Frequency Planning & License Envelope

Contents

Section	Topic
1	About this volume
2	Part 97 amateur (Extra-class privileges)
3	Part 95 (GMRS, FRS, CB, MURS)
4	Part 90 LMR (RX-only legality)
5	Part 22 cellular (RX legality and the ECPA spine)
6	Part 87 aero (RX legality)
7	Part 80 marine + NOAA WX channels
8	Receive-only spectrum etiquette
9	The frequency_charts/ directory
10	License envelope summary table
11	Resources

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1. About this volume {#about-this-volume}

This is the cross-cutting synthesis volume that frames the regulatory envelope across every radio, scanner, and hotspot in the lineup. The per-radio volumes describe what each piece of equipment is physically capable of; this one describes what’s actually legal to operate — band by band, service by service, transmit versus receive, with the specific carve-outs that apply to an FCC Amateur Extra-class licensee who also has scanners and a single GMRS-eligible household but no Part 90 / Part 87 / Part 80 / Part 22 authorization to transmit.

The spine of the whole volume is the transmit-versus-receive distinction. Almost every interesting band on the bench is legal to receive without any license at all; the regulatory friction lives entirely on the transmit side, where each service has its own licensing regime, type-acceptance rules, and power/mode constraints. The flagship Uniden scanners (Vols 10/11/12) are hardware receive-only by Part 15 certification — there is no legitimate question of “is it legal to receive this band” because the device doesn’t transmit at all. The only RX-side regulatory wrinkle is the ECPA carve-out for cellular voice and intentional decryption of protected communications (§5 and §8 below). Outside that one carve-out, the operating posture is simple: receive freely, transmit only where licensed.

The reader is assumed to hold FCC Amateur Extra-class privileges — the highest US amateur license tier, granting full Part 97 access across all amateur bands HF through microwave, all modes, up to 1500 W PEP (with band-specific reductions detailed in §2). That framing carries through the Part 97 discussion; the prose treats Jeff peer-to-peer (“the right operating procedure on your authorized bands”) rather than walking through the license-class hierarchy as a beginner reference. Non-amateur services keep standard regulatory framing because the Extra ticket does not extend to Part 90 (LMR), Part 22 (cellular), Part 87 (aero), Part 80 (marine), or any sub-service of Part 95 beyond what the operator separately licenses (GMRS) or is exempt from (FRS/MURS/CB). Holding the highest amateur license is irrelevant outside the amateur service — the FCC treats each service’s authorization independently.

The per-radio cross-links are the load-bearing structure of this volume. Each section maps the regulatory text to specific equipment: §2 maps Part 97 amateur bands to which of Vols 2/3/4/5/6/7 cover what; §3 cross-links Part 95 to the F8HP and UV-B5 type-acceptance trap; §4 cross-links Part 90 RX to the Uniden scanner lineup (Vols 10–17); and so on. A reader who arrives here from a per-radio §8 (Tips & tricks) link gets the regulatory framing they need without having to read the whole volume; a reader who wants the whole licensing posture in one sitting reads top to bottom.

Two sibling references are load-bearing throughout. First, Antennas Vol 31 (Regulatory & RF Safety) carries the deep treatment of FCC Part 15 (unlicensed devices, the ISM bands), the ERP/EIRP arithmetic, the MPE compliance workflow under OET-65, and lightning protection per NEC 250/810. Where this volume could re-derive that material, it cross-links instead — Vol 31 is the canonical regulatory deep dive for the entire tjscientist-labs corpus, and the duplication would be both wasteful and inevitably drift out of sync. Second, Vol 1 §4 (License envelope) carries the at-a-glance summary table that previews what §10 of this volume expands. The two-row symmetry between Vol 1’s preview and this volume’s deep treatment is the same pattern the Antennas series uses between its overview (Vol 1) and its regulatory closeout (Vol 31).

The project-local source-of-truth for “what’s actually programmed in the bench’s radios at this point in time” is the 02-inputs/frequency_charts/ directory — two Excel spreadsheets (Local Frequencies sorted analog, April 2022, and My Frequency Chart, March 2024) that capture Jeff’s local-area scanner programming and amateur planning at specific historical snapshots. Those files are the practical anchor for “what does the bench listen to in the local area”; §9 covers them in detail. The regulatory text in §2-7 frames what’s legal to listen to and transmit; the frequency charts frame what’s actually loaded into each radio’s codeplug. Both views are necessary.

A note on dates and currency. Federal regulations change. The 2021-05-03 amateur MPE rulemaking changed the categorical exclusion landscape; the 2022-04 FCC application-fee reinstatement changed the new-license cost; the rolling NCVEC question-pool updates change the exam window every year; and the periodic FCC enforcement-policy memoranda shift the practical interpretation of edge cases (especially around ECPA + scanner reception and Part 95 type-acceptance enforcement priorities). The text below reflects the regulatory landscape as of mid-2026. Where a specific dollar amount, date, or version is liable to drift, it’s flagged as **TBD — verify against the current FCC text at <eCFR URL>**. Treat the cited dollar amounts and exam pool dates as approximate; verify before relying on them for decisions.

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2. Part 97 amateur (Extra-class privileges) {#part-97-amateur}

47 CFR Part 97 is the federal regulatory framework for the Amateur Radio Service. As an Amateur Extra-class licensee Jeff holds the highest US amateur license tier, with full operating privileges across every amateur frequency allocation from 1.8 MHz through the microwave bands, all modes (CW, SSB, AM, FM, image, digital), up to 1500 W PEP — subject to the band-specific reductions and the §97.313(a) “minimum power necessary” discipline that frames the 1500 W as a ceiling, not a target.

This section frames the operating envelope band by band, with cross-links to the per-radio volumes that cover what equipment hits which bands. The deep regulatory treatment — exam structure, ITU regions, ERP/EIRP arithmetic, the 2021 MPE rule change, OET-65 workflow — lives in Antennas Vol 31 §4; this volume covers the parts that are specifically per-radio relevant.

2.1 The band table — Extra privileges by allocation

The US amateur band allocations with their mode + power constraints, and which equipment in the lineup covers them:

Band	Frequency (MHz)	Power ceiling	Mode notes	Lineup coverage
160 m	1.800-2.000	1500 W PEP	All modes; phone above 1.800	X6100 (low-band tx-capable; antenna constraint)
80 m	3.500-4.000	1500 W PEP	CW lower, phone upper	X6100 + XPA125B
60 m	5 channels (5332/5348/5358.5/5373/5405 kHz USB)	100 W ERP referenced to half-wave dipole	USB only, secondary status, no CW/digital except DV per WRC-15 5351.5-5366.5	X6100 (channelized only)
40 m	7.000-7.300 (Region 2)	1500 W PEP	All modes	X6100 + XPA125B
30 m	10.100-10.150	200 W PEP	CW + digital only — no phone; secondary status	X6100 (CW/digital posture)
20 m	14.000-14.350	1500 W PEP	All modes; DX workhorse	X6100 + XPA125B
17 m	18.068-18.168	1500 W PEP	All modes; WARC	X6100
15 m	21.000-21.450	1500 W PEP	All modes; solar-cycle DX	X6100 + XPA125B
12 m	24.890-24.990	1500 W PEP	All modes; WARC	X6100
10 m	28.000-29.700	1500 W PEP	All modes; FM repeaters 29.5+	X6100 + XPA125B
6 m	50.000-54.000	1500 W PEP	All modes; “magic band”	X6100, VX-8DR (6 m FM)
2 m	144.000-148.000	1500 W PEP	All modes; LOS + repeaters	VX-8DR, F8HP, UV-B5, D878UVII
1.25 m	222.000-225.000	1500 W PEP	Region 2 only; RX-only on VX-8DR (no TX)	VX-8DR (RX only) — no TX-capable radio in lineup
70 cm	420.000-450.000	1500 W PEP	All modes; heaviest VHF/UHF allocation	VX-8DR, F8HP, UV-B5, D878UVII, hotspots SkyBridge + WPSD
33 cm	902-928	1500 W PEP	Shared with Part 15 ISM and Part 90	(no current TX-capable radio in lineup; gap)
23 cm	1240-1300	1500 W PEP	Shared with GPS L2; coordination required	(no current TX-capable radio in lineup; gap)
Above 23 cm	various microwave allocations	1500 W PEP (some reductions)	All modes	(no current TX-capable radio; gap)

The three power exceptions that matter operationally for Extra-class: 30 m (200 W PEP, CW + digital only — no phone), 60 m (100 W ERP referenced to a half-wave dipole, USB only, on five discrete channels), and Technician-class 10 m (200 W PEP — not relevant for Extra holders but the band shares spectrum with Extra). The 30 m posture for the X6100 is to dial the power knob to ~50 W out (well under the 200 W ceiling, comfortably within the X6100’s native 10 W output anyway) and run FT8 / FT4 / CW / JS8 only. The 60 m posture is more constrained: the five channels are programmed into the X6100’s memories, USB-only mode is set per channel, the antenna’s gain figure (a Wolf River Coil + counterpoise on the bench is roughly -3 to 0 dBd depending on tuning) bounds how much TX power the 100 W ERP cap allows, which works out to “run the X6100 standalone at 10 W and don’t engage the XPA125B amplifier on 60 m.” That’s the operating discipline; verify the antenna’s actual gain figure before keying up if precision matters.

The 1.25 m (222-225 MHz) allocation is amateur-Region-2-only — there is no European 1.25 m. The VX-8DR can receive 222-225 MHz but does not transmit on it (Yaesu chose not to include 1.25 m TX in the VX-8 family even though Yaesu’s other quad-band Region-2 portables historically have); cross-link to Vol 2 (Yaesu VX-8DR) §3 for the receive-only framing. No current TX-capable radio in the lineup covers 1.25 m TX; adding a Kenwood TH-F6A or a TYT MD-2017 would fill that gap if 1.25 m operation becomes a priority. TBD — verify whether Jeff has any preference for 1.25 m TX capability; if not, the gap is intentional and uninteresting.

The 33 cm (902-928 MHz) allocation is the most regulatory-complex amateur band in the lineup. It’s shared three ways: amateur on a secondary basis under Part 97, Part 90 LMR primary use in some regions, and Part 15 ISM unlicensed use across the entire allocation (this is the 900 MHz Zigbee / LoRa / Z-Wave band). Amateur 33 cm operation is technically authorized to 1500 W PEP but constrained by the “non-interference to primary services” requirement of Part 97’s secondary status. Practically, 33 cm amateur use is light and most amateurs running there are on low power (sub-100 W) into a Yagi for SOTA / VHF/UHF contesting. No current bench radio operates 33 cm TX.

2.2 The mode sub-band structure

Within each band, §97.305 carves out sub-bands by emission type. The general pattern is:

• CW + RTTY + data at the low end of each band.
• Phone (SSB on HF, FM on VHF/UHF) + image at the high end of each band.
• Beacon / repeater / specific-use sub-bands carved out for special purposes.

For Extra-class the practical sub-band map matches the ARRL US Amateur Bands chart (https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Hambands_color.pdf), which is the recommended laminate-for-the-shack reference. Print one, post it near the radio, glance at it before tuning.

The sub-bands that bite occasionally:

• 80 m phone starts at 3.700 MHz for Extra; if you tune the X6100 below 3.700 for SSB phone work you’re CW/digital territory only.
• 40 m phone starts at 7.025 MHz in the US (it’s CW-only below 7.025, though digital modes can sit anywhere in the band).
• 20 m phone starts at 14.150 MHz for Extra; below that is CW + digital.
• 15 m phone starts at 21.200 MHz for Extra.
• 6 m has a “weak signal” sub-band at 50.000-50.100 MHz that’s CW-only by convention (not regulatory but heavily enforced by local culture); SSB phone goes above 50.100; FM repeaters concentrate at 51-54.
• 2 m repeater outputs concentrate at 144.80-145.50 and 146-148 MHz; 144-144.10 is CW + EME territory; 144.20 is the SSB DX calling frequency; 144.39 is the APRS national channel.
• 70 cm repeater outputs concentrate at 442-450 MHz with inputs offset −5 MHz; 432.0-432.1 is CW + EME; 432.10 is SSB DX calling.

The CW/SSB sub-band boundaries are §97.305 and §97.301 territory; the FM repeater coordination is voluntary frequency-coordinator territory (in Michigan, the Michigan Area Repeater Council, MARC, handles 2 m / 70 cm / 1.25 m / 33 cm frequency coordination — local coordinator URLs are listed in §11).

2.3 Identification — §97.119

The §97.119 ID rule: identify at the end of each communication and at least every 10 minutes during a communication. Phone uses spoken callsign; CW uses sent callsign. Most digital-mode software (FT8 via WSJT-X, JS8 via JS8Call, FLDIGI’s various modes) handles ID automatically by embedding the callsign in the protocol’s standard message format — a properly-configured FT8 exchange satisfies §97.119 because the protocol can’t avoid sending the callsign. For DMR, the radio’s transmit packet header includes the operator’s 7-digit DMR ID, which is bound to the callsign through the radioid.net registration; that satisfies §97.119 as the regulators currently interpret it (the ID is in the transmission, just in a digital format). The digital identification is current-FCC-interpretation, not statute — be aware that this could be reinterpreted; the conservative posture is to also voice-ID periodically when running long DMR sessions.

The §97.119 ID rule applies to every transmission the amateur originates — including hotspot transmissions. When the DIY WPSD hotspot carries Jeff’s signal to BrandMeister, the on-air RF (the 9 dBm or so the MMDVM hat puts into the dummy load / antenna) is identifying as Jeff because the DMR header carries Jeff’s DMR ID. There’s no separate “hotspot callsign”; the operator’s callsign is what’s ID’d. Same for the SkyBridge Plus. Cross-link to Vol 20 §6 (Network etiquette) for the DMR-specific ID conventions.

2.4 Prohibited modes and content — §97.113

§97.113 prohibits five categories of amateur transmission:

1. Communications for hire or material compensation, except where specifically authorized (the §97.113(b) carve-out for teachers + students in classroom demonstrations, and the §97.113(c) carve-out for one-way information bulletins from clubs).
2. Communications in which the licensee has a pecuniary interest — no commercial business operation over amateur radio.
3. Broadcasting — one-way transmission to a wide audience, except for §97.113(b)/(c)/(d) carve-outs (RACES, education, club bulletins).
4. Encrypted communications, with three carve-outs: satellite TT&C (telemetry, tracking, and command — the AMSAT operating standard), digital messages where the encryption is part of an authorized protocol that’s publicly documented (this is the carve-out that arguably covers DMR’s optional 40-bit BASIC privacy code, though the FCC has never definitively ruled), and emergency communications where the FCC has granted a specific waiver.
5. Music — except for incidental music in voice transmissions and rebroadcast of NASA mission audio (which the FCC has held includes incidental music from astronaut activities). The “music prohibition” is honored mostly in the breach — most amateur QSOs don’t involve background music, but a child of a contest-station operator’s birthday party in the background is treated as incidental and not prosecuted.

The encryption carve-out matters specifically for DMR operation. DMR Tier II radios commonly support an optional 40-bit privacy code (sometimes called “BASIC” privacy) and an optional 128-bit “ENHANCED” privacy mode. Neither is allowed on amateur frequencies — both are explicitly excluded from the §97.113 satellite-TT&C and authorized-protocol carve-outs. The AnyTone D878UVII PLUS has the privacy options in firmware; leave them disabled when operating amateur DMR. The privacy options exist because the same hardware is also sold for Part 90 commercial DMR use where the privacy is allowed. Cross-link to Vol 5 (AnyTone D878UVII) §3 for the per-radio framing — Jeff’s amateur posture has privacy disabled across all DMR channels, with the privacy disabled at the codeplug level (not just toggled off in the menu) to remove the possibility of accidentally enabling it.

2.5 Third-party traffic and international restrictions

§97.115 authorizes amateur “third-party traffic” — transmissions for someone other than the licensee. The third party can speak on the radio (via the licensee’s PTT and supervision) under §97.115(b)(2); messages can be relayed; emergency traffic from non-licensees can be forwarded. The licensee is responsible for everything transmitted.

The international wrinkle: third-party traffic to/from foreign amateur stations requires an explicit reciprocal third-party traffic agreement between the US and the foreign country. The US has third-party traffic agreements with Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, many Latin American countries, and various others — about 70 countries as of mid-2026. The US does NOT have third-party traffic agreements with most of Europe (Germany, France, Italy specifically have refused for historical PTT-monopoly reasons), Japan, Russia, China, or many African countries.

The practical implication: a US ham can hand the microphone to a non-licensed friend for a chat with a Canadian station (third-party agreement in place); the same handoff to a German station is technically a §97.115 violation. The list is at https://www.arrl.org/third-party-operating-agreements.

2.6 Emergency operations — §97.401-407

The §97.401-407 subpart governs emergency operations under amateur radio. The key concepts:

• §97.401 — Operation during a disaster: when the FAA has declared a National Emergency, amateurs may operate outside their normal frequency privileges if needed for emergency communications.
• §97.403 — Safety of life and protection of property: any amateur may transmit on any frequency in any service, regardless of licensing, when “necessary in connection with the immediate safety of human life or immediate protection of property” — the catch-all that authorizes a ham to break into a cellular band, a Part 90 LMR system, or any other frequency to summon help in a genuine emergency. This authority is not a routine operating provision; it’s a “the building is on fire and the regular phone is broken” provision.
• §97.405 — Station in distress: a station in distress may use any means and frequency to obtain help.
• §97.407 — Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES): a separate, civil-defense-coordinated emergency service that uses amateur stations under specific emergency-management authority. Different from ARES (which is the ARRL’s volunteer emergency-response program — not a regulatory concept).

The RACES authorization is relevant for Jeff because Michigan’s emergency-management infrastructure includes a RACES component; Wayne County and the surrounding counties have RACES-affiliated amateur clubs. TBD — verify whether Jeff is RACES-registered with the local emergency management agency; if so, that affects the §97.407 operating authority during state-declared emergencies.

2.7 Call-sign suffix conventions

Two suffix conventions are worth knowing:

• Mobile / portable suffixes. W1AW/M (callsign followed by /M) indicates mobile operation — operating from a vehicle. W1AW/P indicates portable — operating from a temporary location away from the station’s registered address. These suffixes are not required by FCC rule but are widely observed by convention; they help receiving stations understand the operating posture.
• Geographic suffixes. When operating from a different FCC call district, the operator may use W1AW/3 (W1AW operating from the 3rd-call-district area — Maryland/Delaware/Virginia/etc.) to signal the location change. Not required by FCC rule; widely observed. The reverse — operating from your registered address — uses no suffix. International operation uses the visited-country prefix per CEPT (F/W1AW for W1AW operating in France).

The suffix conventions matter for portable POTA / SOTA operation with the X6100 — when Jeff activates a park or summit, the convention is to ID as W?CWT/P (or whatever Jeff’s callsign is — verify against current FCC ULS records). The contact log entries on the receiving stations and the chase apps will tag the contact correctly with the portable suffix; without it, the contact is logged as the home station and the park/summit award doesn’t credit.

2.8 The bench’s TX-capable radios and what they cover

A quick map of which radio in the lineup actually transmits where:

• Yaesu VX-8DR (Vol 2): 50-54 MHz FM (6 m), 144-148 MHz FM (2 m), 222-225 MHz RX only (1.25 m), 420-450 MHz FM (70 cm); 5 W max.
• Baofeng F8HP (Vol 3): 144-148 MHz FM (2 m), 420-450 MHz FM (70 cm); 8 W (the “HP” suffix); RX coverage wider but TX strictly amateur sub-bands by Part 97 compliance posture (the radio is capable of TX outside the amateur bands, which is the §3 Part 95 concern below).
• Baofeng UV-B5 (Vol 4): 136-174 MHz FM (covers 2 m amateur + Part 90 VHF + Part 95 MURS + Part 80 marine + Part 87 aero), 400-470 MHz FM (covers 70 cm amateur + Part 90 UHF + Part 95 GMRS/FRS); 4 W; same Part 95 type-acceptance concern as F8HP.
• AnyTone D878UVII PLUS (Vol 5): 136-174 MHz (analog FM + DMR), 400-480 MHz (analog FM + DMR); 7 W. Amateur-bands-only TX in the codeplug; analog and DMR modes both available on amateur frequencies.
• Xiegu X6100 (Vol 6): 0.5-30 MHz HF + 50-54 MHz; 5-10 W typical (peaks higher with the QRP-spec compromises); SSB / CW / AM / FM / digital (FT8/etc.); SDR-based with substantial RX coverage beyond the TX-allowed amateur bands.
• Xiegu XPA125B (Vol 7): HF amplifier (1.8-54 MHz coverage), 100 W out; drives the X6100; 1500 W PEP regulatory ceiling not approached even at full XPA125B output.
• SkyBridge Plus (Vol 18): DMR-only hotspot, 70 cm or 2 m (configurable); 10 mW (typical hotspot power); covers the DMR uplink to BrandMeister/TGIF/WPSD.
• DIY WPSD Hotspot (Vol 19): DMR / D-Star / YSF / NXDN / P25 / M17 (all digital modes the MMDVM hat supports); 70 cm or 2 m; 10 mW typical.

The receive-only radios in the lineup — Tecsun PL-880 (Vol 8), Midland WR120 (Vol 9), and every Uniden scanner (Vols 10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17) — have no Part 97 TX role. They’re covered in §4 (Part 90 LMR RX), §5 (Part 22 cellular RX), §6 (Part 87 aero RX), and §7 (Part 80 marine + NOAA WX) for their relevant receive bands.

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3. Part 95 (GMRS, FRS, CB, MURS) {#part-95}

Part 95 is the FCC’s Personal Radio Services subpart — the consumer-oriented allocations that don’t require an amateur exam. Five sub-services matter for the bench (in order of relevance): GMRS, FRS, MURS, CB, and the model-control allocations (which the bench doesn’t touch). The Extra-class amateur license does NOT extend to any of these services; each is its own authorization regime.

The headline operational fact for the bench: the Baofeng F8HP, UV-B5, and AnyTone D878UVII PLUS are all electrically capable of TX on Part 95 frequencies (GMRS, FRS, MURS) but are NOT Part 95 type-accepted. This is the type-acceptance trap that §3.2 covers in detail. The amateur posture is: those radios TX on amateur frequencies only; the Part 95 frequencies are monitored for incoming traffic on adjacent scanner programming but not transmitted on from amateur-radio-only-certified equipment.

3.1 The five Part 95 sub-services

Sub-service	Reg cite	Frequency	Power	License	Certification
CB (Citizens Band)	Part 95 §95D (§95.701-95.789)	26.965-27.405 MHz (40 channels)	4 W AM / 12 W PEP SSB	None	Required; integrated or detachable antenna
FRS (Family Radio Service)	Part 95 §95B (§95.501-95.587)	462.5625-462.7250 + 467.5625-467.7125 MHz (22 channels)	0.5-2 W (channel-dependent)	None	Required; integrated antenna only
GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service)	Part 95 §95E (§95.1701-95.1791)	462.55-462.7250 + 467.55-467.7125 MHz (30 channels: 22 shared with FRS + 8 repeater inputs)	Up to 50 W on 8 main channels; lower on others	$35 / 10-year license (covers family)	Required
MURS (Multi-Use Radio Service)	Part 95 §95J (§95.2701-95.2789)	151.820, 151.880, 151.940, 154.570, 154.600 MHz (5 channels)	2 W	None	Required; integrated antenna only
R/C model control + PRS	Part 95 §95C / §95G / others	27 MHz / 50 MHz / 72 MHz / 75 MHz narrow allocations	Various low	None	Required

The detailed channel charts:

GMRS channels (FCC §95.1763):

GMRS ch	Freq (MHz)	Power max	Use
1-7	462.5625-462.7250 (downlink set)	5 W on FRS-shared; higher on GMRS license	Simplex (FRS-shared)
8-14	467.5625-467.7125	0.5 W only	Simplex (FRS-shared)
15-22	462.5500-462.7250 (FRS-and-GMRS-licensed)	50 W (GMRS license) / 5 W (FRS)	Simplex on FRS-equipment; high-power simplex on GMRS
15R-22R	467.5500-467.7250 (GMRS repeater inputs)	50 W	Repeater inputs (paired with 15-22 outputs)

FRS channels (FCC §95.563) are identical to GMRS channels 1-22 but with lower power and integrated-antenna-only constraints. The shared-channel design lets an FRS handheld and a GMRS handheld talk to each other simplex.

MURS channels (FCC §95.2763):

MURS ch	Freq (MHz)	Bandwidth	Notes
1	151.820	11.25 kHz	Narrow FM
2	151.880	11.25 kHz	Narrow FM
3	151.940	11.25 kHz	Narrow FM
4	154.570	20.0 kHz	Wide FM (legacy “Color Dot” Blue)
5	154.600	20.0 kHz	Wide FM (legacy “Color Dot” Green)

CB channels — 40 AM channels at 5-kHz spacing 26.965-27.405 MHz, plus SSB capability on channels 36-40 (some legacy 40-channel SSB designations exist but the §95.733 channelization is the same 40 channels). Channel 9 (27.065 MHz) is the legacy emergency channel; channel 19 (27.185 MHz) is the trucker-and-traveler channel.

3.2 The type-acceptance trap

§95.7 requires that any equipment used on a Part 95 frequency be FCC-type-accepted for that specific Part 95 sub-service. The certification is a separate equipment authorization from amateur (Part 97) certification. A radio can be Part 97 amateur-certified for general amateur use AND Part 90 LMR-certified for commercial use AND not Part 95 certified — even if it’s electrically capable of TX on Part 95 frequencies. This is the structure of the FCC’s equipment-authorization regime: per-service certifications, not a single “is the radio FCC-OK” certification.

The trap: the Baofeng F8HP and UV-B5 cover 144-148 MHz (amateur 2 m) and 420-470 MHz UHF (amateur 70 cm + GMRS + FRS + Part 90 commercial UHF). The radios are Part 90-certified for commercial LMR use (this is what’s on the FCC ID label) — and they are not Part 95-certified for GMRS, FRS, or MURS. Using an F8HP or UV-B5 on a GMRS frequency violates §95.7 even if the operator has a GMRS license.

The same structural trap applies to:

• AnyTone D878UVII PLUS — Part 90 certified, not Part 95.
• Yaesu VX-8DR — Part 97 certified only (no commercial Part 90 cert), not Part 95.
• Quansheng UV-K5 (the Hack Tools/Quansheng UV-K5 variant) — Part 90 certified only, not Part 95.
• Wouxun KG-905G / KG-1000G / Midland MXT400 — these ARE Part 95 GMRS certified and are the legitimate GMRS-equipment options.

The enforcement landscape: §95.7 is enforced opportunistically by the FCC, generally when a complaint surfaces (e.g., interference between a Part 90 user and a non-certified Part 95 user on a shared frequency). The casual GMRS user with a Baofeng is rarely prosecuted; the operator who runs a Baofeng-built GMRS repeater is at higher risk because the radiated power and persistent operation make them findable. The conservative posture is to use Part 95-certified equipment for any Part 95 frequency TX — and that means buying a Wouxun or Midland for GMRS rather than retasking the Baofeng.

The practical bench posture that follows: the Baofeng F8HP and UV-B5 stay on amateur frequencies for TX. GMRS frequencies are received via the scanner (SDS100, SDS200, BCD536HP) — fine for monitoring family-channel chatter. If GMRS TX becomes useful (long-range family or hiking-partner communication where amateur isn’t accessible to the other party), the answer is a Wouxun KG-905G in the budget, not a Baofeng with the GMRS channels programmed in. TBD — verify whether Jeff currently holds an active GMRS license; if not, that’s the first step for any future Part 95 TX use, and the second step is the certified hardware.

3.3 GMRS specifics — the most interesting Part 95 sub-service

GMRS is the only Part 95 sub-service with repeater capability — and the only one where the licensing structure has interesting wrinkles. The summary:

• $35 for 10 years, family-shared (license covers the licensee plus immediate family members — spouses, parents, children, siblings, in-laws). Single license = household-wide TX privilege on GMRS frequencies with Part 95 certified equipment.
• No exam required — unlike amateur. The application is a Form 605 through FCC ULS (https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp).
• Repeater inputs at +5 MHz offset — GMRS channels 15-22 are simplex; channels 15R-22R refer to the repeater INPUT frequencies which are 5 MHz higher than the corresponding simplex channel. Repeater outputs are on 15-22.
• Up to 50 W TX on channels 15-22 (the eight main repeater-output channels); 5 W on 1-7; 0.5 W on 8-14. Channel-dependent power limits.
• GMRS interoperates with FRS on shared channels — channels 1-22 are shared. A GMRS handheld on channel 5 can be heard by an FRS handheld on channel 5 at lower power. This is the practical reason for the family-radio market.

GMRS repeaters are operated by individual licensees or by clubs; they require frequency coordination through the local repeater coordinator and registration through FCC ULS. Most GMRS repeaters are open to any GMRS licensee with the appropriate channel/tone programmed. Local Michigan GMRS repeaters can be found at https://mygmrs.com (the unofficial-but-canonical GMRS repeater directory) — search by ZIP code for local repeaters.

3.4 FRS — the unlicensed-walkie-talkie sub-service

FRS is the consumer “blister-pack walkie-talkie” service. The 22 channels overlap with GMRS channels 1-22. The hardware is sold at every big-box retailer (Walmart, Target, etc.) as “family two-way radios” — Motorola Talkabout, Cobra, Midland LXT-series, etc. — all of which are FRS-certified. The integrated-antenna constraint means the antenna is non-removable, which limits range to maybe a half-mile typical (the optimistic “35 mile” marketing numbers on the packaging are absurd — that’s free-space line-of-sight from a mountaintop in clear air at peak antenna efficiency).

FRS has no role in Jeff’s bench because there are no FRS-certified handhelds. The scanners can RX FRS (it’s the same 22 channels as GMRS); the bench can listen to neighborhood-kid chatter on FRS channels 1-7 during family-event afternoons. The receive-only posture is the right one for FRS.

3.5 MURS — the underused VHF sub-service

MURS is the most-obscure Part 95 sub-service — five channels at VHF (151/154 MHz), 2 W max, integrated antenna only, no license. Originally allocated in 2000 as a successor to the legacy “Color Dot” business radio service (the Blue, Green, Brown, Yellow color dots that older Part 90 itinerant business licenses ran on), MURS has not seen broad adoption — partly because the integrated-antenna constraint limits hobbyist appeal, partly because VHF range advantages are mostly visible in rural areas with line-of-sight, and partly because the type-acceptance enforcement is again the trap (the Baofeng UV-B5 covers MURS frequencies but isn’t MURS-certified; legitimate MURS radios are Wouxun KG-805M, Dakota Alert MURS-Series, etc., and they’re a small market).

MURS is mostly used for specific niche applications: campground / RV-park staff coordination, retail parking-lot security, ranch operations on rural properties, business-of-the-day comms where Part 90 itinerant licensing is too heavy. The Color-Dot Blue (154.57 MHz) and Green (154.60 MHz) channels are still in regular use because they’re wider-bandwidth (20 kHz vs the 11.25 kHz of channels 1-3) and the legacy Color-Dot radios are still in service.

For the bench, MURS is a monitor target on the scanners (it’s in the 151-154 MHz VHF segment that all the Uniden scanners cover cleanly) and an inactive TX target (no MURS-certified equipment on the bench). The local Michigan area has occasional MURS use — TBD verify with 02-inputs/frequency_charts/Local Frequencies (sorted Analog).xlsx whether any local MURS channels are in Jeff’s programmed scanner channels.

3.6 CB — the legacy 11-meter sub-service

CB (Citizens Band) is the historical 27 MHz allocation that pre-dates GMRS / FRS / MURS by decades. 40 channels of AM voice (channels 1-40) plus optional SSB on channels 36-40 (where the operator’s radio supports it). The CB allocation sits right above the amateur 10 m band (10 m extends to 29.7 MHz; CB starts at 26.965 MHz with the lower channels below the amateur allocation). CB is unlicensed, type-accepted equipment required, no exam, no per-user authorization.

CB has very little operational role on the bench. The X6100 (Vol 6) is electrically capable of RX on CB frequencies (any HF receiver covers 27 MHz) and the Tecsun PL-880 (Vol 8) tunes 27 MHz cleanly. No bench radio TX on CB; CB-certified equipment (Cobra, Uniden CB, Galaxy DX-series) is not part of the lineup. The historical reason CB was important — short-range communication without a license — has been largely displaced by FRS/GMRS (UHF) for short-range and cellular for long-range. CB remains popular among truckers (channel 19 still carries truck-and-trucker chatter on highways) and as a hobbyist DX-on-11-meters subculture, especially during solar peaks when 11 m skip is reliable.

The receive posture: if monitoring trucker traffic near the bench is interesting (highways near the shack — TBD which interstates pass nearby), the X6100 or the SDS100 tuned to channel 19 (27.185 MHz) catches it. Otherwise CB is more historical than operational for the bench.

3.7 The Part 95 cross-link to per-radio volumes

• Vol 3 (Baofeng F8HP) §6 — the Part 95 type-acceptance discussion, with the specific Part 90 certification F8HP carries.
• Vol 4 (Baofeng UV-B5) §6 — same discussion; UV-B5 has the same Part 90 cert and same Part 95 non-cert status.
• Vol 5 (AnyTone D878UVII) §6 — Part 90 cert, not Part 95.
• Vol 10 (SDS100), Vol 11 (SDS200), Vol 12 (BCD536HP) — scanner-side Part 95 RX coverage; what’s typically programmed in.

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4. Part 90 LMR (RX-only legality) {#part-90-lmr}

Part 90 — the Land Mobile Radio Service — is the regulatory home for nearly all the spectrum the scanners (Vols 10–17) primarily target: public-safety dispatch (police, fire, EMS), commercial business radio (taxi, trucking, utility, construction), and certain government/military allocations that aren’t federal-exclusive. The Part 90 frequency footprint is sprawling: 30-50 MHz (lowband), 138-174 MHz (VHF-mid), 220-222 MHz (narrow allocation), 421-512 MHz (UHF), 700 MHz, 800 MHz, and 900 MHz public-safety allocations.

Receive Part 90 is legal across all bands at the federal level. The FCC does not regulate reception under Title III; Part 90 is a transmit-licensing regime, not a receive-licensing one. The scanner’s job is to monitor Part 90 frequencies, and that’s specifically a lawful activity (with the small ECPA carve-out for intentional decryption of encrypted Part 90 traffic — see §4.4 and §5).

Transmit Part 90 requires a specific Part 90 license, which is issued per-frequency, per-location, per-power-level, after frequency coordination through an FCC-approved coordinator (APCO for public safety, EWA for business, IMSA for industrial-and-utility, ACI for general business, etc.). Individual hobbyists do not get Part 90 licenses. No bench equipment is licensed for Part 90 TX; this section frames RX only.

4.1 The Part 90 band allocations

The Part 90 band footprint, mapping to where the scanners actually pick up traffic:

Band	Frequency	Typical use	Bench scanners covering
Lowband VHF	30-50 MHz	Legacy public safety (rural state PD); business itinerant	SDS100/200, BCD536HP (HF antenna helpful); legacy Uniden scanners (BC246T, BC350A)
Mid VHF	138-174 MHz	Modern public safety, business, MURS overlap, marine VHF overlap, NOAA WX	All scanners cover this band
220 MHz LMR	220-222 MHz	Narrow public-safety + business allocation (small footprint)	SDS100/200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT
UHF	421-470 MHz	Modern public safety, business, GMRS overlap	All scanners
UHF-T-band	470-512 MHz	Public safety / business in major metros (NYC, LA, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, etc.) — being phased out and reallocated	SDS100/200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT
700 MHz NAS	763-805 MHz	Public-safety narrowband — modern P25 Phase II systems sit here in many metros	SDS100/200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT
800 MHz	806-869 MHz	Public-safety + commercial trunking — large legacy footprint	SDS100/200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT
900 MHz	896-901 + 935-940 MHz	Public-safety + commercial trunking	SDS100/200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT

The 700 MHz public-safety allocation (763-775 MHz uplink, 793-805 MHz downlink) was carved out of the post-DTV reclamation in 2009 and is the modern home for many metro P25 Phase II systems. The 800 MHz allocation hosts the legacy Motorola Type II Smartnet/SmartZone systems that the post-2010 Public Safety era has been migrating off of. The 900 MHz allocation is a niche — some metros (Chicago is the famous example) run 900 MHz public-safety systems, but it’s not the bulk of activity.

4.2 The trunked-system architecture overview

The protocols the scanners decode on Part 90 frequencies are mostly trunked digital systems — the legacy Motorola Type II Smartnet/SmartZone analog trunked architectures plus the modern Project 25 (P25) Phase I + Phase II digital systems. High-level overview (deep treatment lives in Vol 10 §3 and Vol 11 §3):

• Conventional FM — single frequency per channel, no trunking. Still used by smaller agencies, business itinerant, and as backup channels for trunked systems. The simplest case for scanner programming: just enter the frequency.
• Motorola Type II Smartnet/SmartZone — legacy 1980s-era trunked architecture. Analog FM voice carried on assigned trunk channels with a separate control channel (one channel per trunked site dedicated to managing the radio-to-talkgroup assignment). The scanner decodes the control channel, identifies the talkgroup-to-frequency assignment per call, and follows the active calls to the appropriate voice channels. Largely being phased out as agencies migrate to P25.
• EDACS (Enhanced Digital Access Communications System) — Ericsson/M/A-COM proprietary trunked architecture, common in some Eastern US legacy systems. Smaller footprint than Motorola Type II; the BCD-series scanners decode it.
• LTR (Logical Trunked Radio) — Tait/JCS proprietary trunked, common in business radio. Smaller footprint.
• Project 25 Phase I (P25 Phase I) — modern digital trunked, FDMA architecture, 9.6 kbps voice codec. Most modern public-safety systems started on P25 Phase I in the 2005-2015 timeframe.
• Project 25 Phase II (P25 Phase II) — modern digital trunked, TDMA architecture, dual-time-slot per channel. Replaced P25 Phase I in many metros after 2015 because TDMA doubles capacity per channel. Requires the scanner to decode TDMA, which means the SDS100/SDS200’s TrueIQ baseband decoding is the right path; older scanners can’t follow P25 Phase II reliably.
• NXDN, DMR Tier III, TETRA — other modern digital trunked architectures used in business and some international public-safety contexts. NXDN is supported on the flagship Uniden scanners. TETRA is largely European and not common in US public-safety.

The scanner’s job, in this context, is to decode the control channel to learn the talkgroup-to-frequency mapping, then follow the active calls to their assigned voice channels. The programming workflow is per-system rather than per-channel: you tell the scanner “Detroit Metro P25 Phase II System” with the control-channel frequencies and the system ID, and the scanner figures out the rest. The Sentinel CPS Discovery Mode can do this autonomously for unknown systems.

4.3 State-level RX restrictions

The federal Title III framework leaves RX unregulated; state-level scanner laws exist in some states and add a layer of complexity. The headline cases:

• New York — NY State Penal Law §145.30 makes it a misdemeanor to use a mobile (in-vehicle) scanner to monitor public-safety radio unless the operator has a specific exemption (amateur radio license, journalist credential, EMT/fire/police role, business need). The law does NOT restrict scanner ownership or stationary (in-home / on-bench) use; the restriction is specifically mobile use of scanners by people not in one of the exempt categories. The amateur-radio-license exemption is significant: Jeff’s Extra-class license satisfies the exemption for any future NY travel. The conservative posture for the SDS100 in a vehicle in NY is “have the FCC license printout in the glove box.”
• California — California Penal Code §636.5 prohibits using a scanner radio to assist in committing a crime; it does NOT restrict scanner ownership or use. The law is functionally about intent (using the scanner to evade police while committing a crime), not about scanner use generally. Functionally a non-issue for legitimate users.
• Florida — Florida Statutes §843.16 prohibits use of police-frequency monitoring equipment in the commission of a crime; same intent-based structure as California. Not a restriction on legitimate use.
• Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Vermont — similar intent-based laws; mostly not restrictive of legitimate use.
• Federal preemption argument — for some restrictive state laws, the FCC’s Title III preemption of state radio regulation has been argued (the FCC has explicit federal authority over reception under the 1934 Communications Act). The argument has succeeded in some cases (Massachusetts had a more-restrictive scanner law overturned by federal preemption analysis in the 1990s) and not in others (New York’s law has survived). The conservative posture is to comply with the state law where present.

Michigan has no specific scanner-monitoring restriction; receive-only scanner use is legal across all Part 90 frequencies in Michigan, including in vehicles, without any operator credential. This is the dominant operating environment for Jeff’s bench. TBD — when Jeff travels with the SDS100 to NY, have the Extra-class FCC license confirmation printed and accessible; for any other restrictive-state travel, verify the local law before deploying the scanner in-vehicle.

4.4 Encrypted Part 90 traffic — the ECPA boundary

Modern P25 Phase I and Phase II systems support AES-256 encryption as an optional per-talkgroup feature. Many public-safety systems run their tactical/SWAT/narcotics/investigative talkgroups encrypted while leaving dispatch and routine talkgroups unencrypted. The scanner hardware decodes the encrypted voice as garbled audio (or as a silent transmission) because the AES key is not available; the radio identifies the call as encrypted in the display but cannot decode the voice content.

Receiving encrypted Part 90 traffic is legal. The scanner is not decrypting; it’s receiving the modulated signal and presenting “I see encrypted traffic here but I can’t decode it.” That’s lawful.

Intentionally decrypting encrypted Part 90 traffic without authorization is illegal under ECPA §2511 (18 USC §2511(1)(b)(iv)) — the federal wiretap statute. If someone obtains the AES key (through theft, social engineering, insider leak, or technical attack) and uses it to decrypt the traffic, that’s the violation. The scanner’s “receive but don’t decrypt” posture is specifically what ECPA contemplates as lawful monitoring.

This matters because: (a) the Uniden flagship scanners (SDS100, SDS200, BCD536HP) have no AES decryption capability — they don’t have the key, can’t have the key, and aren’t designed to brute-force the key. The “encrypted” indicator on the display is what they show on encrypted talkgroups. (b) Aftermarket / hobbyist projects exist that attempt to decrypt P25 traffic where keys have leaked; running such tools against any public-safety system without authorization is the federal crime. The conservative posture is to leave encrypted talkgroups encrypted; don’t try to decrypt; if a call sounds interesting, listen to the unencrypted dispatch channel for the public-safety side of the response.

4.5 The cross-link to scanner volumes

• Vol 10 (SDS100), Vol 11 (SDS200) — flagship Uniden scanners; primary Part 90 RX platforms; TrueIQ baseband decoding for P25 Phase II.
• Vol 12 (BCD536HP), Vol 13 (BCD396XT) — mid-tier Uniden; full P25 Phase I + Phase II decoding.
• Vol 14 (BC246T), Vol 15 (BC350A), Vol 16 (BC355N), Vol 17 (Homepatrol) — legacy Uniden; analog + Motorola Type II + EDACS support; no modern P25 Phase II support.

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5. Part 22 cellular (RX legality and the ECPA spine) {#part-22-cellular}

Part 22 — the Cellular Radiotelephone Service — is the legacy AMPS-era cellular allocation, now hosting modern GSM / LTE / NR traffic from licensed carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, US Cellular, the various regional MNOs). The Part 22 band footprint:

• 824-849 MHz — mobile (cellphone) TX uplink to the carrier base station.
• 869-894 MHz — base-station TX downlink to mobile.

Part 22 is the headline regulatory boundary for scanner reception because of the ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 1986) carve-out that makes intentional cellular voice interception a federal crime. Receiving Part 22 traffic with a scanner that doesn’t include cellular-frequency coverage is uninteresting — you can’t hear what your radio doesn’t tune. Receiving Part 22 traffic with a scanner that DOES tune cellular is where the ECPA boundary lives.

5.1 The 1993 cellular blockout

In 1993, Congress amended the Communications Act (the Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act) to require that any new scanner manufactured for sale in the US must be incapable of receiving cellular frequencies. The implementation: scanners sold since 1993-04-26 ship with the 824-849 and 869-894 MHz bands either hardware-blocked (a notch filter physically removes those frequencies) or firmware-blocked (the scanner’s tuning logic refuses to accept those frequencies, even if entered manually).

Every modern Uniden scanner — the SDS100, SDS200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT, BC125AT, and all post-1993 Uniden models — ships with the cellular block. The block is firmware-implemented in most modern Uniden DMA-architecture scanners; in older models it was hardware-implemented with a SAW filter or a notch network. The block cannot be defeated without modifying the firmware (which is a separate Part 15 §15.5(b) and §15.21 issue — modifying a Part 15-certified device voids the certification).

Pre-1993 scanners are not subject to the manufacturing-date cutoff. A scanner manufactured before 1993-04-26 is grandfathered — the manufacturing rule applies to new manufacture, not to existing equipment. The bench’s legacy Uniden lineup includes specifically the radios that pre-date the 1993 cutoff or that fall into ambiguous early-1990s manufacturing windows: the BC350A (Vol 15) is from the late 1980s and may or may not have the cellular block depending on the specific manufacturing revision; the BC355N (Vol 16) is from a similar era; the BC246T (Vol 14) is from 2004 and definitely has the post-1993 cellular block.

5.2 The ECPA boundary — receiving versus intercepting

ECPA §2511 makes it a federal crime to intentionally intercept certain protected electronic communications. The “intentional” qualifier matters. ECPA distinguishes:

• Having a radio that could receive cellular (not a crime — the equipment is legal to own).
• Receiving cellular as incidental background traffic while monitoring a different band (gray area — depends on whether the receipt is intentional in the legal sense).
• Tuning to cellular and listening intentionally (federal crime under ECPA §2511(1)(a)).
• Decoding cellular voice from received signal (federal crime; if the receiver is decoding cellular, “intent” is presumed).
• Recording or transcribing cellular voice (federal crime; the recording is per-se evidence of intent).
• Publishing or rebroadcasting cellular voice (separate federal crime under 47 USC §605).

The practical posture: don’t tune cellular bands on the legacy Uniden equipment that doesn’t have the post-1993 block. The radios are old, they’re on the bench for preservation and historical interest, and the right framing is “I have a piece of equipment that’s old enough to lack the block, but I don’t use it to listen to cellular because that’s a federal crime.”

The BC350A (Vol 15) and BC355N (Vol 16) posture: bench-preservation only. They’re plugged in occasionally, fired up to verify they still work, and put back on the shelf. They’re not part of any active monitoring rotation. The cellular bands on them, if present, are not tuned.

The BC246T (Vol 14) has the post-1993 cellular block; it cannot receive cellular frequencies even if the operator tunes them. Same for all flagship Uniden scanners — the SDS100, SDS200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT, and the Homepatrol (Vol 17).

The Tecsun PL-880 (Vol 8) tunes 100 kHz to 30 MHz and FM broadcast — it does not tune cellular bands and is structurally outside the ECPA cellular boundary.

The X6100 (Vol 6) tunes HF + 50-54 MHz only; it does not tune cellular and is structurally outside the boundary.

5.3 What the modern cellular bands look like to a scanner

Even if a scanner did receive cellular bands (which the modern lineup doesn’t), there’s almost nothing useful to hear:

• Modern cellular is digitally encoded (GSM in legacy markets, LTE / 4G everywhere, NR / 5G in newer deployments). The voice traffic is encrypted at the air-interface level by the carrier’s protocol stack. A scanner that tuned the carrier frequency would receive a digital data stream, not voice. Decoding to recover voice would require the carrier’s session keys, which are not available to scanners.
• Pre-2000 AMPS analog cellular was clear FM voice and was easily monitored with any 800 MHz scanner. AMPS was phased out by the late 2000s; no current US cellular network carries analog voice. The “scanner monitors cellular” hobby died with AMPS.
• Modern cellular signaling (SS7, Diameter, GTP, etc.) is carrier-network internal protocol that doesn’t travel over the air interface; it’s not scanner-receivable even with cellular-frequency coverage.

The post-2010 reality is that even if Jeff’s BC350A could tune cellular (and it might be too old to even reach the 824-894 MHz range — TBD verify the BC350A’s actual frequency coverage against the unit’s manual), there’s nothing to hear. Cellular is encrypted digital signaling that’s opaque to consumer-grade RF equipment.

5.4 IMSI catchers and the defensive monitoring posture

A separate cellular-adjacent concern is rogue base-station detection — identifying cellular base stations (real or fake) operating near the bench. The IMSI catcher / cell-site simulator / Stingray landscape sits in this space; Hack Tools has the Rayhunter deep dive (../Hack Tools/Rayhunter/CLAUDE.md) covering defensive detection. The Rayhunter is receive-only and operates strictly to detect the presence and behavior of nearby base stations without decoding subscriber traffic. That’s the ECPA-clean posture: “I’m characterizing the RF environment around me; I’m not intercepting any specific person’s communications.”

The Scanners_and_Radios bench does not duplicate the IMSI-catcher defensive work — that lives in Hack Tools. Cross-link from Vol 25 (Cheatsheet) §X if useful.

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6. Part 87 aero (RX legality) {#part-87-aero}

Part 87 — the Aviation Services subpart — covers aeronautical communications: voice ATC, navigation aids, ADS-B position broadcasts, ACARS data, emergency locator transmitters, and military aviation. The Part 87 frequency footprint that matters for the bench:

Band	Frequency	Modulation	Use
Aero VHF AM	108-117.975 MHz	AM	VOR, ILS localizer, ILS glideslope (navigation aids)
Aero VHF AM	118-137 MHz	AM	Civilian voice ATC (tower, ground, approach, center, ATIS, AWOS)
Aero UHF AM	225-400 MHz	AM	Military voice ATC
Emergency Locator	121.5 + 243.0 MHz	AM	ELT distress (deprecated for civil aviation; replaced by 406 MHz)
ELT 406	406.025-406.076 MHz	Digital	Modern ELT (COSPAS-SARSAT satellite-relayed distress)
ADS-B	1090 MHz	Mode S extended squitter	Aircraft position broadcast
ACARS	131.55 + 130.025 + 129.025 + others	AM data	Aircraft addressable digital data

6.1 Receive Part 87 is legal

Part 87 reception is unambiguously legal under federal law. Aero voice traffic is explicitly safety-of-life public broadcast; the FCC’s position is that ATC conversations are public-airwaves transmissions monitored by anyone with the appropriate receiver. Part 87 reception is not covered by the ECPA §2511 carve-outs.

The Uniden scanners (SDS100, SDS200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT) all cover the 108-137 MHz aero VHF AM band cleanly. The flagship SDS scanners also cover 225-400 MHz military aero. The Yaesu VX-8DR (Vol 2) covers 108-137 MHz aero AM as part of its wideband RX (the radio’s display labels “AIR” mode and switches to AM detection automatically when tuned to the band). The Tecsun PL-880 (Vol 8) covers aero VHF as part of its FM-broadcast-plus-aero band coverage.

Aero VHF AM uses AM modulation (not FM) — the same envelope-detection method that broadcast AM uses. This is a regulatory artifact of aviation’s adoption of AM in the 1930s before FM was practical for aviation; AM is retained because the capture effect of FM (the stronger signal completely overrides the weaker one) is hazardous in aviation where two transmitters need to be partially audible to allow the controller to recognize a frequency collision. The scanner’s AM detector must be engaged for aero RX; some scanners default to FM and miss aero traffic until the mode is set correctly. The Uniden DMA scanners auto-detect modulation per-system; the manual-tune mode requires the operator to set AM.

6.2 Transmit Part 87 — not for hobbyists

Part 87 transmit authorization comes in two forms:

• Aircraft station license — issued to the aircraft owner (or operator), authorizing voice + data transmission from a specific aircraft on specific aviation frequencies. The FCC issues this; the FAA registers the aircraft. No path for hobbyist authorization.
• Ground station license — issued to an airport, FBO, or aviation business for ground-based aero transmission (CTAF, AWOS automation, etc.). Same constraints.

There is no amateur or hobbyist path to Part 87 TX authorization. Even the §97.403 emergency exception (transmit on any band for safety of life or property) is narrow — a ham who keys a 2 m radio on 121.5 MHz to summon emergency aircraft assistance must have a credible safety-of-life basis.

No bench equipment is licensed for Part 87 TX, and none of the amateur radios in the lineup would meaningfully transmit on aero VHF AM anyway — the Baofengs and AnyTone radios are FM-only (not AM), and the X6100 doesn’t cover above 54 MHz. Receive only is the only realistic posture.

6.3 ADS-B and ACARS — adjacent data monitoring

ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) is the modern aircraft position/identification broadcast — 1090 MHz Mode S extended squitters carrying ICAO 24-bit aircraft addresses, position, altitude, velocity, and identification. ADS-B is explicitly published for public consumption — the FAA’s rule under 14 CFR §91.225/91.227 requires ADS-B Out from most aircraft, and the broadcasts are public-aviation-data. Hobbyist reception via RTL-SDR + a 1090 MHz collinear antenna (or commercial ADS-B receivers like the FlightAware Pro Stick + dump1090 software) is widespread and explicitly legal.

The Scanners_and_Radios bench doesn’t currently include a dedicated ADS-B receiver. The flagship Uniden scanners do not tune above 1.3 GHz and so cannot receive ADS-B (it’s at 1090 MHz which is within their range, but the scanners don’t decode Mode S — they treat 1090 MHz as just a frequency to scan, not a Mode S decoder). A dedicated ADS-B station would be an RTL-SDR + dump1090 setup, which sits in Hack Tools’ RF-receive-tool family rather than this project. TBD — verify whether Jeff has an active ADS-B receiver elsewhere in the lineup; if not, the bench is ADS-B-unmonitored and that’s intentional rather than a gap.

ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) is a VHF data link used by airlines and air traffic services to send digital messages to/from aircraft. The frequencies (131.55, 130.025, 129.025 MHz and others depending on region) are in the aero VHF band. ACARS is explicitly published for public consumption — same legal framing as ADS-B. Hobbyist ACARS decoding via RTL-SDR + acarsdec software is a common hobbyist activity and is explicitly legal.

The Uniden scanners can tune ACARS frequencies (they’re in the aero VHF range) but don’t decode ACARS data — same situation as ADS-B. A dedicated ACARS station would be RTL-SDR + acarsdec; not currently in the lineup.

6.4 The cross-link to bench equipment

• Vol 2 (Yaesu VX-8DR) §3 — 108-137 MHz AM RX coverage.
• Vol 8 (Tecsun PL-880) §3 — wideband AM RX including aero VHF.
• Vol 10 (SDS100), Vol 11 (SDS200), Vol 12 (BCD536HP), Vol 13 (BCD396XT) — flagship + mid-tier scanners; aero VHF + military aero UHF coverage.

The local Detroit Metro area aero VHF coverage (DTW, YIP, OZW, and the surrounding GA airports’ CTAFs) is part of Jeff’s local frequency chart material; see §9 for the snapshot in 02-inputs/frequency_charts/Local Frequencies (sorted Analog).xlsx.

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7. Part 80 marine + NOAA WX channels {#part-80-marine}

Part 80 — the Maritime Services subpart — covers marine VHF, marine HF (single-sideband for offshore), and the marine emergency / safety-of-life infrastructure. NOAA Weather Radio is a separate Part 87 / Part 80 cross-cutting allocation that lives in this section because it’s a receive-only marine-and-coastal-adjacent service.

7.1 Marine VHF (Part 80)

The Marine VHF allocation is 156-174 MHz, channelized into a specific marine numbering scheme:

Marine ch	Frequency (MHz, ship/coast)	Use
Ch 6	156.300 simplex	Intership safety (mandatory for any vessel with VHF)
Ch 9	156.450 simplex	Commercial / non-commercial calling
Ch 13	156.650 simplex	Bridge-to-bridge navigation (1 W default; ship-to-ship power-limited)
Ch 16	156.800 simplex	International calling and distress — the mandatory monitor channel
Ch 22A	157.100 simplex	Coast Guard liaison
Ch 70	156.525 simplex	DSC distress + safety (digital selective calling — automated distress)
Ch 81A	157.075 simplex	Coast Guard operations
Ch 83A	157.175 simplex	Coast Guard operations
Ch WX1-WX7	162.400-162.550 (see §7.2)	NOAA Weather Radio (RX only)

The full marine VHF channelization includes 88 channels covering commercial fishing, recreational use, port operations, vessel traffic services, marine weather, and the various Coast Guard liaison and operations channels.

Receive marine VHF is legal at the federal level — Part 80 is a transmit-licensing regime, not a receive-licensing one. Same framing as Part 90 LMR.

Transmit marine VHF requires a Maritime Mobile (ship station) license for the vessel and an operator-permit for the operator (the GROL — General Radiotelephone Operator License — for commercial vessels; an MMSI / DSC-capable radio for recreational vessels has implicit authorization to use the safety channels in distress). No bench equipment is licensed for marine VHF TX.

The receive posture for the bench: marine VHF is interesting in coastal and lake areas. The Great Lakes region (Michigan specifically) has significant commercial marine VHF activity (Coast Guard Detroit, Coast Guard Sault Ste Marie, freighter traffic on the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, recreational boating on the lakes). Channel 16 (156.800) is the canonical “is something happening” channel; channels 6 / 9 / 13 / 22A / 70 / 81A / 83A round out the operationally interesting set. TBD — verify which marine VHF channels are programmed in Jeff’s local frequency chart and which are actively monitored.

The Uniden scanners (SDS100, SDS200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT, Homepatrol) all cover 156-174 MHz marine VHF cleanly. The Yaesu VX-8DR (Vol 2) covers it as part of wideband RX. The Baofeng UV-B5 (Vol 4) covers it but is again the type-acceptance trap — UV-B5 is Part 90 certified, not Part 80 marine; receive is fine, transmit is not.

7.2 NOAA Weather Radio (NWR)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operates the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards service on seven dedicated VHF channels:

NWR ch	Frequency (MHz)
WX1	162.550
WX2	162.400
WX3	162.475
WX4	162.425
WX5	162.450
WX6	162.500
WX7	162.525

NWR is always-on FM voice and SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) data. The voice broadcasts are continuous weather forecasts, current conditions, and severe-weather warnings — generated by NWS forecast offices for the local Coverage Area, looped 24/7. The SAME data is short digital bursts at the start of each new warning that encode the geographic area affected (by FIPS county code), the warning type (tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood, civil emergency, AMBER alert, etc.), and the urgency level.

The Midland WR120 (Vol 9) is a dedicated NWR receiver with SAME alerting — it stays tuned to one of the seven NWR channels (Jeff’s specifically tuned to the channel that the local NWS Detroit/Pontiac office uses — TBD verify exact channel), monitors the SAME data continuously, and triggers an audible alarm + visual alert when a SAME message arrives for the county codes Jeff has programmed (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb — TBD verify Jeff’s specific FIPS programming). The WR120 is RX-only by design and Part 15-certified for the NWR service.

The Uniden scanners (SDS100, SDS200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT, Homepatrol) all receive NWR channels but do not decode SAME alerts — they receive the audio but won’t trigger an alarm. The scanners are useful for “is there a tornado warning right now” voice listening; the WR120 is the right tool for “wake me up if a tornado warning is issued.”

Cross-link to Vol 9 (Midland WR120) §3 for the SAME programming workflow and §6 for the field-use posture.

7.3 The full marine + NOAA + ADS-B + ACARS receive ecosystem

For the typical Michigan-area bench, the full receive-only coastal-and-aviation ecosystem looks like:

• Marine VHF Channel 16 (156.800) — continuous monitor for any maritime incident; programmed in SDS200 base scanner.
• NWR Weather channel (Wayne County, TBD) — continuous monitor via dedicated WR120; SAME alerting active for severe-weather events.
• DTW Tower (118.40 — TBD verify against current DTW chart) — continuous monitor during weather events to catch any ground-stop announcements; programmed in SDS200.
• DTW Approach (125.40 — TBD verify) — sporadic monitor; programmed in SDS200.
• 121.5 MHz emergency — continuous monitor on at least one scanner; programmed in SDS200.

All of this is receive-only, all legal, all standard operating posture for a multi-radio bench in a coastal (Lake Erie / Detroit River) metro area.

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8. Receive-only spectrum etiquette {#receive-only-etiquette}

The receive-side has technical and ethical dimensions that don’t reduce to the regulatory text. This section frames the “when does monitoring turn into something else” question across the bench’s posture.

8.1 Monitoring vs interception — the legal distinction

The federal framing under ECPA is the spine: receiving (incidental, with general-purpose equipment) versus intercepting (intentional, targeted, with the intent to capture specific communications) are legally distinct, even though the technical activity is identical. The distinction lives in:

• Equipment design. A general-purpose scanner that tunes a wide range is “receiving”; an IMSI catcher built specifically to capture cellular voice is “intercepting.”
• Intent. Tuning to a frequency to hear what’s there is monitoring; targeting a specific person’s communications is intercepting.
• Use of the captured content. Listening to a transmission is monitoring; recording and selling it is intercepting (and §605 separately criminalizes the publication).

The practical bench posture: every scanner and receiver in the lineup is a general-purpose receiving device. The activity is monitoring. The legal posture is clean as long as the bench doesn’t target specific protected communications, doesn’t attempt to decrypt protected traffic, and doesn’t publish or rebroadcast received content.

8.2 The privacy-expectation gradient

Different bands have different privacy expectations from the people communicating on them:

• Amateur radio — no privacy expectation at all. Amateur transmissions are by definition public, on shared spectrum, identified with a callsign that resolves to an FCC license record with the operator’s name and address. Recording and rebroadcasting amateur QSOs is generally fine (operators expect it); publishing on YouTube is also fine, though it’s polite to ask the other operator first.
• Public-safety unencrypted (Part 90) — limited privacy expectation. Public-safety dispatch is broadcast on public airwaves; the operators (police, fire, EMS) speak with the knowledge that they may be monitored. The FCC’s position is that reception is legal; rebroadcasting raw audio over public channels (livestreams, YouTube uploads) is generally legal but is sensitive — some incidents involve victim names, witness identities, or tactical information that the agency would prefer not be republished.
• Marine VHF — limited privacy expectation. Channel 16 is the international distress monitor; everything else is operational. Coast Guard and commercial mariners expect monitoring.
• Aero VHF — limited privacy expectation. ATC is operational broadcast; pilots and controllers expect monitoring.
• GMRS / FRS / MURS — moderate privacy expectation. The operators are family/friends/business; they probably don’t expect random strangers monitoring their kid-coordination chatter or business operations. Monitoring is legal; rebroadcasting would be a step too far ethically.
• Cellular (Part 22) — full privacy expectation, protected by ECPA. Don’t monitor.
• Common-carrier paging (POCSAG/FLEX) — moderate-to-full privacy expectation; protected under ECPA in many interpretations.
• Cordless telephone — full privacy expectation (and modern cordless is DECT-encrypted anyway). Don’t monitor.

8.3 Recording and rebroadcasting

The standard frame: recording is more legally fraught than receiving, and rebroadcasting is more fraught than recording.

• Recording amateur QSOs — legal in all US states; the operator-to-operator courtesy is to mention “I’m recording for [reason]” if intent is to publish.
• Recording Part 90 public-safety traffic — legal at federal level; the 47 USC §605 unauthorized-publication rule may apply if the recording is rebroadcast. Practical posture: recording is fine for personal listening; publishing requires judgment (the YouTube scanner-traffic channel is a known activity but the audio is often anonymized to remove victim identifying information).
• Recording cellular — federal crime even if the recording is never published; the receipt and capture of cellular voice content is the violation.
• Recording marine VHF — similar to Part 90; legal at federal level, publication may carry the §605 consideration, but is rarely a practical concern for non-distress traffic.
• Recording amateur DMR — same as analog amateur QSOs (no privacy expectation).

The “publish on YouTube” question:

• Amateur — yes, the operator culture accepts this. (Examples: every contesting station’s pile-up videos on YouTube.)
• Part 90 public safety — gray. The scanner-feed culture (Broadcastify, Open MHz, Scanner Radio) publishes Part 90 dispatch in raw audio form; the FCC has not enforced §605 against this. Local agencies sometimes object; some agencies have moved to encrypted-dispatch specifically to defeat the scanner-feed publishing model.
• Cellular — no, federal crime.
• Marine — gray. Coast Guard channels in distress events get rebroadcast in some news coverage; the FCC has not enforced.

The bench’s posture: monitor freely, record selectively (for personal use), don’t publish without thought.

8.4 The “could but doesn’t” framing

Several bench radios are technically capable of activities that would violate the regulatory or ethical posture. The framing for each:

• Baofeng F8HP / UV-B5 / AnyTone D878UVII — capable of TX on Part 95 (GMRS/FRS/MURS) frequencies; not Part 95 certified; doesn’t TX on those frequencies because that would violate §95.7.
• Legacy Uniden scanners (BC246T, BC350A, BC355N) — may be old enough to lack the cellular block; doesn’t tune cellular bands because that would violate ECPA.
• Xiegu X6100 — capable of TX on any HF frequency from 0.5-30 MHz; doesn’t TX outside the amateur bands because that would violate Part 97’s band-limit rules (and §97.305).
• AnyTone D878UVII PLUS — has DMR encryption capability; doesn’t enable it on amateur frequencies because §97.113 prohibits encryption.

The pattern: a transmitter or receiver doesn’t get used on every frequency it’s capable of. The regulatory and ethical posture filters the operating envelope. Same as any other engineering discipline — the capability is a superset of the appropriate use.

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9. The frequency_charts/ directory {#frequency-charts-directory}

The 02-inputs/frequency_charts/ directory is the project-local source-of-truth for what’s actually programmed in the bench’s radios at specific historical snapshots. Two files live there as of mid-2026:

9.1 Local Frequencies (sorted Analog).xlsx

Date: April 2022. Size: ~16 KB. Role: Jeff’s local-area scanner programming worksheet, organized by analog vs digital, with channel-by-channel detail on the conventional analog frequencies that were programmed into the SDS100/SDS200/BCD536HP at the time.

The 2022 date is significant. As of April 2022, the local Wayne County / Detroit Metro public-safety systems were in a particular state of P25 migration — some agencies still on legacy 800 MHz Motorola Type II Smartnet, some already migrated to the modern P25 Phase II system, some on hybrid configurations. The chart captures Jeff’s local programming at that point.

By mid-2026, the local public-safety system landscape has shifted: most metros have completed their P25 Phase II migration, several agencies have moved to encrypted dispatch on at least some talkgroups, and frequency reassignments have happened. The 2022 chart is stale for current programming but is useful as a reference baseline — “what was the analog landscape in 2022” — and as a record of historical operation.

9.2 My Frequency Chart.xlsx

Date: March 2024. Size: ~6 KB. Role: Jeff’s personal-amateur-planning worksheet — repeater frequencies, simplex calling frequencies, the specific channels Jeff routinely uses on the VX-8DR, F8HP, UV-B5, and AnyTone D878UVII.

The 2024 date is more current than the analog scanner chart but still 18+ months old as of mid-2026. The amateur repeater landscape changes slowly (repeaters come and go on a multi-year timescale, frequency assignments rarely change once established), so this chart is closer to current truth than the scanner chart.

9.3 Staleness implications

The fundamental issue: both charts are local snapshots, not living documents. They were created at specific dates for specific purposes and have not been continuously updated. The implications:

• Scanner programming is partially out of date. The April 2022 chart reflects pre-migration Wayne County state. Current SDS100/SDS200 codeplugs (TBD verify with latest backup) should reflect the post-migration P25 Phase II state, but no spreadsheet exists that captures the current codeplug content in a human-readable form.
• Amateur programming is mostly current but verifiable from the source-of-truth elsewhere. RepeaterBook (https://repeaterbook.com) is the active database for amateur repeaters; Jeff’s amateur chart is a 2024 snapshot of that database for the local area. Current data can be refreshed from RepeaterBook on demand.

9.4 Refresh discipline

The right posture for these charts:

• Re-import scanner data from RadioReference annually. The RadioReference database for Wayne County / Detroit Metro / Michigan State is the source-of-truth for current public-safety + business + Part 90 systems. The ProScan and Sentinel CPS tools (Vol 21 §2-3) integrate with RadioReference and can pull a current snapshot into the codeplug in minutes; that pull is the moment to also export a CSV snapshot to 02-inputs/frequency_charts/. Annual refresh, dated and named with the year.
• Re-export amateur chart from RepeaterBook annually. Same idea — RepeaterBook is the source-of-truth, the chart is a snapshot. CHIRP’s RepeaterBook integration lets you pull a snapshot directly into a CSV; that CSV becomes the new amateur chart.
• Keep the historical snapshots. The 2022 and 2024 files don’t get deleted when refreshed — they’re historical records of what the local landscape looked like at specific points in time. Future-Jeff may want to know “what did Wayne County look like in 2022” without reconstructing it from memory. The naming convention is Local Frequencies YYYY-MM.xlsx going forward, so the snapshots accumulate over years.
• A long-term aspirational artifact: a “current programming” living document that gets auto-generated from the latest codeplug backups. The ProScan + Sentinel tools can export the codeplug to CSV; a small script that ingests those CSVs and produces a unified human-readable spreadsheet would be the right thing. TBD — write that script as a future tools/ utility; nice-to-have, not blocking.

9.5 The relationship to the codeplugs

The frequency charts in 02-inputs/frequency_charts/ are NOT the codeplugs themselves — those live in programs/{slug}/ per-radio. The relationship:

02-inputs/frequency_charts/  ← human-readable spreadsheets, snapshot-of-state
programs/{slug}/             ← machine-readable codeplugs, current working state

When the codeplug changes (new frequency added, channel renamed, system updated), the codeplug in programs/{slug}/ reflects it immediately. The spreadsheet in 02-inputs/frequency_charts/ may or may not — it depends on whether the operator (Jeff) chose to also export a fresh snapshot. The discipline is to refresh the snapshot at meaningful inflection points (annual review, major system migration, codeplug rebuild), not on every channel edit.

The codeplug versioning + backup discipline lives in Vol 21 §8 (Codeplug versioning and backup discipline). The frequency-chart refresh is a layer above that: codeplug backups are the working snapshots; the spreadsheets are the human-readable summary of representative codeplug state.

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10. License envelope summary table {#license-envelope-summary}

The single-table view of “what FCC part, what bench radios, RX-only or TX-OK, what constraints.” A reader can come here once to see the whole licensing posture.

FCC Part	Service	Bench radios involved	TX legal for Jeff?	RX legal?	Key constraints
Part 15	Unlicensed devices, ISM	DIY WPSD (Vol 19) and SkyBridge (Vol 18) hotspot RF outputs	Yes (within Part 15 certification of the device)	Yes	Per-device certification; modification voids cert. See Antennas Vol 31 §3.
Part 22	Cellular (824-894 MHz)	Legacy Uniden scanners (BC350A, BC355N) if pre-1993 manufacture	No	Yes physically, but ECPA §2511 prohibits intentional intercept	Modern scanners hardware/firmware blocked. Don’t tune cellular bands on pre-1993 equipment.
Part 80	Marine VHF (156-174 MHz)	All flagship + mid-tier scanners (SDS100, SDS200, BCD536HP, BCD396XT, Homepatrol), VX-8DR (Vol 2)	No	Yes	RX-only; channel 16 (156.800) is mandatory monitor for any vessel; Coast Guard channels are operational
Part 87	Aero VHF (108-137 MHz AM), military aero UHF (225-400 MHz AM)	All flagship + mid-tier scanners, VX-8DR, Tecsun PL-880	No	Yes	AM modulation required; no hobbyist TX path; ADS-B (1090 MHz) and ACARS (131.55 etc) are public-data RX-only
Part 90	LMR — public safety, business, industrial (30-50, 138-174, 220-222, 421-512, 700, 800, 900 MHz)	All scanners (Vols 10-17); F8HP/UV-B5/AnyTone are Part 90 certified but not licensed for Part 90 frequencies	No	Yes (federal); some state restrictions (NY mobile use)	Encrypted talkgroups: receive OK, decrypt is ECPA violation. State scanner laws may apply mobile (NY).
Part 95B	FRS (462/467 MHz, 22 channels)	Scanners can RX	No (no FRS-certified equipment)	Yes	Type-acceptance trap: Baofengs and AnyTone are not FRS-certified
Part 95D	CB (26.965-27.405 MHz)	X6100 and PL-880 can RX	No (no CB-certified equipment)	Yes	Type-acceptance trap: amateur HF rigs not CB-certified
Part 95E	GMRS (462/467 MHz, 8 repeater channels + 22 simplex)	Scanners can RX; Baofengs and AnyTone can RX	No without GMRS license + certified equipment	Yes	Jeff would need: (a) $35 GMRS license, (b) Wouxun/Midland GMRS-certified equipment. TBD — verify Jeff has GMRS license.
Part 95J	MURS (151.820-154.600 MHz, 5 channels)	Scanners and Baofengs can RX	No (no MURS-certified equipment)	Yes	Type-acceptance trap
Part 97	Amateur radio — all bands HF through microwave	All TX-capable radios (VX-8DR, F8HP, UV-B5, AnyTone, X6100, XPA125B) and both hotspots (SkyBridge, WPSD)	Yes (Extra-class privileges) — all bands, all modes, 1500 W PEP ceiling	Yes	§97.119 ID; §97.113 prohibitions (no encryption, no business, no music, no broadcasting); 30 m and 60 m power exceptions; band-specific mode sub-bands

The headline observations from this table:

1. TX licensing is per-service, not per-operator. Jeff’s Extra-class license authorizes Part 97 TX only; for any other service, Jeff would need a separate authorization (GMRS license, Part 80 marine license, etc.) plus appropriate certified equipment.
2. RX is legal across nearly everything except cellular (and the cellular RX issue is ECPA, not Part 22 directly).
3. The type-acceptance trap is widespread. The Baofeng F8HP / UV-B5 and AnyTone D878UVII PLUS are Part 90 commercial-radio certified but not Part 95 — they’re amateur-bands-only TX for any legitimate operation.
4. Where Jeff is licensed (Part 97), the bench has comprehensive TX coverage across HF, 6 m, 2 m, 70 cm, plus the two DMR hotspot uplinks.
5. Where Jeff isn’t licensed (Part 22, Part 80, Part 87, Part 90, most of Part 95), the bench operates strictly RX.

This is the consolidated operating posture. The detailed treatment per-service lives in §2-7.

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11. Resources {#resources}

Federal regulatory text

• 47 CFR Part 97 (Amateur Radio Service): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-97
• 47 CFR Part 95 (Personal Radio Services): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95
• 47 CFR Part 90 (Land Mobile Radio): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-90
• 47 CFR Part 87 (Aviation Services): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-87
• 47 CFR Part 80 (Maritime Services): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-80
• 47 CFR Part 22 (Cellular): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-22
• 47 CFR §1.1310 (RF exposure / MPE): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-1
• 18 USC §2511 (ECPA — interception of wire/oral/electronic communications): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2511
• 47 USC §605 (unauthorized publication of communications): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/605

ARRL references

• ARRL US Amateur Bands chart (laminate-ready): https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Hambands_color.pdf
• ARRL band plans: https://www.arrl.org/band-plan
• ARRL RF Exposure Calculator: https://www.arrl.org/rf-exposure-calculator
• ARRL International Operating (CEPT, IARP, reciprocal-licensing): https://www.arrl.org/international-operating
• ARRL Third-Party Traffic Agreements list: https://www.arrl.org/third-party-operating-agreements

Frequency databases

• RadioReference (North American frequency database — the canonical scanner programming source; ~$30/year Premium subscription): https://www.radioreference.com
• RepeaterBook (amateur repeater database, worldwide, free): https://repeaterbook.com
• MyGMRS (GMRS repeater directory, free): https://mygmrs.com
• FCC ULS (Universal Licensing System — search active US radio licenses): https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch
• FCC FCC ID search (equipment authorization database): https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

Networks (DMR, etc.)

• BrandMeister (DMR network — see Vol 20): https://brandmeister.network
• TGIF Network (DMR — see Vol 20): https://tgif.network
• RadioID (DMR user-ID directory): https://radioid.net

License application paths

• Amateur exam locator: http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session
• GMRS license application (FCC ULS, $35, 10-year, family-wide, no exam): https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/systems-utilities/universal-licensing-system
• NCVEC question pools (current amateur exam content): https://www.ncvec.org

Local — Michigan / Detroit metro

• Michigan Area Repeater Council (MARC — 2 m / 70 cm / 1.25 m / 33 cm frequency coordinator): TBD — verify current URL; historically marc-mi.org
• Detroit Metro RadioReference page: https://www.radioreference.com/db/aid/2622 (Wayne County) — TBD — verify current aid number
• Michigan State Police (MSP) communications: documented in RadioReference; encrypted on tactical talkgroups, unencrypted on routine dispatch
• Coast Guard District 9 (Great Lakes): https://www.atlanticarea.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/District-9/

Project-local frequency charts

• 02-inputs/frequency_charts/Local Frequencies (sorted Analog).xlsx — April 2022 snapshot
• 02-inputs/frequency_charts/My Frequency Chart.xlsx — March 2024 snapshot

Sibling synthesis vols

• Vol 1 §4 (License envelope preview) — the at-a-glance license table that this volume expands
• Vol 20 (DMR Network Architecture) — the DMR network synthesis that complements §2 here on amateur DMR specifics
• Vol 21 (Programming Software Landscape) — the CPS landscape that pours frequency data into the codeplugs; specifically Vol 21 §8 (Codeplug versioning) for the backup discipline that complements §9 here on frequency-chart refresh

Cross-deep-dive references (Hack Tools)

• Antennas Vol 31 (Regulatory & RF Safety) — the canonical regulatory deep dive across the tjscientist-labs corpus; covers Part 15 ISM bands, ERP/EIRP arithmetic, MPE compliance under OET-65, lightning protection per NEC 250/810, common-mode currents, ECPA receive-only carve-out in §12 — every regulatory topic in this volume cross-links there for the deep treatment
• Antennas Vol 29 (Use-case Matrix) — the per-radio antenna recommendations that complement this volume’s per-radio TX framing
• Hack Tools/Quansheng UV-K5 — sibling deep dive on a Part 90 / Part 97-capable HT with non-Part-95 status (same type-acceptance trap as the Baofengs)
• Hack Tools/Rayhunter — defensive cellular base-station detection; the ECPA-clean posture for cellular-band monitoring (see §5.4 here)

Per-radio cross-links

Each per-radio volume cross-links here from its §6 (Field use) for the regulatory framing:

• Vol 2 (Yaesu VX-8DR) §6 — Part 97 amateur posture; aero VHF AM RX
• Vol 3 (Baofeng F8HP) §6 — Part 97 amateur posture; Part 95 type-acceptance trap
• Vol 4 (Baofeng UV-B5) §6 — Part 97 amateur posture; Part 95 + Part 80 + Part 87 RX-only framing
• Vol 5 (AnyTone D878UVII) §6 — Part 97 amateur DMR; §97.113 encryption prohibition
• Vol 6 (Xiegu X6100) §6 — Part 97 HF; 30 m + 60 m power exceptions; SWL receive-only adjacent
• Vol 7 (Xiegu XPA125B) §6 — Part 97 amplifier discipline; 1500 W PEP ceiling
• Vol 8 (Tecsun PL-880) §6 — shortwave receive-only; aero VHF AM RX
• Vol 9 (Midland WR120) §6 — NOAA Weather Radio with SAME alerting
• Vol 10 (SDS100) §6 — Part 90 + Part 87 + Part 80 + Part 95 RX; state-level NY restriction
• Vol 11 (SDS200) §6 — same as SDS100, base-station posture
• Vol 12 (BCD536HP) §6 — same as SDS, mid-tier
• Vol 13 (BCD396XT) §6 — same, mid-tier HT
• Vol 14 (BC246T) §6 — legacy Uniden; pre-or-post-1993 cellular block depends on revision (TBD verify Jeff’s unit)
• Vol 15 (BC350A) §6 — legacy desktop; ECPA cellular framing
• Vol 16 (BC355N) §6 — legacy compact mobile; ECPA cellular framing
• Vol 17 (Homepatrol) §6 — zip-code programmable Part 90 + aero coverage
• Vol 18 (SkyBridge Plus) §6 — Part 97 amateur DMR via Part 15 hotspot Tx
• Vol 19 (DIY WPSD Hotspot) §6 — same, multi-mode (DMR + D-Star + YSF + NXDN + P25 + M17)
• Vol 23 (Test equipment) §6 — Gigatronics signal generators (intentional radiators in shielded test setup — Part 15 §15.5(b) framing)
• Vol 24 (WiPhone) §6 — SIP/VoIP over Wi-Fi (Part 15 §15.247 unlicensed device; no radio licensing involvement)