§ 97.13 - Restrictions on station location.

§ 97.13 Restrictions on station location.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 85 FR 18151, Apr. 1, 2020.

(a) Before placing an amateur station on land of environmental importance or that is significant in American history, architecture or culture, the licensee may be required to take certain actions prescribed by §§ 1.1305-1.1319 of this chapter.

(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 pursuant to § 97.121. Geographical coordinates of the facilities that require protection are listed in § 0.121(c) of this chapter.

(c) Before causing or allowing an amateur station to transmit from any place where the operation of the station could cause human exposure to RF electromagnetic field levels in excess of those allowed under § 1.1310 of this chapter, the licensee is required to take certain actions.

(1) The licensee must perform the routine RF environmental evaluation prescribed by § shall ensure compliance with the Commission's radio frequency exposure requirements in §§ 1.1307(b), 2.1091, and 2.1093 of this chapter, if the power of the licensee's station exceeds the limits given in the following table:

Wavelength band	Evaluation required if power1 (watts) exceeds
MF
160 m	500
HF
80 m	500
75 m	500
40 m	500
30 m	425
20 m	225
17 m	125
15 m	100
12 m	75
10 m	50
VHF (all bands)	50
UHF
70 cm	70
33 cm	150
23 cm	200
13 cm	250
SHF (all bands)	250
EHF (all bands)	250
Repeater stations (all bands)	non-building-mounted antennas: height above ground level to lowest point of antenna <10 m and power >500 W ERP building-mounted antennas: power >500 W ERP

¹ Power = PEP input to antenna except, for repeater stations only, power exclusion is based on ERP (effective radiated power)

where applicable. In lieu of evaluation with the general population/uncontrolled exposure limits, amateur licensees may evaluate their operation with respect to members of his or her immediate household using the occupational/controlled exposure limits in § 1.1310, provided appropriate training and information has been accessed by the amateur licensee and members of his/her household. RF exposure of other nearby persons who are not members of the amateur licensee's household must be evaluated with respect to the general population/uncontrolled exposure limits. Appropriate methodologies and guidance for evaluating amateur radio service operation is described in the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) Bulletin 65, Supplement B.

(2) If the routine environmental evaluation indicates that the RF electromagnetic fields could exceed the limits contained in § 1.1310 of this chapter in accessible areas, the licensee must take action to prevent human exposure to such RF electromagnetic fields. Further information on evaluating compliance with these limits can be found in the FCC's OET Bulletin Number 65, “Evaluating Compliance with FCC Guidelines for Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields.”

[54 FR 25857, June 20, 1989, as amended at 55 FR 20398, May 16, 1990; 61 FR 41019, Aug. 7, 1996; 62 FR 47963, Sept. 12, 1997; 62 FR 49557, Sept. 22, 1997; 62 FR 61448, Nov. 18, 1997; 63 FR 68978, Dec. 14, 1998; 65 FR 6549, Feb. 10, 2000; 80 FR 53752, Sept. 8, 2015; 85 FR 18151, Apr. 1, 2020]