§ 25.271 - Control of transmitting stations.

§ 25.271 Control of transmitting stations.

(a) The licensee of a facility licensed under this part is responsible for the proper operation and maintenance of the station.

(b) The licensee of a transmitting earth station licensed under this part shall ensure that a trained operator is present on the earth station site, or at a designated remote control point for the earth station, at all times that transmissions are being conducted. No operator's license is required for a person to operate or perform maintenance on facilities authorized under this part.

(c) Authority will be granted to operate a transmitting earth station by remote control only on the conditions that:

(1) The parameters of the transmissions of the remote station monitored at the control point, and the operational functions of the remote earth stations that can be controlled by the operator at the control point, are sufficient to ensure that the operations of the remote station(s) are at all times in full compliance with the remote station authorization(s);

(2) The earth station facilities are protected by appropriate security measures to prevent unauthorized entry or operations;

(3) Upon detection by the licensee, or upon notification from the Commission of a deviation or upon notification by another licensee of harmful interference, the operation of the remote station shall be immediately suspended by the operator at the control point until the deviation or interference is corrected, except that transmissions concerning the immediate safety of life or property may be conducted for the duration of the emergency; and

(4) The licensee shall have available at all times the technical personnel necessary to perform expeditiously the technical servicing and maintenance of the remote stations.

(5) Operators of blanket-licensed GSO FSS earth station networks that provide international service must maintain a control point within the United States, or maintain a point of contact within the United States available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with the ability to shut off any earth station within the network immediately upon notification of harmful interference.

(d) The licensee shall ensure that the licensed facilities are properly secured against unauthorized access or use whenever an operator is not present at the transmitter. For space station operations, this includes securing satellite commands against unauthorized access and use.

(e) [Reserved]

(f) The licensee of any transmitting earth station licensed under this part must update the contact information provided in the most recent license application for the station within 10 days of any change therein. The updated information must be filed electronically in the “Other Filings” tab of the station's current authorization file in the International Bureau Communications Filing System.

(g) All applicants shall ensure compliance with the Commission's radio frequency exposure requirements in §§ 1.1307(b), 2.1091, and 2.1093 of this chapter, as appropriate. Applicants with terminals that will exceed the guidelines in § 1.1310 of this chapter for radio frequency radiation exposure shall provide a plan for mitigation of radiation exposure to the extent required to meet those guidelines. Licensees of transmitting earth stations are prohibited from using remote earth stations in their networks that are not designed to stop transmission when synchronization to signals from the target satellite fails.

[58 FR 13421, Mar. 11, 1993, as amended at 66 FR 10631, Feb. 16, 2001; 70 FR 4787, Jan. 31, 2005; 70 FR 32257, June 2, 2005; 74 FR 47107, Sept. 15, 2009; 78 FR 8430, Feb. 6, 2013; 79 FR 8325, Feb. 12, 2014; 81 FR 55349, Aug. 18, 2016; 82 FR 59986, Dec. 18, 2017; 85 FR 18150, Apr. 1, 2020; 85 FR 52453, Aug. 25, 2020; 88 FR 21442, Apr. 10, 2023]