I am tryng to see if my 'dropping screen' is due to a browser thing.
So I have this going here now so here is the test post:
Basis and purpose of the Amateur Radio Service
One of the basic purposes of the Amateur Radio Service as defined in Part 97 is to provide a voluntary noncommercial communications service to the public, particularly in times of emergency. Second is the continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art. Third is the encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art. The last two of the five fundamental purposes for the Amateur Radio Service are to increase the number of trained radio operators and electronics experts, and to improve international goodwill.
Amateur radio has an established track record of providing communications in disasters when all other methods of communication have failed. Emergency agencies depend on us for that vital service because they know what we can do for them. We get out and explore what we can do with our equipment for the sake of the exploration. Along the way we acquire skills and experience that can not be obtained in any other way in the field of how to get the message 'from here to there' and back again. We make friends in distant places, some of whom we will never meet in person. We recognize them by voice and name. We are aware of the trials and triumphs in their lives just as if they lived across the street from us.
Station Operations.
Rules and Regulations - Authority
The ITU (The International Telecommunication Union) is the United Nations Agency that is responsible for the administration of international treaties and regulations of radio services world wide. The ITU divides the world into Regions that are used to assist in the management of frequency allocations. The Continental United States is in ITU Region 2.
Under authority given by the Communications Act of 1931, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) makes and enforces the rules for the Amateur Radio Service in the United States. Those rules are known officially as the Code of Federal Regulations 47 part 97. We refer to this set of rules for the Amateur Radio Service as Part 97. The Federal Communications Commission is the government agency that grants your amateur radio license.
At any time the FCC may inspect your station equipment and records. Unless you have been very naughty, they will contact you to make an appointment for that inspection. The legal authority to conduct those inspections is granted in the law and regulations cited above.
A US amateur operator may communicate with an amateur in a foreign country at any time unless prohibited by either government. Most countries that allow their citizens to have amateur radio licenses have no objections to those licensees contacting US operators, but you do need to take note that if the other government objects to the contact, your government forbids contacting them via ham radio.
The License.
An amateur operator as defined in Part 97 is a person named in an amateur operator/primary license grant in the FCC ULS (Uniform Licensing System) database. The definition of an amateur radio station is a station in the Amateur Radio Service consisting of the apparatus necessary for carrying on radio communications. The license and callsign assigned to you in the amateur radio service is for both you as an operator and your station and its equipment. Only in the Amateur Radio Service is an operator/station license issued by the FCC. In all other radio services the station license has the callsign associated with it. The operator license when required has no callsign, but serves only as certification of a person being qualified to operate a station in their respective service. A person may hold only one amateur operator/primary station license.
The classes of US amateur radio licenses that may currently be earned by examination are Technician, General, and Extra. There are two other classes of license in the amateur radio service, the Novice and the Advanced class but there is no testing for those licenses in the current system. Novice and Advanced licenses are still renewable.
You may transmit after passing the required examination elements for your first amateur radio license and as soon as your license grant appears in the FCC ULS database.
An amateur radio license is usually granted for a period of 10 years and can be renewed at any time within 90 days of it's expiration date and for as long as 2 years after expiring without taking a new examination. You are not allowed to transmit during the 2 year "grace" period. You are allowed to transmit only when your name and callsign are listed as valid in the FCC ULS database.
Who can get it?
Anyone can become an amateur licensee in the US except a representative of a foreign government. If you are a spy, put down the book and back away. There is no minimum age requirement to hold an amateur license. Children as young as 7 years have obtained licenses all the way to Extra class. There is no requirement to be a US citizen. If you can pass the exam elements required you will receive a license to operate.
Where can you use it?
A US amateur license allows you to transmit on amateur radio frequencies from wherever the Amateur Radio Service is regulated by the FCC and where reciprocal agreements are in place. A "reciprocal operating agreement" means that the officials of the other nation recognize your license as valid inside the territory of the other nation. You are allowed to operate your amateur station in a foreign country when there is a reciprocal operating agreement between the countries. A good example would be operating while visiting Canada. Canada recognizes US licenses and the US recognizes Canadian licenses as authority to operate. Where there is no reciprocal agreement between the US and another country you may be able to obtain a license issued by the other nation for use during your visit. You need to remember that while in a foreign nation you must follow the rules and regulations of that nation regarding radio operations even if your US license is recognized by that nation as operating authority.
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So I see changing browsers has changed things! The post screen hasn't fallen yet, even tho I'm down this far into this post.
Cool!
