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Subelement E1

COMMISSION RULES

Section E1B

Station restrictions and special operations: restrictions on station location; general operating restrictions; spurious emissions; antenna structure restrictions; RACES operations

Which of the following constitutes a spurious emission?

  • An amateur station transmission made without the proper call sign identification
  • A signal transmitted to prevent its detection by any station other than the intended recipient
  • Any transmitted signal that unintentionally interferes with another licensed radio station and whose levels exceed 40 dB below the fundamental power level
  • Correct Answer
    An emission outside the signal’s necessary bandwidth that can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the information transmitted

Spurious is defined as "Not being what it purports to be; false or fake."

Spurious emissions are "false" emissions that accompany legitimate emissions. Usually they are caused by a poorly calibrated or faulty transmitter. On a spectrum analyzer they would show up as being spikes of RF energy sometimes adjacent to the real signal and sometimes at random intervals usually close by.

These emissions are "spurious" or "false" because they are not necessary to receive the information and they are outside the normal bandwidth needed for the signal.

Tip: The correct answer is the only one that contains the word "emission" from the question.

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Tags: noise and interference bandwidth

Which of the following is an acceptable bandwidth for digital voice or slow-scan TV transmissions made on the HF amateur bands?

  • Correct Answer
    3 kHz
  • 10 kHz
  • 15 kHz
  • 20 kHz

Remember that SSTV (Slow Scan TV) transmissions have to fit into the same bandwidth as common SSB voice transmission.

Just like any SSTV transmission, 3 KHz is an acceptable bandwidth.

Answer: 3KHz

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Within what distance must an amateur station protect an FCC monitoring facility from harmful interference?

  • Correct Answer
    1 mile
  • 3 miles
  • 10 miles
  • 30 miles

§ 97.13 Restrictions on station location.


(b) A station within 1600 m (1 mile) of an FCC monitoring facility must protect that facility from harmful interference. Failure to do so could result in imposition of operating restrictions upon the amateur station by a District Director pursuant to § 97.121 of this part. Geographical coordinates of the facilities that require protection are listed in § 0.121(c) of this chapter.

TEST TIP: These monitoring stations tend to be little shacks with antenna arrays out in an empty field set away from likely sources of interference (see https://goo.gl/maps/msXm2pqVgJSAPeCj6).

With that visual in mind, you can think to yourself "there should be no interference within a COUNTRY MILE (1 mile) of the FCC shack."

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What must the control operator of a repeater operating in the 70-centimeter band do if a radiolocation system experiences interference from that repeater?

  • Reduce the repeater antenna HAAT (Height Above Average Terrain)
  • File an FAA NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) with the repeater system's ERP, call sign, and six-character grid locator
  • Correct Answer
    Cease operation or make changes to the repeater that mitigate the interference
  • All these choices are correct

The amateur radio service is secondary in this band. This means that amateur stations operating in this band (including repeaters) must eliminate any interference to primary users.

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What is the National Radio Quiet Zone?

  • An area surrounding the FCC monitoring station in Laurel, Maryland
  • An area in New Mexico surrounding the White Sands Test Area
  • Correct Answer
    An area surrounding the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
  • An area in Florida surrounding Cape Canaveral

Title 47 CFR Part 97 § 97.3(a)(33)

(33) National Radio Quiet Zone. The area in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia Bounded by 39°15′ N on the north, 78°30′ W on the east, 37°30′ N on the south and 80°30′ W on the west.

Reference:

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-97#p-97.3(a)(33)

From Wikipedia:

The National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) is a large area of land in the United States designated as a radio quiet zone, in which radio transmissions are restricted by law to facilitate scientific research and the gathering of military intelligence. About half of the zone is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of west-central Virginia while the other half is in the Allegheny Mountains of east-central West Virginia; a small part of the zone is in the southernmost tip of the Maryland panhandle.

PNG of Quiet Zone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Quiet_Zone

TEST TIP: "OBSERVE the Quiet Zone at all hours."

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Which of the following additional rules apply if you are erecting an amateur station antenna structure at a site at or near a public use airport?

  • Correct Answer
    You may have to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register it with the FCC as required by Part 17 of the FCC rules
  • You may have to enter the height above ground in meters, and the latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes, and seconds on the FAA website
  • You must file an Environmental Impact Statement with the EPA before construction begins
  • You must obtain a construction permit from the airport zoning authority per Part 119 of the FAA regulations

This is an overlapping jurisdiction question. The FAA regulates Airspace that might endanger aircraft so their regulations need to be consulted and it will then need to registered with the FCC as required by part 17.

Hint: The correct answer has "May" in it. The other 3 say "Must"

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To what type of regulations does PRB-1 apply?

  • Homeowners associations
  • FAA tower height limits
  • Correct Answer
    State and local zoning
  • Use of wireless devices in vehicles

State and local zoning. While there have been attempts to apply it to HOA and other situations (CC&R's), these attempts have not yet succeeded.

From http://www.arrl.org/prb-1

The 11 page document has been codified at Section 97.15(b). This is a short summary of the 11 page PRB-1. PRB-1 states that local governments must reasonably accommodate amateur operations, but they may still zone for height, safety and aesthetics concerns.

As stated earlier, it is important to note that PRB-1 does not cover covenants although there is a brief mention of covenants in the 1999 PRB-1 clarification. Unfortunately, the FCC has not yet provided an outright preemption of covenants for amateurs.

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What limitations may the FCC place on an amateur station if its signal causes interference to domestic broadcast reception, assuming that the receivers involved are of good engineering design?

  • The amateur station must cease operation
  • The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies below 30 MHz
  • The amateur station must cease operation on all frequencies above 30 MHz
  • Correct Answer
    The amateur station must avoid transmitting during certain hours on frequencies that cause the interference

The FCC may impose limited quiet periods on the amateur station on those frequencies involved. Conversely, the amateur station must be operating properly without violating any rules especially regarding spurious emissions.

Hint: Long question, long answer. Silly hint: Correct answer does not include the phrase "must cease".

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Which amateur stations may be operated under RACES rules?

  • Only those club stations licensed to Amateur Extra class operators
  • Any FCC-licensed amateur station except a Technician class
  • Correct Answer
    Any FCC-licensed amateur station certified by the responsible civil defense organization for the area served
  • Only stations meeting the FCC Part 97 technical standards for operation during an emergency

You must first register with the local civil defense organization and then at that point you can register your amateur radio station with RACES. Each operator must follow the operator privileges granted by the license.

§ 97.407 Radio amateur civil emergency service.


(a) No station may transmit in RACES unless it is an FCC-licensed primary, club, or military recreation station and it is certified by a civil defense organization as registered with that organization, or it is an FCC-licensed RACES station. No person may be the control operator of a RACES station, or may be the control operator of an amateur station transmitting in RACES unless that person holds a FCC issued amateur operator license and is certified by a civil defense organization as enrolled in that organization.

Hint: Civil defense

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What frequencies are authorized to an amateur station operating under RACES rules?

  • Correct Answer
    All amateur service frequencies authorized to the control operator
  • Specific segments in the amateur service MF, HF, VHF, and UHF bands
  • Specific local government channels
  • All these choices are correct

The frequencies that may be used are determined by the control operator's license. Normally RACES stations will communicate with other RACES stations but other stations may be authorized by a responsible civil defense authority.

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What does PRB-1 require of state and local regulations affecting amateur radio antenna size and structures?

  • No limitations may be placed on antenna size or placement
  • Correct Answer
    Reasonable accommodations of amateur radio must be made
  • Such structures must be permitted when use for emergency communications can be demonstrated
  • Such structures must be permitted if certified by a registered professional engineer

PRB-1 is a legal document from the FCC that requires that local governments reasonably accommodate Amateur Radio installations.

According to the ARRL PRB-1 web page:

The FCC's PRB-1 document, an 11 page Amateur Radio Memorandum Opinion and Order, was released September 19, 1985. Even though it is from 1985, it is still valid today. The legal cite is 101 FCC 2d 952 (1985) and it can be found on the FCC Web page.

See the whole document on ARRL's web site here.

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