WEBVTT NOTE The Control Operator 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.455 The concept. Part 97 separates two roles that are usually the same person: The station licensee owns the station licence. The control operator is responsible for the transmissions actually being made, right now. 2 00:00:17.455 --> 00:00:23.922 Question. What is a control operator as defined in Part 97? 3 00:00:24.822 --> 00:00:36.133 Answer. An amateur operator designated by the licensee of a station to be responsible for transmissions and FCC rules compliance at that station. 4 00:00:36.733 --> 00:00:52.757 The separation exists so a licensee can let someone else operate their station, a visitor, a club member, a student, with the rules staying clear about who answers for what. The three rules that follow. 5 00:00:52.757 --> 00:01:01.325 A station may never transmit without a control operator. The pool asks when it may, and the answer is never. 6 00:01:01.325 --> 00:01:18.539 Not "when unattended", not "when automatic", automatic control still has a designated control operator; they are simply not required to be present at the controls. The station licensee designates the control operator. 7 00:01:18.539 --> 00:01:28.693 Not the FCC, not the club, not the person operating. Privileges follow the control operator's licence class, not the licensee's. 8 00:01:28.693 --> 00:01:35.300 Question. What determines the transmitting frequency privileges of an amateur station? 9 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:42.360 Answer. The class of operator license held by the control operator. 10 00:01:42.960 --> 00:01:58.170 So an Extra-class visitor operating a Technician's station may use Extra privileges. And a Technician operating an Extra's station may not, the equipment's capability is irrelevant. Both are responsible when they differ. 11 00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:10.683 When the control operator is not the station licensee, the control operator and the station licensee are both responsible for the proper operation of the station. The control point. 12 00:02:10.683 --> 00:02:15.843 Question. What is an amateur station's control point? 13 00:02:16.743 --> 00:02:23.063 Answer. The location at which the control operator function is performed. 14 00:02:23.663 --> 00:02:38.167 Not where the transmitter is. Where the person doing the controlling is. That distinction is what makes remote operation coherent: the transmitter can be on a hilltop while the control point is your desk. 15 00:02:38.167 --> 00:02:48.903 Three kinds of control. Local control, the control operator is at the control point, at the station, operating the controls directly. The default case. 16 00:02:48.903 --> 00:03:03.335 Remote control, the control operator operates the station through a control link from elsewhere. The pool's example is operating the station over the internet, and any station may be remotely controlled. 17 00:03:03.335 --> 00:03:11.725 All the usual rules apply, including identification and privileges, and the control point is wherever you are sitting. 18 00:03:11.725 --> 00:03:21.394 Automatic control, no control operator is present at the control point, and the station operates under a pre-arranged set of conditions. 19 00:03:21.394 --> 00:03:35.116 The pool's example is repeater operation, which is the case almost everyone meets: a repeater retransmits without anyone deciding, transmission by transmission, to do so. Technicians and RACES. 20 00:03:35.116 --> 00:03:47.377 Question. When, other than during an emergency, may a Technician class licensee be the control operator of a station operating in an Amateur Extra Class band segment? 21 00:03:48.277 --> 00:03:51.277 Answer. At no time. 22 00:03:51.877 --> 00:04:11.713 Two things in that answer. Privileges do not stretch, ever, for convenience. And the exception carved into the question, an emergency, is the section 97.403 safety-of- life provision, which is real but narrow. 23 00:04:11.713 --> 00:04:12.757 Satellites. 24 00:04:12.757 --> 00:04:22.117 Question. Who may be the control operator of a station communicating through an amateur satellite or space station? 25 00:04:23.017 --> 00:04:29.356 Answer. Any amateur allowed to transmit on the satellite uplink frequency. 26 00:04:29.956 --> 00:04:43.155 The privilege attaches to the uplink, the frequency you actually transmit on. What comes down, and on which band, does not affect what licence you need. Check yourself. 27 00:04:43.155 --> 00:04:58.083 An Extra-class friend operates your station and works a frequency you could not. Legal? Who is responsible? A repeater retransmits your signal automatically. Does it have a control operator? 28 00:04:58.083 --> 00:05:05.076 You operate your home station from a hotel over the internet. Where is the control point? 29 00:05:11.076 --> 00:05:20.196 Legal, privileges follow the control operator's class. Both of you are responsible for proper operation. Yes. 30 00:05:20.196 --> 00:05:30.069 Every station has a control operator; under automatic control they are simply not required to be at the control point. 31 00:05:30.069 --> 00:05:39.356 The hotel, the control point is where the control operator function is performed, not where the transmitter is.