The official FCC rules and regulations are codified in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and are found on the FCC web site at the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47 index page. This would make the official legal name of Part 97 to be 47CFR97.

Changes in the rules are published in the Federal Register during the year as they happen. After October 1 of each year, the Government Printing Office compiles all the changes, additions, and deletions to the FCC rules and finalizes an updated CFR in the following January. That CFR is published in Febuary and is valid until the following years October issue is published the following Febuary. Yes, that sounds confusing, but, here's an example that may clarify things: The October 2009 edition of the Rules is published in Febuary 2010, and is valid until the October 2010 edition is published in Febuary 2011.

The five rules sections most of interest to amateur radio operators are provided below as locally downloadable files for the current issue and a few previous issues. We grabbed the files below from the link above, and that's where you can find any other section you might find interesting - like Part 13 (commercial radio operators), Part 68 (Connection of equipment to the telephone network), Part 87 (aviation services), etc.

The current issue of FCC Rules is dated 01 October 2010, is valid from Febuary 2011 to Febuary 2012, and all prior issues are rescinded and of no legal effect. The 2011 issue will be published early in 2012. In the list below, the year in parentheses, i.e. "(2007)" is a link to the prior versions that were already on the server from when they were current. They are here only for any historical interest since they have no authority once a newer version is published. Additional obsolete issues of the Rules are available on the CFR Web site.

• Current FCC Rules Title 47 Part 15   (RF Devices)   680 KB PDF     (2009)     (2008)     (2007)     (2004)
• Current FCC Rules Title 47 Part 17   (tower lighting)   80 KB PDF   The tower owners need to be worried about this...     (2009)     (2008)     (2007)     (2004)
• Current FCC Rules Title 47 Part 90   (private land mobile radio services, including railroad)   1.17 MB PDF     (2009)     (2008)     (2007)     (2004)
• Current FCC Rules Title 47 Part 95   (GMRS, FRS, Radio Control, CB, MICS, LPRS, WMTS, MURS)   261 KB PDF     2009     2008     2007     2004
• Current FCC Rules Title 47 Part 97   (amateur radio service)   180 KB PDF     2009     2008     2007     2004
  We licensed amateur radio operators are supposed to have a copy of the Part 97 rules in our posession, so I suggest that you might want to print a copy (double-sided if your printer can do it), 3-hole punch it, put it in a binder and keep it on your bookshelf. You won't need a thick binder, it's under 40 pages.
  Bill Cross of the FCC once commented that there was a "a top-to-bottom re-write of Part 97 in 1951, 1968, and 1989" so if someone tells you that "the Rules say..." and his topic is pre-1989 it would be kind to hand him a current copy.
• The official FCC Amateur Radio Service web page   This link goes to the FCC web site.

Other FCC Rule-related Articles:

• Repeater and Auxiliary Station Control by Robert W. Meister WA1MIK
  A look at two major rules that govern station control. Always an interesting topic for discussion.

Ancient History:

• FCC Rules Title 47 Part 97   (Amateur Radio Service)         1964     1965     1973
• FCC Rules Title 47 Part 99   (Disaster Communications Service)         1965     1985     1989
  In 1990 the DCS rules were folded into part 97. The part number 99 will eventually be recycled.

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This page originally posted on Sunday 14-Aug-2011.