Be Informed
No. 45
REMOTE BASE,
REPEATER AND OTHER SYSTEMS
John
B. Johnston W3BE
Q. Is it permissible to have a remote base with an output on
HF?
A. Possibly. Part 97 doesn’t even use the term “remote base.” So, the
answer to your question depends upon just what it is that you mean by that particular expression. See BE Informed No. 31 HAMSLANGUAGE for one general definition that might be appropriate. Should you have in mind an HF station separated some distance from its control point
such that it cannot function by local control, note that Section 97.109 says that any station may be remotely controlled. There are special
accommodations for such “telecommand” of an amateur station in Section 97.213. Paragraph (a) requires there to be a wire-line or radio control
link between the control point and the station sufficient for the station control operator (“SCO”) to perform
his/her duties. A wire-line control link, for instance,
could consist of a cable strung between the control point and the remotely controlled HF station (“uplink”).
It would carry the SCO’s instructions to initiate, modify, or terminate functions and communications one-way
to the remote HF station such that it would implement those instructions and transmit the communications. Another
section of the cable could also carry all communications received off-the-air at the remote HF station one-way back to the
SCO (“downlink”). It could also carry back telemetry consisting of measurements taken at the
HF station of the condition of its apparatus.
In a system such as yours, therefore,
the SCO has the ability to perform his/her duties just as well as if the HF station and its control point were co-located
such that local control was employed. Section 97.213, moreover, says that a fiber optic cable or another telecommunication service
is considered wire-line. This would include, of course, a public or private telephone service and the ubiquitous
Internet.
On the other hand, if you mean by the term “remote base” some
sort of system whereby the HF station simultaneously retransmits the transmissions of another amateur station on a different
channel or channels, you have yourself a repeater. See the definition in Section 97.3(a)(39). The special accommodations for repeaters are in Section 97.205. Note that paragraph (b) authorizes a repeater to receive and retransmit
HF only in the 10 meter band, except for 28.0-29.5 MHZ.
As Bill Cross observed at a Dayton Hamvention Forum: If it looks like a
duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.
Q. What is telemetry?
A. Section 97.3(a)(45) defines telemetry as a one-way transmission of measurements at
a distance from the measuring instrument.
Q. What if radio is used
for the control link?
A. Section 97.213(a) says that if radio, the control link must use an auxiliary station.
An auxiliary station is defined in Section 97.3(a)(7) as an amateur station, other than in a message forwarding system, that is transmitting
communications point-to-point within a system of cooperating amateur stations. Section 97.213(b) authorizes an auxiliary station to transmit on at least a segment of all
VHF and shorter wavelength bands except 6 meters.
Two point-to-point
auxiliary stations would be required; one for the telecommand uplink and the other one for downlink. The
uplink station would transmit the telecommands and the communications from the station to the HF station. The
downlink would transmit the telemetry and the communications from the HF station back to the SCO.
Q. Could
another ham use my remotely controlled 40 meter base station via the VHF uplink and UHF downlink with his own auxiliary station?
A. He could, provided that you - the 40 meter station licensee - designated him as the SCO of your
station. See Section 97.103(b). You also have the option of transferring physical control
of your station apparatus to the user. See Section 97.5(a). In which case the call sign transmitted in the station identification
announcement would be that assigned to his station, not yours. See Section 97.119(a). He would, moreover, have to hold the class of operator required
to be the SCO of an amateur station transmitting on the segment of the 40 meter band on which your station transmits.
See Section 97.301.
Q. Would the repeater
rules apply to my remote base?
A. No. Your 40 meter station is not eligible for the special operation accommodations
for a repeater station that are codified in Section 97.205 because it transmits and receives outside of the bands authorized for such.
Paragraph (b) says that 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. The special accommodations for auxiliary stations in Section 97.201, however, would be available to your VHF uplink and downlink stations.
Paragraph (b) says that an auxiliary station may transmit only on the 2 m and shorter wavelength bands, except the
144.0-144.5 MHz, 145.8-146.0 MHz, 219-220 MHz, 222.00-222.15 MHz, 431-433 MHz, and 435-438 MHz segments.
Q. Where in the rules do I find
the technical standards for repeaters?
A. There are no special technical standards in our rules just for repeaters.
In the 1970s, our amateur service community established most of the
basic standards now in widespread use, such as the input channel frequency offset and channel spacing. The
fact that they have endured and continue to serve us so well is a tribute to the hard work and foresight of our repeater pioneers.
Q. If I were to assemble a 2 meter remote base with UHF uplink and downlink, would the repeater
rules apply?
A. No, because it would not be simultaneously retransmitting the transmissions
of another amateur station on a different channel or channels, other than within your system as your point-to-point auxiliary
station downlink. See Section 97.3(a)(39).
Although non-repeater transmissions are authorized in the various
repeater subbands, it is good amateur practice for such transmissions to generally give way to a repeater. See
BE Informed No. 30 GEPS AND GAPS item OTA21.
Q. It would be simultaneously retransmitting the transmissions of another amateur station on the
UHF downlink.
A. Assuming your downlink consists of an auxiliary station
transmitting within your system point-to-point communications received at your remotely control station, possibly including
telemetry, back to its control point, it would not also be a repeater that qualifies for the special accommodations in Section
205.
Q. In a remotely controlled
station using a computer and the Internet, does the FCC require the SCO of the station through which the computer
is operating to be present at the station?
A. That would depend upon whether
the station licensee decides to designate as the SCO, the amateur operator at the distant computer (control point).
See Section 97.103(b). Should the station licensee, rather, decide to perform the
SCO duties, the person at the distant computer would be a third party. Read Section 97.115(b). The SCO must be at the control point. Read 97.109(b).
Q. What is the difference
between telecommand and remote control?
A. Section 97.3(a)(38) says that remote control is the use of a SCO who indirectly manipulates
the operating adjustments in the station through a control link to achieve compliance with the FCC Rules. Section 97.3(a)(43) says that telecommand is a one-way transmission to initiate, modify, or terminate functions of a device at a distance. Our
regulator’s definition of remote control seems to get into the how-to, while telecommand addresses
the end result.
Q. Can my repeater be a remote base?
A. Yes, in that a
repeater – as well as any other FCC-licensed amateur station – is authorized to be remotely controlled.
See Section 97.109.
Past rulemaking proceedings would seem to indicate that our amateur
service community does not favor MF or HF repeaters, except at the highest end of the 10 meter band. Neither
does it favor making available all of our VHF or 70 cm bands to repeaters. It does, however, endorse authorizing
amateur stations to be under telecommand, although it is obviously very cautious about allowing auxiliary stations to transmit
on channels in bands below 33 cm.
Q. Can the downlink auxiliary station be under automatic control?
A. Yes, it can. Section 97.201(d) specifically authorizes an auxiliary station to be automatically controlled.
It is one of four such authorizations. The others are: Beacons, with restrictions,
Section 97.203(d); Repeaters, Section 97.205(d); and certain digital stations, with restrictions, Section 97.221(c).
Q. Does "point to point" mean between one fixed location and another fixed location?
Does the uplink and downlink have to be between two specific fixed locations, not a fixed location and a mobile location?
A. Our rules do not go into that issue specifically.
Section 97.3(7) simply defines an auxiliary station as an amateur station, other than in
a message forwarding system, that is transmitting communications point-to-point within a system of cooperating amateur stations.
Even an amateur station in a moving vehicle is at some point or another at any given time.
Q. I have a remotely controlled transmitter here in suburban Chicago. My English
friend has a ham license in the United Kingdom. Can he legitimately use my transmitter from England via the Internet?
A. Yes, provided that “using” it means that he is the SCO and that the Internet is being
used for the wire-line control uplink. The U.S. has a reciprocal operation agreement with the U.K.
Sections 97.5 and 97.107, therefore, authorize your U.K. friend to be either or both the station
licensee and SCO of an amateur station in places where the FCC regulates the amateur service. Section 97.213(a) authorizes telecommand of an amateur station in places where it regulates the
amateur service. Among other requirements, the wire-line control uplink between the control point and the
station must be sufficient for the SCO to perform his/her duties. A control link using another telecommunication service is
considered wireline. So, the Internet can serve as a wireline control link between a station transmitting
from a place where the FCC regulates and its control point wherever it is situated.
That issue of whether or not the control point of a station
that is transmitting from a place outside of where our regulator regulates, however, is not specifically addressed in our
rules. If it ever is, the decision could be negatively influenced by the situation - a crisis, perhaps
- prevailing at the time. Be advised, Section 97.109(a) says that each amateur station must have
at least one control point. So there exists the basis for eventually declaring that the control point is
part of the station and, as such, must also be at a place where the FCC regulates the amateur service. Most
of us probably prefer that the current situation be codified before some over-imaginative ham becomes way too clever for our
own good.
Q. A Technician here in Florida told me that he was joining our phone net by going through the Internet and coming
out on a 20 meter station in Pennsylvania. He said there was no SCO at the PA station, so he was going to use his own
call sign. Would this be permissible?
A. Just follow
the trail from the station identification announcement back to the SCO: We would have a station transmitting
a phone emission type on our 20-meter band from a place where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC. The
call sign that would be transmitted in the station ID announcement is one that has been assigned to the station of Technician
Class operator license grantee.
We know, from Section 97.119, that the station must transmit its FCC-assigned call sign in the identification announcement. We know,
further, Section 97.103(b) says that the station licensee must designate the station SCO. Our regulator will presume that the station
licensee is also the SCO, unless documentation to the contrary is in the station records. We must conclude, therefore, that a serious breech of Section
97.105(b) would occur. It says that a station may only be operated in
the manner and to the extent permitted by the privileges authorized for the class of operator license held by the SCO, in
this case, Technician. No 20-meter privileges are authorized to the holder of a Technician Class operator
licensee by Section 97.301.
Q. I am
a fan of Echolink and IRLP. How does my situation apply in a system where I come out on an RF link inside
of the U.S. without physically being in the U.S. at the time?
A. The terms “ECHOLINK” and “IRLP” do not appear
our rules. For an amateur station transmitting from a place where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC, Section 97.213 says that an amateur station on or within 50 km of the Earth's surface
may be under telecommand where (a) There is a radio or wireline control link between the control point and the station sufficient
for the SCO to perform his/her duties.
Our regulator does not regulate our amateur service systems per se. It regulates our station licensees
and SCOs. We assemble our systems as we please. Section 97.103(a) says that it is the station licensees who are responsible for the proper operation
of their stations in accordance with the FCC Rules. You should, therefore, make arrangements with the person having physical
control of the station apparatus that transmits from a place where the FCC regulates the amateur service before causing or
allowing it to do so. There should be an understanding as to whether you are doing such as the SCO, or
as both the station licensee and the SCO. The call sign to be used in the station identification announcement
will be determined by the decision you and the other person agree upon. In the first instance, it is his
or her station call sign that must be used. For the latter, it is your FCC assigned call sign that must
be used. See Section 97.119.
Q. I use both Echolink and IRLP to talk from all over the World. IRLP requires
that when you are using a radio to reach across the planet, you must use a call legal in the area where you are transmitting
by radio to the IRLP node. Thus in a CEPT country you can use your call/DL4 etc. Echolink may be the same
if you are using a radio to get to the link system, but if you are on a computer talking via VoIP to a US Echolink station,
I would think you use your US call since the first place you are coming out by radio is the US. I use my
US call from Germany and other places where I talk to my repeater in California using Echolink from my computer.
Sound right?
A. Right, assuming your systems are actually repeaters
rather than message forwarding systems. That depends on the exact configuration of hardware and software that are being
used. There are, however, several key rules to remember when analyzing complex systems such as yours.
First, every station transmitting from a place where the FCC regulates our amateur service must make station identification announcements in compliance
with Section 97.119. Presumably, other countries have similar requirements.
Secondly, unless the station is simultaneously retransmitting the transmission
of another amateur station on a different channel or channels, it is not a repeater and, therefore, is ineligible for the
special operations provision for repeaters in Section 97.205. That would be the case when the station is retransmitting
messages received via wire-line, such as over a public or private telephone system or the Internet. In
most situations, they would likely be third party communications. See Section 97.115.
Thirdly, when the user of a repeater makes a station identification
announcement, it is only for the station they are using to access the repeater. It is for the purpose of clearly making the
source of the transmissions from that user station known to those receiving the transmissions, including the SCO of the repeater.
The repeater SCO can thereupon use the information in deciding whether or not to allow the retransmission to proceed.
The widely accepted protocol of making station identification announcements where the Internet alone used for accessing
a repeater is not an FCC requirement. It may, however, be a requirement of the SCO. It
facilitates the orderly functioning of the system. Only the transmitters in the system that are at
locations where the FCC regulates communications are subject to the station identification requirements in Section 97.119. For the station identification announcements in another country, consult
its regulations.
Q.
I know that our club station license document has to be posted at our repeater remote transmitting site. But
I can’t find any such rule in Part 97. If it’s there, where is it?
A. Take another look at Section 97.213(d). It says that a photocopy of the station license and a label with the name, address, and telephone number
of the station licensee and at least one designated SCO must be posted in a conspicuous place at the station location.
Such posting, moreover, is a requirement for any FCC-licensed amateur station transmitting under telecommand
within 50 km of the Earth’s surface.
Q. Assume that a club operates a repeater at
a site owned by the county. Its Technical Committee has W[suffix] as Chairman and trustee of the repeater. The
members have also appointed K[suffix] to be trustee of the club's station call sign, N[suffix]. Which call
sign should be used to identify the club's repeater, K[suffix], N[suffix] or W[suffix]?
A. All three are eligible, as far as Section
97.5 is concerned. Your club must decide, therefore, under which station
license the repeater transmissions are to take place. It should do this carefully as there are accountability
obligations for the person chosen. As long as the transmissions take place from a location where
the FCC regulates the amateur service and does not otherwise run afoul of the restrictions on station location, the station
location is of no consequence to any of this. See BE Informed No. 4 WHICH CALL SIGN?
Q. A friend offered to let me put his repeater
on the air with his call sign and be the SCO. I contend that the ID should be my call sign or the call
sign of the club station for which that I am the trustee. Which is correct?
A. Either arrangement that you both can mutually agree upon. For your station call sign to be transmitted
in the station identification announcement, he must relinquish to you physical control of his station apparatus.
See Section 97.5(a).
Q. What about the propriety of a club having a pair of two meter repeaters transmitting simultaneously?
A. There is no FCC rule as to the maximum number of repeaters transmitting simultaneously under the authority of the
same station license. Two FCC rules, rather, provide a coordination opportunity for your local amateur
service community to rely upon when deciding whether or not your multiple repeaters would make the most effective use of those
channels in your area.
Section 97.3(a)(22) says that a frequency coordinator is an entity, recognized in a local
or regional area by amateur operators whose stations are eligible to be auxiliary or repeater stations, that recommends transmit/receive
channels and associated operating and technical parameters for such stations in order to avoid or minimize potential interference. Section 97.205(c), moreover, helps establish the seriousness of your coordinator.
It says that where the transmissions of one 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.
SEEK
COORDINATION!
Q. When a licensee has a repeater with his call sign being transmitted on it at one location other
than his home, how does his home station make the station identification announcement for non-repeater transmissions?
A. Each station must transmit the call sign shown on the ULS for the station license grant under which it is transmitting,
even where it is the same grant. See Section 97.119. Multiple stations could be transmitting the same call sign in the station identification
announcements.
An indicator might be appended to the call sign transmitted by the repeater as a means of alerting listeners that it
is transmitting under the special rules in Section 97.205 for repeater stations. The indicator must be
separated from the call sign by the slant mark (/) or by any suitable word that denotes the slant mark. It may be appended
before, after, or both before and after, the call sign. No self-assigned indicator may conflict with any other indicator specified
by the FCC Rules or with any prefix assigned to another country. Read Section 97.119(c).
Q. I am the
license trustee for our club’s repeater station. When a member uses it for Echolink, isn’t
he the SCO?
A.
As the station licensee, only you can decide that. It is your duty to designate your SCO. Section
97.103(b) says that the FCC will presume that the station licensee (you) is
the SCO, unless documentation to the contrary is in the station records.
Q. But he is switching our repeater off and on. Doesn’t that make him the
SCO?
A. Not unless you designate him as the SCO of your station. See
Section 97.103(b).
Q. He can’t be the SCO because his station transmits on the two meter band where remote control is banned.
A. Only partially. Radio telecommand is implemented with an auxiliary station. Section 97.201(b) authorizes an auxiliary station to transmit on the 2 m and shorter wavelength bands, except the 144.0-144.5 MHz, 145.8-146.0
MHz, 219-220 MHz, 222.00-222.15 MHz, 431-433 MHz, and 435-438 MHz segments.
Q. I am the trustee of a club repeater system which has
an Echolink interconnect. One of our members was connected to a station in Korea. They were speaking in Korean. Our member
identified in English, the other station did not. Since I do not speak Korean, was it compliant for this
conversation to be held over the repeater and if not, what sections of Part 97 apply?
A. The SCO
of the repeater must have some way of determining that communications it transmits from a place where the FCC regulates the
amateur service - in a language that he or she does not understand - is compliant with the transmissions authorized in Section
97.111 and that they do not run afoul of the transmissions prohibited by Section 97.113.
Q. I have been involved with operating a repeater for more than 30 years. Until
reading your column, I never gave a thought to the repeater trustee dying. I presume that for our repeater
to be legal, should the trustee die, someone's call sign would have to replace the club call sign until the FCC modifies the
license to reflect the new trustee?
A. Yes. Section 97.5(a) can only mean that the station licensee must be a living person with the
capability of having the station apparatus under physical control. If your repeater is one that the
hams rely upon regularly such that even its temporary loss would disrupt their activities, you should have a backup plan at
the ready in case of an unexpected need.
Q. My thinking is that CW is a different mode from MCW. But I can't find where the FCC rules say
that MCW is a valid method of identifying. Is it legal for a repeater to use MCW to ID?
A. Yes, it is. Look
at Section 97.3(c)(5). The emission type term “Phone” is
defined to include MCW for the purpose of performing the station identification procedure, or for providing telegraphy practice
interspersed with speech.
Q. Can a repeater rely upon its users to ID it, or is the repeater owner obliged to take stronger
measures to ensure compliance?
A. That’s an issue for the station licensee to decide.
There is nothing in the rules that prohibit the users from making the station ID announcement. Section
97.119(a) says that every amateur station, except space and telecommand stations,
must transmit its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel at the end of each communication, and at least every 10 minutes
during a communication, for the purpose of clearly making the source of the transmissions from the station known to those
receiving the transmissions.
Celebrate
that Part 97 is practically devoid of those
“how-to” rules that would be inappropriate for our amateur services. They can lead to situations where a well-intentioned
“how-to” requirement, based upon some particularly popular interest of an era, finds its way into the rules only
to take on a life of its own. Then, after the interest wanes, it can cause unforeseen grief to those pursuing
newer interests.
Q. A couple of local amateurs want to set up their dual band VHF/UHF radios for cross-band operation and want to make
sure they are doing it legally. The last I've heard is that the dual band radio has to have an ID unit in it so when they
are operating cross-band the dual band radio gives the proper ID every 10 minutes just like repeaters do. Please
let me know the correct answer.
A. No amateur station transmitter has to have an "ID unit" built in. The FCC rules, gratefully, do not generally specify such nonflexible how-to-ism. Section 97.119(a) says, in pertinent part, that each amateur station, except a space
station or telecommand station, must transmit its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel at the end of each communication,
and at least every 10 minutes during a communication, for the purpose of clearly making the source of the transmissions from
the station known to those receiving the transmissions.
It's up to the station licensee to determine how the station ID is to be implemented.
If he or she doesn’t want to rely upon the SCO to do the job correctly, the station can use an automatic ID device.
Q. When linking two local repeaters (with different call signs) to better facilitate emergency communications,
is it permissible for each repeater to repeat the ID from the other?
A.
Yes, as long as each station achieves compliance with the station identification requirement in Section 97.119(a) by transmitting its assigned call sign as necessary. In order
to transmit legitimately but one of the call signs in both station I.D. announcements, one of the two station licensees would
have to transfer physical control of the station apparatus to the other, per Section 97.5(a). The recipient would have to accept accountability for the
proper operation of both repeaters.
Document that transfer. Things do go awry. Undocumented agreements are not
worth the paper on which they are not written.
Q. I say that any idle repeater that
gives an ID periodically is broadcasting. What do you say?
A.
Read our rules and heed our rules.
First off, “broadcasting,” as used in our rules, is defined in Section 97.3(a)(10) as “Transmissions intended for reception by the general public,
either direct or relayed.” No one is going to swallow that the repeater ID is transmitted for reception
by the general public. Section 97.119(a) says that each amateur station, with exceptions not relevant here, must transmit
its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel for the purpose of clearly making the source of the transmissions from
the station known to those receiving the transmissions. When the repeater transmits its station identification
announcement during periods that it is not simultaneously retransmitting the transmission of another amateur station on a
different channel or channels (definition of a repeater in Section 97.3(a)), it is obviously engaged in transmitting a one-way communication.
Catch 22 - The ID announcement itself is the one-way communication.
Q. I am the trustee for a local club repeater. I was asked by a local couple if they are permitted to speak in their
native Portuguese on the repeater. My understanding is that it is allowed so long as they ID every 10 minutes in English.
I was then informed that this is correct if communicating simplex, but not if communicating via repeater. My main concern
is that neither I nor any of our SCOs speak Portuguese and therefore cannot maintain control. Right?
A. Right you are. The SCO of the repeater would have to have some way of determining
that any communications being transmitted - in a language that he or she does not understand - is compliant with the transmissions
authorized in Section 97.111 and that they do not run afoul of the transmissions prohibited by Section 97.113. As for the station identification announcement, Section 97.119(b)(2) says that for any FCC-licensed amateur station being identified by a phone emission,
it must be in the English language.
Q. One member of our club has become very controversial over what we consider to be his overreaction
to correcting relatively minor rule infractions on our repeater. What should be the policy of our club
on this?
If the consequence is a better operating repeater, give him your thanks. Un-monitored
repeaters can attract misfits looking for a venue to exploit in order to receive gratification from provoking an over-the-air
confrontation. Such repeaters don’t deserve coordination. They offer those anti-social
nerds the perfect opportunity to annoy so many more of us simultaneously than do most of our other communications systems.
If not handled tactfully, however, the situation can intensify. Your judgment must be used in deciding
whether or not a direct over-the-air confrontation will improve the situation. Sometimes, just ignoring
someone of that demeanor is the better approach.
Q. While I was traveling in
a strange city, I asked for directions, I was told to "get off this frequency - it's a closed repeater!"
Shouldn’t hams be more accommodating to each other?
A. Yes and most are. But Section 97.205(e) says that limiting the use of a repeater to only certain user stations
is permissible.
Q. As our club
station license trustee, I often monitor our repeater just in case a user causes a violation. When I am
not available, I rely upon other club members to monitor it. This has worked well for us so far.
But should ever a user cause a violation that we could have prevented, who would the government hold accountable?
A.
Section 97.103(a) says that the station licensee is responsible for the proper operation of the
station in accordance with the FCC Rules. Section 97.103(b) says the station licensee (you) must designate the station SCO. The FCC
will presume that the station licensee (you) is also the SCO (you) unless documentation to the contrary is in the (your) station
records. When the SCO is a different amateur operator (not you) than the station licensee (you) both persons
are equally responsible for proper operation of the station. You do have some leeway. Section 97.205(g) says that the SCO of a repeater that retransmits inadvertently communications
that violate the rules in Part 97 is not accountable for the violative communications.
Q. But our repeater is operated under automatic control. Doesn’t that excuse me from
some degree of accountability?
A.
No. Section 97.3(a)(6) says automatic control is the use of devices and procedures for control
of a station when it is transmitting so that compliance with our rules is achieved without the SCO (you) being present at a control point.
Read
- if your use of devices and procedures isn’t getting the job done, you shouldn’t be relying on them.
For your repeater, ad hoc monitoring by you and your fellow club members apparently is sufficient. Congratulations
on your good fortune to have your repeater in such a fine community. That is not enough to get the job
done in some locales.
Q. How do repeaters get away with transmitting without a control operator?
A. No repeater is exempt. Our amateur service community, as a matter of fact, was successful
in convincing our regulator that, in many instances, a repeater could achieve compliance with our rules without the control operator being at the control point through the use
of devices and procedures. Section 97.3(a)(6) defines this as automatic control. In Section 97.205(d), repeaters are authorized for automatic control.
Q. Beside repeaters, which other amateur stations are authorized
for automatic control? A. They
are: An auxiliary station (Section 97.201(d)), a beacon station transmitting on certain band segments (Section 97.203(d)), a station transmitting a RTTY or data emission on certain band segments (Section
97.221(b)) or responding to interrogation by a station under local or remote control that
does not occupy a bandwidth of more than 500 Hz (Section 97.221(c)).
Q. What are the requirements for automatic control?
A. Your devices and procedures must work such that
when your station is transmitting, compliance with our rules is achieved without the control operator being present at a control point. See
Section 97.3(a)(6). It is up to the station licensee to assess the circumstances that it is
likely to encounter, determine possible threats to the station being operated properly and decide whether or not automatic
control is appropriate and the form it should take.
Q. Can our repeater monitors be
considered as the SCOs of our repeater?
A. Not unless, under the authority of Section 97.103(b), you designate each of your monitors as the SCO of your repeater for a specific
time slot. You would also have to comply with the documentation requirement in Section 97.103(b).
From
your questions, it appears that your monitors are simply advisors to you, the SCO. If they let you down,
it is your problem.
Q. In New York City and Washington, DC, as well as other areas, the 146.40 MHz channel is paired with 147.00
MHz channel output repeaters. Is it permissible to use 146.40 MHz for simplex even though it might be retransmitted
by a repeater?
A. No. Although non-repeater transmissions
are authorized in the various repeater sub-bands, it is good amateur practice for such transmissions to generally give way
to a repeater. See BE Informed No. 30 GEPS and GAPS OTA21.
To conduct simplex intercommunications on a repeater input channel, moreover, such that they
are retransmitted unnecessarily by a repeater over a wide area could be, at best, failure to cooperate in selecting transmitting
channels and in making the most effective use of our amateur service frequencies (Read Section 97.101(b)), or at worst, willfully or maliciously interfering with or causing interference to
a radio communication of signal (Read Section 97.101(d)).
Q. What is “harmful” interference?
A. Section 97.3(a)(23) says that harmful interference is any interference that endangers the functioning
of a radio navigation service or other safety services or seriously degrades, obstructs or repeatedly interrupts a radio communication
service operating in accordance with the international Radio Regulations.
Q. Is all interference harmful?
A. No. Assuming that you have dismissed from your question the issue of static and such that comes
to us from nature, the key phrase in Section 97.3(a)(23) is “seriously degrades, obstructs or repeatedly interrupts” in order
to reach the level of harmful interference to an amateur station.
Just because you hear some annoying tones or voices now and then does
not necessarily mean that you station is experiencing harmful interference. Sporadic interference between
amateur stations is a way of life on our bands. It is a small price to pay for the unfettered liberties
we enjoy thereon. In the context of this discussion, two repeaters battling it out on the air for days
on end such that they are both unusable could qualify as harmful interference.
Q. But the 2 meter repeater band plan lists 146.40 MHz as optional for either simplex or repeater input.
A. It is optional only for the amateur operators in the area served whose stations are eligible to be a repeater station
to make that choice jointly. They do this by selecting their frequency coordinator. See BE Informed No. 30 GEPS and GAPS OTA8. All repeater providers and users should participate actively in selecting the entity to do the
coordinating for their area.
Q. What is a frequency
coordinator?
A. Section 97.3(a)(22) says it is an entity, recognized in a local or regional area by amateur operators whose
stations are eligible to be auxiliary or repeater stations, that recommends transmit/receive channels and associated operating
and technical parameters for such stations in order to avoid or minimize potential interference. Section
97.205(c) says that 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.
Section 97.201(c) provides similarly for auxiliary stations.
Every repeater and every auxiliary station should be coordinated. See BE Informed No. 30 GEPS and GAPS OTA23.
Q. Our repeater is coordinated, but it receives interference from another repeater. The other repeater
is also coordinated and its station licensee complains that it receives interference from our repeater. It
is really annoying to the users. Who is responsible for resolving this matter?
A. During any period when one repeater is interfering with another repeater, the SCO of the repeater
causing the interference may be in violation of Section 97.101(d). This rule says that no amateur operator shall willfully or maliciously
interfere with or cause interference to any radio communication or signal.
When each repeater causes interference to the other, the licensee of
each station is responsible for resolving any interference caused by that station. Both of them should
work together to arrive at a satisfactory solution. They might ask their coordinator to revisit its recommendations.
The answer may be to make modifications in the operating and technical parameters for either or both stations.
For instance, a workable solution may require adjusting antenna coverage, lowering radiated power levels, implementing
receiver tone control squelch, moving one or both stations to a different channel or time-sharing use of the channel.
Q. Many years after our repeater was in operation, the frequency coordinator gave our channel to another station.
What is the FCC going to do about that?
A. You can expect
that if your repeater remains in operation on the channel and causes interference to the other repeater, our regulator may
issue to your repeater station licensee an Official Notice of Violation, for causing harmful interference to radio communications
contrary to Section 97.101(d).
For the good of our amateur service, please don’t ask our regulator to overrule your area
frequency coordinator! If it were to do so - and let’s hope that it never comes to that - it could
mean that they have lost confidence in our ability to coordinate our repeaters.
Q. Why didn’t we receive credit for being on the channel first?
A.
You’ll have to ask your frequency coordinator to answer that question.
Maybe your frequency coordinator did take your prior use claim into
consideration. Apparently, it has decided that your claim to the channel is outweighed by the need for
a more effective arrangement of repeaters in your area. Just because your repeater fit nicely into the
overall spectrum landscape at some point in the past doesn’t necessarily mean that it is still does so today or that
it will it continue to do so at some point in the future. Fortunately, the problem of transceiver agility is behind us, so
we can follow your repeater to its new channel.
Q. There is no frequency coordinator in our area. If another repeater causes
interference to our repeater, which station licensee must resolve the interference?
A.
Because your repeater is uncoordinated, its station licensee has primary responsibility to resolve the interference
when the other station is coordinated. If the other repeater is also uncoordinated, both station licensees
are responsible for resolving the interference.
Q. Does the FCC select our coordinators?
A. No, it does not. Our regulator does not select the frequency coordinators
in the amateur service. That selection is made by our amateur service community.
Q. Does the FCC specify how we must go about selecting
our frequency coordinator?
A. No, it does not. Our regulator does
not specify how our frequency coordinators are selected. That selection is made by our amateur service
community.
Q. The coordinator
in an adjoining state has announced that it will be taking over the coordination in our area. Is our coordinator
determined by the area the coordinator decides to serve or is it by the licensees in our area?
A. The eligible licensees in your area must decide. Section 97.3(a)(22) says, in effect, your frequency coordinator is an entity recognized in your local
or regional area by those amateur operators eligible to be auxiliary or repeater stations.
This is a wonderful show of confidence by our regulator in our ability to manage our extensive
infrastructure of repeaters effectively.
Q. Do I use my home call sign while I am working from an EOC or a hospital during a drill
or an emergency?
A. That’s but one option. Under that choice, you
are the station licensee, responsible for the proper operation of the station, as it says in Section 97.103(a). The station transmits your primary station call sign in the
station identification announcement. You then designate yourself as the control operator.
Another
option would be for another amateur operator to agree to be the station licensee and then designate you as the control operator.
The station transmits that amateur operator’s primary station call sign in the identification announcement. That
station licensee and you - the control operator - are both accountable for the duties of its control operator being performed
properly. Note that Section 97.103(b) says that our regulator will presume that the station licensee is also the control
operator unless there is documentation to the contrary. See BE Informed No. 1 W3BE CHECKLISTS for the duties of each.
Another possibility is for a club station
license trustee to agree to be the station licensee. Again, the trustee would have to designate you as
the control operator.
Q.
When you are operating portable or mobile, you must add /P or /M to your ID. But that will
violate the prefix assigned to another country rule, won’t it?
A.
There is no U.S. government rule requiring you to include those indicators in your station identification announcements.
Should you want to include information on your station being portable or mobile, check for available prefixes through
the link on my website.
Q.
I've looked through the rules and can't find a specific prohibition for this: playing a recorded announcement periodically
on our repeater. It's a recording of a person delivering the message instead of relying on the recorded
"mechanical voices" we currently use to deliver time, identification, weather and other amateur radio related announcements.
Am I missing anything?
A.
Nope. Section 97.305 authorizes the transmission of phone type emissions according to the frequency band or segment. Section
97.3(c)(5) defines a phone type emission as speech and other sound emissions having
specific designators. It does not go into the matter of how the sound is generated. Q. A friend uses a 440 handheld
while mobile to reach his home-based cross-band repeater transceiver. The home transceiver in turn re-transmits his signal
on 2 Meters. He also uses this technique at home as he moves about. What do the rules say about this practice?
It is legal?
A.
One possibility is that his UHF handheld transceiver is being used as a point-to-point auxiliary station and
the home station is a “remote base.” See Section 97.201. The other possibility is that his home transceiver retransmits as a repeater. See
Section 97.205.
April 11, 2011
Supersedes all prior editions