Everything an American amateur may and may not do on the air is written in 47 CFR Part 97. The official, continuously updated text lives on the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:
- Part 97 in full — eCFR,
- Title 47 (Telecommunication) — the wider FCC rulebook
- Part 97 as an annual PDF — govinfo, if you want a
current as of today's date
Part 97 sits in
fixed, citable snapshot
Our own rules section explains the day-to-day parts in plain English. The links below go to the FCC's actual words, which always govern.
Subpart A — General provisions (§§ 97.1–97.23)
Subpart A covers why the service exists, who may hold a licence, and the paperwork behind it.
- § 97.1 Basis and purpose
- § 97.3 Definitions
- § 97.5 Station licence required
- § 97.7 Control operator required
- § 97.13 Restrictions on station location
- § 97.15 Station antenna structures
- § 97.23 Mailing address
— the meaning of terms like control operator, repeater and space station
— including the RF exposure evaluation requirement
— keeping your address current is a licence condition
Subpart B — Station operation standards (§§ 97.101–97.121)
Subpart B is the one you operate under every time you key up.
- § 97.101 General standards
- § 97.103 Station licensee responsibilities
- § 97.105 Control operator duties
- § 97.109 Station control
- § 97.111 Authorized transmissions
- § 97.113 Prohibited transmissions
- § 97.115 Third party communications
- § 97.119 Station identification
- § 97.121 Restricted operation
— good amateur practice, and no wilful interference
— business traffic, broadcasting, music, obscenity, obscured codes
— the ten-minute rule and self-assigned indicators
Subpart C — Special operations (§§ 97.201–97.221)
Subpart C governs stations that transmit without an operator sitting in front of them.
- § 97.203 Beacon station
- § 97.205 Repeater station
- § 97.207 Space station
- § 97.215 Telecommand of model craft
- § 97.219 Message forwarding system
- § 97.221 Automatically controlled digital station
Subpart D — Technical standards (§§ 97.301–97.317)
Subpart D is where the band edges and power limits are actually written down — the source behind every band chart, including our band plans page.
- § 97.301 Authorized frequency bands
- § 97.303 Frequency sharing requirements
- § 97.305 Authorized emission types
- § 97.307 Emission standards
- § 97.309 RTTY and data emission codes
- § 97.313 Transmitter power standards
— 1,500 W PEP maximum, and the minimum-necessary-power rule
Subpart E — Providing emergency communications (§§ 97.401–97.407)
Subpart E is short and worth reading before you serve on a net. See also our emergency communications pages.
- § 97.401 Operation during a disaster
- § 97.403 Safety of life and protection of property
- § 97.405 Station in distress
- § 97.407 Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES)
Subpart F — Qualifying examination systems (§§ 97.501–97.527)
Subpart F sets out the exam elements, the volunteer examiner system and the question pools — the machinery behind getting licensed.
- § 97.501 Qualifying for an amateur operator licence
- § 97.503 Element standards
- § 97.509 Administering VE requirements
- § 97.523 Question pools
Related FCC resources
- FCC Amateur Radio Service — licensing overview and
- Universal Licensing System (ULS) —
- CORES — FRN registration and fee payment
- FCC Enforcement Bureau — advisories and enforcement actions
bulletins
look up or manage a licence
Nothing on this page is legal advice. Where our summary and the FCC's text disagree, the FCC's text is the rule.