Plenty of people buy a radio before they have a license, and that's fine. What you can do with it depends on the license you hold, and a few listings carry modifications that change the rules. This guide covers what the US rules say about buying, listening and transmitting, what each license class gets on HF, and what a "MARS mod" in a title means.
Buying and listening, then transmitting
US amateur licensing is about transmitting. The FCC's rule, 47 CFR 97.5, says the station has to be under the control of a licensed person before it may transmit on any amateur frequency. Owning a transceiver and listening to the ham bands aren't what it licenses, so you can buy a rig now and get on the air once your license is granted. The FCC says your operating authority starts when your license appears in its Universal Licensing System database.
Two limits are worth knowing. Wikipedia notes that some countries require a license even to buy or own amateur equipment, and a few US states restrict using scanners in a car. If you travel or install a rig in a vehicle, check the local rules.
Buying ahead of your exam has a real upside. Listening on the bands you'll use teaches you how contacts sound and when each band opens, long before you key up. A transceiver does that job as well as a receiver, as long as you leave the transmit side alone until your call sign shows up in the FCC database.
The three license classes
New US licenses come in three classes, Technician, General and Amateur Extra. The ARRL describes each. The Technician exam has 35 questions on rules, operating and theory. The General exam has another 35 and requires the Technician exam too. The Extra exam has 50 and requires both. Volunteer examiners give the tests, in person or online. US licenses last ten years before renewal.
The FCC still lists Novice and Advanced classes in Part 97, but it no longer issues new ones. Wikipedia explains that the 2000 restructuring cut the classes to three, letting existing holders keep and renew theirs. The Morse code test went away in 2007.
What each class gets on HF
Here's how the FCC's band table in 47 CFR 97.301 splits HF for US stations.
- Amateur Extra licensees get every amateur band, including the full width of 160 through 10 meters.
- General licensees get parts of every HF band. That's all of 160, 30, 17, 12 and 10 meters, plus most of 80, 40, 20 and 15 meters. It's missing the bottom edges and parts of the phone bands kept for Extra and Advanced licensees.
- Technician licensees get 3.525 to 3.6, 7.025 to 7.125 and 21.025 to 21.2 MHz using Morse code only, and 28.0 to 28.5 MHz on 10 meters with Morse, data modes and single sideband voice. Technicians also get every amateur band above 30 MHz.
Power has limits too. Section 97.313 caps any station at 1.5 kilowatts PEP and says to use the minimum power needed. Technicians are capped at 200 watts PEP on their HF segments. The ARRL sums up the difference. A Technician license is built around local VHF and UHF, and a General opens up worldwide HF. If you're buying a rig like the IC-7300 before your General, you can still use it on Technician 10 meters. Our guide to choosing an HF rig covers which models suit which license.
Call signs
The FCC gives every new license a call sign from its sequential system. The FCC picks from the list for your license class and mailing address region. Calls start with K, N or W, or a two-letter prefix, then a number for the region and a suffix of up to three letters. Extra-class licensees can hold a call from any of the four call sign groups. Wikipedia notes the number no longer has to match where you live. You keep your call when you renew, and the vanity program lets you request a specific one.
Other countries
Every country licenses its own amateurs. Wikipedia notes that licenses are generally valid only in the issuing country, or in countries with reciprocal agreements. The FCC's rules recognize a CEPT license or an IARP from a visitor's home country under set conditions, and an FCC license works the same way for US hams going abroad where an agreement exists. A rig built for one market may transmit on different bands from the US version. Icom's European IC-7300 adds a 4 meter band, for example. Check the model's variant on its page before you buy an import.
MARS and CAP mods
MARS is the Military Auxiliary Radio System, a Department of Defense program run by the Army and the Air Force. Wikipedia describes it as mostly licensed amateur volunteers who help with military and emergency communications. Army MARS requires an FCC amateur license and a station that can work all frequencies from 2 to 30 MHz at 100 watts or more. Its FAQ says members may modify their own radios for government frequencies while in MARS service, as long as the radio meets the emission standards of Part 97. The Civil Air Patrol runs its own HF and VHF network under federal NTIA rules.
A "MARS mod", "CAP mod" or "wideband TX" in a title means the radio's transmit range has been widened past the ham bands. On the FT-857D, one mod collection on rigpix does it by soldering four jumpers, which opens transmit across 1.8 to 56, 137 to 164 and 420 to 470 MHz. Army MARS notes that instructions for most radios are easy to find. A ham license only covers the bands in Part 97, so the extra range is for MARS members on MARS work, and for CAP under its own rules. For everyone else it's off limits. If a listing mentions a mod, ask exactly what was changed, and keep your transmissions inside your license.
Receive-only sets
A receiver needs no license at all, which makes it a good first buy. Drake's R-4C and Hallicrafters' SX-101A cover the ham bands from 80 to 10 meters. The SX-100 and S-38E also tune the broadcast band and shortwave. Our receiver list has the rest. Listening is how many hams learned the bands before their first exam. On VHF and UHF, a Technician can use everything the Icom IC-9700 covers, which is 2 meters, 70 centimeters and 23 centimeters.
