FCC Part 97 : Sec. 97.205 Repeater Station

Post date: Jul 26, 2017 7:52:39 PM

US repeater coordination

Repeater coordination is not required by the Federal Communications Commission, nor does the FCC regulate, certify or otherwise regulate frequency coordination for the Amateur Radio Bands.

Amateur Radio Repeater Coordinators or coordination groups are all volunteers and have no legal authority to assume jurisdictional or regional control in any area where the Federal Communications Commission regulates the Amateur Radio Service. The United States Code of Federal Regulations Title 47 CFR, Part 97, which are the laws in which the Amateur Radio Service is regulated clearly states the definition of Frequency Coordinator.

The purpose of coordinating a repeater or frequency is reduce harmful interference to other fixed operations. Coordinating a repeater or frequency with other fixed operations demonstrates good engineering and amateur practice.

Amateur Radio Repeater PART 97—AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE

Part 97 : Sec. 97.205 Repeater station

(a) Any amateur station licensed to a holder of a Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operator license may be a repeater. A holder of a Technician, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operator license may be the control operator of a repeater, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held.

(b) A repeater may receive and retransmit only on the 10 m and shorter wavelength frequency bands except the 28.0–29.5 MHz, 50.0–51.0 MHz, 144.0–144.5 MHz, 145.5–146.0 MHz, 222.00–222.15 MHz, 431.0–433.0 Mhz, and 435.0–438.0 Mhz segments.

(c) Where the transmissions of a repeater cause harmful interference to another repeater, the two station licensees are equally and fully responsible for resolving the interference unless the operation of one station is recommended by a frequency coordinator and the operation of the other station is not. In that case, the licensee of the non-coordinated repeater has primary responsibility to resolve the interference.

(d) A repeater may be automatically controlled.

(e) Ancillary functions of a repeater that are available to users on the input channel are not considered remotely controlled functions of the station. Limiting the use of a repeater to only certain user stations is permissible.

(f) [Reserved]

(g) The control operator of a repeater that retransmits inadvertently communications that violate the rules in this part is not accountable for the violative communications.

(h) The provisions of this paragraph do not apply to repeaters that transmit on the 1.2 cm or shorter wavelength bands. Before establishing a repeater within 16 km (10 miles) of the Arecibo Observatory or before changing the transmitting frequency, transmitter power, antenna height or directivity of an existing repeater, the station licensee must give written notification thereof to the Interference Office, Arecibo Observatory, HC3 Box 53995, Arecibo, Puerto Rico 00612, in writing or electronically, of the technical parameters of the proposal. Licensees who choose to transmit information electronically should e-mail to: prcz@naic.edu.

(1) The notification shall state the geographical coordinates of the antenna (NAD–83 datum), antenna height above mean sea level (AMSL), antenna center of radiation above ground level (AGL), antenna directivity and gain, proposed frequency and FCC Rule Part, type of emission, effective radiated power, and whether the proposed use is itinerant. Licensees may wish to consult interference guidelines provided by Cornell University.

(2) If an objection to the proposed operation is received by the FCC from the Arecibo Observatory, Arecibo, Puerto Rico, within 20 days from the date of notification, the FCC will consider all aspects of the problem and take whatever action is deemed appropriate. The licensee will be required to make reasonable efforts in order to resolve or mitigate any potential interference problem with the Arecibo Observatory.

[54 FR 25857, June 20, 1989, as amended at 55 FR 4613, Feb. 9, 1990; 56 FR 32517, July 17, 1991; 58 FR 64385, Dec. 7, 1993; 59 FR 18975, Apr. 21, 1994; 62 FR 55536, Oct. 27, 1997; 63 FR 41205, Aug. 3, 1998; 63 FR 68980, Dec. 14, 1998; 69 FR 24997, May 5, 2004; 70 FR 31374, June 1, 2005]

Amendment of Part 97 of the Commission's Amateur Radio Service Rules to Permit Greater Flexibility in Data Communications

"The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes. Every licensed amateur, regardless of membership in ARRL or any other local or national organization, is eligible for membership in ARES. The only qualification, other than possession of an Amateur Radio license, is a sincere desire to serve. Because ARES is an amateur service, only amateurs are eligible for membership. The possession of emergency-powered equipment is desirable, but is not a requirement for membership."