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G1E05

COMMISSION'S RULES · - Control categories; repeater regulations; third-party rules; ITU regions; automatically controlled digital station

G1E05§ 97.115(a)(2), 97.117G1E →

What are the restrictions on messages sent to a third party in a country with which there is a Third-Party Agreement?

  1. AThey must relate to emergencies or disaster relief
  2. BThey must be for other licensed amateurs
  3. CThey must relate to amateur radio, or remarks of a personal character, or messages relating to emergencies or disaster relief
  4. DThe message must be limited to no longer than 1 minute in duration and the name of the third party must be recorded in the station log
Why Section 97.115(a)(2) lets you pass third-party traffic to a foreign station only if that country has a third-party agreement with the US, and 97.117 limits the content of any international amateur communication to matters relating to amateur radio, remarks of a personal character, or traffic involving emergencies or disaster relief. That three-part list is the whole allowance, so a message meeting any one of those descriptions is permitted. Anything commercial or of a business nature is off limits, just as it is domestically.
Watch out Restricting third-party traffic to emergencies and disaster relief alone is too narrow; that is only one of the three permitted categories. There is also no rule setting a one-minute limit or requiring the third party's name in the log.
Three OKs for third party: ham radio talk, personal remarks, emergencies. No business, no time limit.
HamSandwich explanation, first draft. The question and answers are the NCVEC text.
47 CFR 97.115(a)(2) Third party communications.

(a) An amateur station may transmit messages for a third party to:

(1) Any station within the jurisdiction of the United States.

(2) Any station within the jurisdiction of any foreign government when transmitting emergency or disaster relief communications and any station within the jurisdiction of any foreign government whose administration has made arrangements with the United States to allow amateur stations to be used for transmitting international communications on behalf of third parties. No station shall transmit messages for a third party to any station within the jurisdiction of any foreign government whose administration has not made such an arrangement. This prohibition does not apply to a message for any third party who is eligible to be a control operator of the station.

(b) The third party may participate in stating the message where:

(1) The control operator is present at the control point and is continuously monitoring and supervising the third party's participation; and

(2) The third party is not a prior amateur service licensee whose license was revoked or not renewed after hearing and re-licensing has not taken place; suspended for less than the balance of the license term and the suspension is still in effect; suspended for the balance of the license term and re-licensing has not taken place; or surrendered for cancellation following notice of revocation, suspension or monetary forfeiture proceedings. The third party may not be the subject of a cease and desist order which relates to amateur service operation and which is still in effect.

(c) No station may transmit third party communications while being automatically controlled except a station transmitting a RTTY or data emission.

(d) At the end of an exchange of international third party communications, the station must also transmit in the station identification procedure the call sign of the station with which a third party message was exchanged.

eCFR text as of 1 Sep 2026 · read on ecfr.gov
47 CFR 97.117 International communications.

Transmissions to a different country, where permitted, shall be limited to communications incidental to the purposes of the amateur service and to remarks of a personal character.

eCFR text as of 1 Sep 2026 · read on ecfr.gov
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The rest of G1E

  1. G1E01 Which of the following would disqualify a third party from participating in sending a message via an amateur …
  2. G1E02 When may a 10-meter repeater retransmit the 2-meter signal from a station that has a Technician class control…
  3. G1E03 What is required to conduct communications with a digital station operating under automatic control outside t…
  4. G1E04 Which of the following conditions require a licensed amateur radio operator to take specific steps to avoid h…
  5. G1E05 What are the restrictions on messages sent to a third party in a country with which there is a Third-Party Ag…
  6. G1E06 The frequency allocations of which ITU region apply to radio amateurs operating in North and South America?
  7. G1E07 In what part of the 2.4 GHz band may an amateur station communicate with non-licensed Wi-Fi stations?
  8. G1E08 What is the maximum PEP output allowed for spread spectrum transmissions?
  9. G1E10 Why should an amateur operator normally avoid transmitting on 14.100, 18.110, 21.150, 24.930 and 28.200 MHz?
  10. G1E11 On what bands may automatically controlled stations transmitting RTTY or data emissions communicate with othe…
  11. G1E12 When may third-party messages be transmitted via remote control?
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