Section 11.6: Operating Across Borders #

Radio rules follow the transmitter. A DX contact from your home station is a US station talking to a foreign one, so US rules govern your side of the conversation. Pack a handheld for a trip abroad, though, and the host country decides whether you may transmit at all, and on what terms.

Contacting a Foreign Station #

A typical DX contact trades signal reports, station details, maybe notes on an antenna experiment, and a few words about the weather and the people at each end. For contacts with other countries, that friendly pattern is also a rule.

Key Information: Communications transmitted to amateur stations in foreign countries must be limited to those incidental to the purpose of the amateur service and remarks of a personal nature.

Chat in Spanish, Japanese, or Esperanto if you like; your voice identification still has to be in English. Passing a message for someone else falls under the third-party rules in the previous section.

Operating While Traveling #

Before a radio goes in your suitcase, find out whether an agreement lets you use your home license or you need a permit. Either way, confirm the license class the host country recognizes, the bands and modes you may use, the documents to carry, and how to sign your call. Your US band privileges stay home; the host country’s band plan applies.

European regulators work together through CEPT, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations. Its plan for amateur licenses is open to other countries too, and the United States takes part.

Key Information:

• CEPT allows an FCC-licensed US citizen to operate in many European countries, and amateurs from many European countries to operate in the US.
• Operating in accordance with CEPT rules in foreign countries where permitted requires a copy of FCC Public Notice DA 16-1048.

The notice lists the US license classes covered. Also carry proof of US citizenship and of your FCC license grant. An Amateur Extra license qualifies for the full CEPT license. A General license qualifies only for the more limited CEPT Novice level, which fewer countries honor.

Under CEPT, you sign the host country’s prefix, a slash, and your own call sign. An Extra in Germany, for example, signs DL/ before the US call, not a “/CEPT” suffix. The country list and local rules can change, so check CEPT’s current T/R 61-01 documents and the host country’s regulator before your visit.

Closer to home, a treaty among countries of the Americas sets up a similar arrangement. ARRL issues its permit, the International Amateur Radio Permit (IARP), to US citizens.

Key Information: An IARP is a permit that allows US amateurs to operate in certain countries of the Americas.

The IARP is a paper permit you carry while you operate. It lasts a year, or until your license expires if that’s sooner. With an Extra or General license, you get a Class 1 permit and all its privileges. Technicians get Class 2, which covers only frequencies above 30 MHz. Only treaty countries honor it, and some add steps of their own, so check your destination’s rules before you go.

Canada needs no permit at all. There, the prefix goes after your call: W1AW/VE3 in Ontario, for example.

A Canadian License in the United States #

Visitors to the United States follow the same logic in reverse. A Canadian amateur brings a home license, but the transmitter now sits under US rules.

Key Information: In the US, a person holding a Canadian amateur service license has the operating terms and conditions of that license, not to exceed US Amateur Extra class privileges.

Both sets of limits apply, so the visitor uses only the privileges the two have in common. Permission to use a mode at home, for example, doesn’t extend to a US band where that mode is prohibited.

Aboard a Vessel or Aircraft #

US rules also ride along on a US-registered ship or aircraft, even in international waters. The captain or pilot has a say, too.

Key Information:

• The licensing required to operate an amateur station aboard a US-registered vessel in international waters is any FCC-issued amateur license.
• Aboard any vessel or craft documented or registered in the US, the station apparatus must be in the physical control of a person holding an FCC-issued amateur license or authorized for alien reciprocal operation.
• Before an amateur station aboard a ship or aircraft is operated, its operation must be approved by the master of the ship or the pilot in command of the aircraft.

You don’t need a marine endorsement or commercial permit. Alien reciprocal operation is the authority that lets a foreign amateur, like the Canadian visitor above, serve as control operator under FCC rules. The station must not create a hazard or disturb other equipment aboard. In another country’s waters, check that country’s rules first.