Tag: regulations

  • Understanding Reciprocal Callsigns: /W, /VE, and Portable Designators

    Part of our Getting Licensed guide. Those slash-marked additions to a callsign, /W, /VE, /4, and similar, look cryptic to a new ham but follow a consistent, logical system once you understand what each type is communicating. Domestic Portable Designators: Operating From a Different Call Area US callsigns are tied to a specific call district…

  • Business Band Radio vs GMRS: Why They’re Not Interchangeable

    Part of our GMRS Radio: The Complete Guide. Business band and GMRS radios can look nearly identical on a store shelf, and the confusion between them causes real legal problems for people who assume they are interchangeable. Different Frequencies, Different Licenses Business band radios operate on frequencies specifically licensed to a business or organization by…

  • Band Plans vs Frequency Allocations: What’s Actually Different

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. New hams often assume band plans carry the same legal weight as the FCC’s actual frequency allocations, and mixing these two up leads to real confusion about what is actually required versus what is just strongly encouraged convention. Frequency Allocations: The Actual Law The FCC’s…

  • MARS/CAP Mods on the Yaesu FT-857D: What They Actually Do and Where the Legal Line Sits

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. What a MARS/CAP Mod Actually Is I cover what a MARS/CAP mod actually is, the DoD and Civil Air Patrol programs behind it, and the legal reality of transmitting on the frequencies it unlocks in What Is a MARS/CAP Mod? The short version for the 857D…

  • Can You Encrypt or Scramble a GMRS Radio? The Legal Reality

    Some GMRS radios ship with a scramble button. That doesn’t mean using it is legal.

  • Understanding FCC Enforcement: What Actually Happens If You Violate Part 97

    The FCC does still enforce Part 97. Here is what the actual escalation path looks like.

  • Tower and Mast Permitting: Navigating Local Zoning Beyond PRB-1

    Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. I have written before about what PRB-1 is and what it actually protects. This post is about the part that comes after you understand PRB-1: the real, practical process of getting a tower or tall mast permitted with your local jurisdiction, which is a very…

  • Automatic Control vs Remote Control Under Part 97

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. Part 97 defines several categories of station control, and automatic control versus remote control is a distinction that matters a lot more than most hams realize, especially for anyone running a repeater, a hotspot, or a remote-operated station. What Remote Control Means Remote control means a control…

  • GMRS Channel Guide: What Each of the 30 Channels Is Actually For

    Not all 30 GMRS channels work the same way. Here’s what’s actually different between them.

  • Take Your Ham Radio Exam Online

    Part of our Getting Licensed guide. You do not need to find a folding table at a community center on a Saturday morning to get licensed anymore. Remote testing has become a completely normal path into the hobby, and the software behind most of it is a pair of connected tools called HamStudy and ExamTools.…

  • What Is ARRL? History, Hiram Percy Maxim, and the 2024 Controversy

    ARRL is amateur radio’s largest membership organization. Here’s who founded it, what it actually does, and why the 2024 ransomware attack still stings.

  • 1912: The Radio Act and the Birth of Licensed Amateur Radio

    Part of our The Evolution of Amateur Radio timeline series. The sinking of the Titanic in April 1912 is usually credited as the tipping point that forced Congress’s hand, though the interference problems from a decade of unregulated wireless had already been building pressure for years. Whatever the final push was, the result was the…

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