Ham radio third-party communications: when may you pass a message for someone else?

What a "third party" is here

Section 97.115 uses the term without defining it; read here it means a person, other than the stations in the exchange, for whom a message is sent or who takes part in speaking on the air. The rule has two jobs. Paragraph (a) says where a station may send messages for third parties. Paragraphs (b) through (d) say how the third party may take part and what an automatically controlled station and an international exchange must do.

Where you may send third-party messages

Paragraph (a)(1): an amateur station may transmit messages for a third party to any station within the jurisdiction of the United States. Paragraph (a)(2) covers foreign stations in two cases. Any station within the jurisdiction of a foreign government may receive third-party messages when the station is transmitting emergency or disaster relief communications, and any station in a country whose administration has made arrangements with the United States to allow amateur stations to be used for international third-party communications may receive them. No station may send third-party messages to a country that has not made such an arrangement. There is one carve-out: that prohibition does not apply to a message for a third party who is eligible to be a control operator of the station.

The rule does not list the countries with an arrangement; confirm the current list with the FCC before a routine international contact.

When the third party may speak

Paragraph (b) lets the third party participate in stating the message under two conditions. First, the control operator is present at the control point and continuously monitoring and supervising the third party's participation. Second, the third party is not a person who has been barred from amateur service in one of these ways: a former licensee whose license was revoked or not renewed after hearing, with relicensing not yet occurred; suspended for less than the balance of the term and the suspension is still in effect; suspended for the balance of the term and not relicensed; or surrendered for cancellation following notice of revocation, suspension or a monetary forfeiture proceeding. A third party who is the subject of a cease and desist order relating to amateur operation that is still in effect is also excluded.

Automatic control

Paragraph (c) says no station may transmit third-party communications while being automatically controlled, with a single exception: a station transmitting a RTTY or data emission. So an unattended station can pass digital message traffic, but cannot relay a third party's voice. For which emission types are allowed on a given segment, see the emission types page.

Identification at the end of an international exchange

Paragraph (d) adds an identification duty. At the end of an exchange of international third-party communications, the station must transmit, in its station identification procedure, the call sign of the station with which the third-party message was exchanged. The rule does not set out the full identification procedure, which is in a different section of part 97.

Worked examples

Passing a family greeting to a U.S. station. Allowed under (a)(1). If your relative sits at your station, the control operator must be at the control point monitoring continuously (b)(1).

Passing a message to a station in a country you are not sure has an arrangement. Do not, unless it is emergency or disaster relief traffic, or the person is eligible to be a control operator of your station. Paragraph (a)(2) says no station shall send third-party messages to a country that has not made an arrangement.

An unattended digital gateway. It may handle third-party traffic only in RTTY or data emissions under (c).

How it connects to the license rules

Third-party traffic runs through a licensed station; the license requirement in section 97.5 still applies to whoever has physical control of the station, and the control operator must be authorized on the frequency in use (see the bands by class page).

Sources

• 47 CFR 97.115, Third party communications (eCFR). Read November 2, 2026.
• 47 CFR 97.5, Station license required (eCFR), for the control-operator background. Read November 2, 2026.

Text read: the eCFR (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations) text of Title 47 as it stood on October 29, 2026, retrieved through the eCFR versioner API on November 2, 2026. The eCFR is an editorial compilation and is not the official legal edition; the Federal Register and the annual CFR are. Rules change, so confirm the current wording on the eCFR before relying on it. This page paraphrases the rule and does not replace it.