T2 · Published 2 November 2026 · By The Ham Desk

Licence, Control Operator and What You May Not Transmit

Part 97 answers a small number of questions that come up constantly: who is responsible when something goes wrong, how long your licence lasts, what a Technician may do with somebody else's conversation, and which transmissions are prohibited outright.

Band 10 m
Study time 16
Level Core
questions 10

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

Pre-flight briefing

Responsibility sits with a person, not a radio

Every amateur station has a control operator: the licensed person designated to be responsible for the station's transmissions. If you own the radio but someone else is operating it, that person is the control operator and is responsible for what goes out; if the station transmits automatically, the licensee or the designated control operator is still answerable for it.

The class of licence matters because the control operator's privileges set the limits for the whole station. A Technician class control operator running a General class friend's transceiver is limited to Technician privileges - the station is only as privileged as the person responsible for it at that moment.

Licences are issued for a ten-year term, renewable, and the FCC maintains the database that makes your privileges official. Operating after expiry, or outside your class privileges, is unauthorised operation and carries penalties that range from a warning to a monetary forfeiture and licence revocation.

Prohibited transmissions

Section 97.113 is the list of what the amateur service exists not to do. Communications for hire or for material compensation are prohibited, as are communications in which the control operator has a pecuniary interest - the rule that keeps amateur radio from being used as free business radio. Broadcasting to the general public, communications with a station in another country that is not authorised to talk to US amateurs, and messages in code or cipher intended to obscure their meaning are all prohibited as well.

Two provisions surprise newcomers. Music is prohibited except as part of an authorised rebroadcast or an incidental background, and 'obscene or indecent words' are prohibited outright. Both fall under the general obligation in section 97.101(d) not to interfere with or impair the operation of other stations, but they are also explicit prohibitions in their own right.

Encryption is prohibited, which does not mean digital modes are: any code whose technical characteristics are published, such as RTTY, PSK31, FT8 or packet, may be used, and identification may be transmitted in that same code as long as the code is publicly documented.

Third-party traffic and emergencies

Third-party traffic is a message passed by or on behalf of someone who is not a licensed amateur. In the United States it is permitted with another country only when that country has an appropriate third-party agreement with the US, because the practice is regulated by treaty rather than by FCC rule alone. Within the US and its territories, third-party messages are ordinary business - but the prohibition on business communications still applies, so a message that would be commercial is not allowed merely because a third party is involved.

In an emergency, the rules step out of the way. Section 97.403 permits any means of radiocommunication available to a station to be used to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life, and section 97.405 allows a station in distress to use any means at its disposal to attract attention, including transmitting on frequencies outside its privileges. The obligation on everyone else is to listen, not to transmit.

Terms you must be able to define
Term	What the examiner wants to hear
Control operator	The licensed person responsible for a station's transmissions at a given time.
Third-party traffic	A message passed by or on behalf of an unlicensed person.
Pecuniary interest	A financial stake in a communication, which disqualifies it from the amateur service.
Broadcasting	Transmissions intended for the general public, prohibited in the amateur service.
§97.405	The distress provision allowing any means available to attract attention.

Question deck 10 questions

T7B01 Recall

Who is responsible for the proper operation of an amateur station?

T7B02 Recall

How long is a US amateur radio licence normally valid?

T7B03 Core

What is third-party traffic in the amateur service?

T7B04 Core

Which of these communications is prohibited in the amateur service?

T7B05 Core

A Technician class licence holder is the control operator of a station. What privileges may the station use?

T7B06 Core

Which frequency segments may a Technician class operator use on the 10 metre band?

T7B07 Core

You are talking to a station that begins operating outside its privileges. What is your position?

T7B08 Stretch

What is a beacon in the amateur service?

T7B09 Stretch

Under what circumstances may a station transmit outside the frequency privileges of its licence class?

T7B10 Stretch

Why must an amateur station's identification not be encrypted, and what does that mean for digital modes?

Reference sheet

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

T7B01 Explanation 1

Key C — The control operator designated for the station at that time

Responsibility follows the control operator, who may be the licensee or another licensed person the licensee has designated. That is why a Technician class operator using a General class station is bound by Technician privileges.

Rule 47 CFR §97.103(a) - station licensee responsibilities

T7B02 Explanation 2

Key B — Ten years

Amateur licences are issued for a ten-year term and must be renewed to stay valid. Operating after a licence expires is treated as operating without authorisation, however long you have held the call sign.

Rule 47 CFR §97.25 - licence term

T7B03 Explanation 3

Key A — A message passed by or on behalf of a person who is not a licensed amateur

Third-party traffic is any message in which the person originating or receiving it is not an amateur. Within the US it is routine, but between the US and another country it requires a third-party agreement between the two governments.

Rule 47 CFR §97.115 - third-party communications

T7B04 Explanation 4

Key D — Communications for hire or for material compensation

Section 97.113(a)(2) prohibits communications for hire or material compensation, and 97.113(a)(3) prohibits communications in which the control operator has a pecuniary interest. Tests, weather reports and normal international contacts are all permitted.

Rule 47 CFR §97.113(a) - prohibited communications

T7B05 Explanation 5

Key C — Technician class privileges only

The control operator's licence class sets the station's privileges. A Technician at the controls of a station capable of General class operation must stay inside the Technician sub-bands, because the station's permissible emissions follow the responsible person.

Rule 47 CFR §97.103(b) and §97.301 - operator privileges

T7B06 Explanation 6

Key B — 28.0 to 28.5 MHz, with CW and data in the lower part and phone from 28.3 to 28.5 MHz

Technicians have 28.0 to 28.5 MHz: CW and data from 28.0 to 28.3, and phone from 28.3 to 28.5. The rest of 10 metres from 28.5 to 29.7 MHz belongs to higher classes, which is a common source of accidental out-of-band operation on a band the Technician can otherwise use.

Rule 47 CFR §97.301(e) - Technician class privileges

T7B07 Explanation 7

Key A — You are responsible only for your own transmissions, and participation in the contact does not make you liable for theirs

Each station is responsible for its own transmissions, so a violation by the other operator is theirs to answer for. It is still good practice to mention it - many violations are accidental - but there is no duty to keep the contact going or to report it.

Rule 47 CFR §97.101(d) and §97.103 - individual responsibility

T7B08 Explanation 8

Key D — An automated station that transmits one-way signals for the purpose of observation

Beacons transmit one-way for propagation study, usually on a fixed frequency and schedule, and they are how an operator knows whether a band is open to a particular part of the world. Because they transmit without a control operator present, they operate under automatic control with specific rules.

Rule 47 CFR §97.203 - beacon stations

T7B09 Explanation 9

Key C — When it is handling an emergency involving the immediate safety of human life

Sections 97.403 and 97.405 allow any means available, including emissions outside the normal sub-bands, when human life is immediately at stake. The exception is narrow by design: it covers genuine emergencies, not convenience, and the ordinary limits resume as soon as the situation is resolved.

Rule 47 CFR §97.403 and §97.405 - emergency operation

T7B10 Explanation 10

Key C — Identification must be intelligible or in a publicly documented code, so standard published digital modes may carry it

Section 97.119(b) allows identification in any code whose technical characteristics are published - which is exactly why RTTY, PSK31, FT8 and packet are legal and why encrypted or unpublished schemes are not. The point is that anyone listening must be able to determine who is transmitting.

Rule 47 CFR §97.119(b)(3) and §97.309 - identification and digital codes

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.