portion, typically allowed at UPPER FREQUENCY end
• If FCC designates Amateur Service as secondary, amateur stations only allowed to use band if they do not cause harmful interference
• On 60 m or 30 m, if primary station interferes with your signal, move or stop transmitting
• Beacon rules: one beacon per band per location, 100 W PEP max
• Beacon purpose: observation of propagation/reception
• Music may be transmitted if part of manned spacecraft retransmission
• Amateur stations can TX secret codes to control a space station
• Prosigns may be used if they can't obscure meaning
• Amateur station may transmit communications in which they have monetary interest if:
  • other hams notified
  • ham gear
  • not regular
• Power limit for beacon stations is 100 W PEP
• Third party messages not allowed if 3rd part y has a revoked license
• a 10 m repeater may retransmit a 2m signal from a Tech class station if repeater operated by Generla class license
• Amateurs must take steps to avoid harmful interference. All:
  • When operating within 1 mi of FCC monitoring station
  • When secondary user on band
  • When transmitting spread spectrum emissions
• Third party foreign message passing allowed/transmitted only if personal, or if emergency or disaster relief
• If interference between coordinated and uncoordinated repeater, up to uncoordinated repeater to resolve
• Foreign 3rd party traffic is prohibited except if 3rd party agreement in place or in emergencies/disaster
• For a non-licensed person to communicate with foreign station, from FCC-licensed station and operator of General+, third party agreement must be in place
• Contact with any foreign amateur station allowed except if ITU notified object to communication
• When operating on 60 m, if you are using non-dipole antenna, must keep record of your antenna gain

Section 3.4: Technical Rules and Standards

• If not covered by part 97 of rules, operate in conformance with good engineering and good amateur practice
• The fcc determines good amateur/engr practice
• Max transmit power on 14 MHz (20 m) is 1500 W PEP
• Max transmit power on 24 MHz (12 m) is 1500 W PEP
• Max transmit power on 10.140 MHz (30 m) is 200 W PEP
• Max transmit power on 28 MHz (10 m) is 1500 W PEP
• Max transmit power on 1.8 MHz (160 m) is 1500 W PEP
• Max bandwidth on 60 m is 2.8 kHz
• On every ham band, only the minimum power necessary should be used
• Maximum symbol rate permitted for RTTY on 20 m is 300 baud
• Maximum symbol rate permitted for RTTY/data below 28 MHz is 300 baud
• Max symbol rate for RTTY/data on 1.25 m and 70 cm bands is 56 kilobaud
• Max symbol rate for RTTY/data on 10 m is 1200 baud
• Max symbol rate permitted for RTTY data on 2 m is 19.6 kilobaud