T1 · Published 18 September 2026 · By The Ham Desk

Part 97 Essentials: Identification, Control and Prohibited Traffic

Amateur radio is a licensed service with a short list of duties that come with the privilege. This unit covers the rules you will exercise on every contact: who is responsible, when your call sign must go out, what you may not transmit, and what changes when an emergency starts.

Band none
Study time 13
Level Recall
questions 10

Waveform and antenna diagram for FCC Rules for Technicians — FCC Rules for Technicians — waveform overlay and radiation pattern

Pre-flight briefing

Two licences, two roles

A station licence authorises the equipment and an operator licence authorises the person. Whenever a station transmits there must be a control operator - a licensed amateur with privileges on that frequency - who is responsible for what goes out. That operator may be physically at the radio or connected by a control link, and in an emergency any person may use your station as long as you, the control operator, are present and can stop the transmission.

Operator and station licences are valid for ten years and can be renewed. Calls are identified by transmitting the station call sign in Morse at 20 words per minute or less, or by voice, at the end of a communication and at least every ten minutes during it.

The short list of things you may not do

Section 97.113 forbids communications for hire, transmissions in which you have a pecuniary interest (with narrow exceptions such as emergencies and equipment sales between amateurs), broadcasting intended for the general public, music, obscene or indecent language, false distress signals and encrypted messages intended to obscure their meaning. Interference is dealt with separately: you must not wilfully or maliciously interfere with another station, and if you cause harmful interference you are expected to eliminate it, which usually means reducing power, changing frequency or improving filtering.

Emergencies change the arithmetic

Section 97.403 allows a station to transmit on any frequency, and in any manner, when necessary to protect life or property. That is a real and deliberately broad exception, but it is emergency authority and not a convenience: once the emergency is over the ordinary privileges apply again. Routine emergency practice normally runs through ARES or RACES nets, which is why equipment and skills rehearsed in peacetime are what you fall back on under pressure.

Terms you must be able to define
Term	What the examiner wants to hear
Control operator	The licensed amateur responsible for the transmissions of a station at any given moment.
Third-party traffic	A message passed by you on behalf of someone who is not a licensed amateur; restrictions depend on the other country.
97.403	The emergency provision allowing any means necessary to protect life or property.
PEP	Peak envelope power, the power limit that the amateur service is measured by: 1500 W at the transmitter output.

Question deck 10 questions

T7A01 Recall

How often must you transmit your station call sign during a contact?

T7A02 Recall

How long is an amateur station or operator licence valid?

T7A03 Recall

What is the maximum transmitter output power permitted in the amateur service?

T7A04 Core

Which of the following transmissions is prohibited by the FCC rules?

T7A05 Core

Who is responsible for the transmissions from an amateur station?

T7A06 Core

What does Section 97.403 permit during an emergency?

T7A07 Core

Under what condition may you pass a message from an unlicensed third party to a station in another country?

T7A08 Core

Are amateur stations required by the FCC to keep a station log?

T7A09 Stretch

You discover that your transmissions are causing harmful interference to a neighbour's television. What should you do first?

T7A10 Stretch

Which statement about using encrypted transmissions on the amateur bands is correct?

Reference sheet

The explanations for all ten questions sit on this sheet. Pick an answer on the left and the matching card lights up.

T7A01 Explanation 1

Key D — At the end of the contact and at least every ten minutes during it

Section 97.119 requires identification at the end of a communication and at least every ten minutes during it. Three-way conversations must also identify when the transmitting station changes.

Rule 47 CFR §97.119(a) - station identification

T7A02 Explanation 2

Key C — Ten years

Licences are issued for a ten year term. Renewal is handled through the FCC's Universal Licensing System, and the FCC accepts late renewals for a limited grace period after expiration.

Rule 47 CFR §97.25 - licence term

T7A03 Explanation 3

Key B — 1500 watts PEP

1500 W peak envelope power at the transmitter output is the ceiling, and it applies across the service. Individual band segments and licence classes can restrict you further, and lower power is always the better answer when interference appears.

Rule 47 CFR §97.313(a) - transmitter power standards

T7A04 Explanation 4

Key A — Music transmitted for entertainment

Music is prohibited except in very narrow circumstances such as incidental background or an authorised special event. Weather traffic on a net, Morse identification and dummy load tests are all permitted and normal.

Rule 47 CFR §97.113(a)(4) - prohibited transmissions

T7A05 Explanation 5

Key D — The control operator at the control point

The control operator is responsible for the transmissions while acting in that role, and the station licensee is normally presumed to be the control operator unless another licensed amateur is designated. Both obligations are real; neither replaces the other.

Rule 47 CFR §97.103 - station licensee and control operator duties

T7A06 Explanation 6

Key C — Transmitting on any frequency, in any manner, as necessary to protect life or property

97.403 provides the emergency exception covering frequency and manner of transmission to protect life or property. It does not lift the power ceiling or the identification requirement, and it does not turn the station into a commercial service.

Rule 47 CFR §97.403 - emergency communications

T7A07 Explanation 7

Key B — Only where the United States has a third-party traffic agreement with that country

Third-party traffic with foreign stations requires an agreement between the two administrations. Third-party messages within the United States involving only licensed amateurs are not restricted in the same way.

Rule 47 CFR §97.115 - third-party communications

T7A08 Explanation 8

Key A — No, but many operators keep one voluntarily for awards and interference cases

There is no general logging requirement, though a log is useful evidence in an interference investigation and is required for certain awards. Be careful not to confuse the amateur service with broadcast or marine services, where logs are mandatory.

Rule 47 CFR §97.103(b) - records available for inspection

T7A09 Explanation 9

Key D — Reduce power, change frequency or improve filtering until the interference stops, and keep the station technically clean

Amateurs may not cause harmful interference and must take reasonable steps to eliminate it - reduced power, a different frequency, better filtering or a different antenna. Interference to consumer equipment is often a receiver front-end overload problem, but the obligation to stop causing it sits with the amateur station.

Rule 47 CFR §97.101(d) and §97.121 - interference

T7A10 Explanation 10

Key D — Messages must not be encrypted for the purpose of obscuring their meaning

The prohibition targets obscuring meaning. Control links, telecommand and certain satellite or space station communications are handled separately, and techniques that merely compress or encode a signal in a publicly documented way are not the same as hiding its content.

Rule 47 CFR §97.113(a)(4) - obscured meaning

How to use this unit

Work the ten questions in one sitting with the reference sheet covered, then uncover it and read every explanation - including the ones you got right. The wording of the real exam is different, so learn the reasoning rather than the answer letters.