Amateur Auxiliary - Official Observer

Official Observer

If the official observers (OO) hear something that, in their judgment, is in violation of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations, they will send a postcard to the amateur radio station describing the infraction. The receipt of an official observer card is merely advice from another amateur radio operator and has no legal authority to it. Official observers are trained to deal only with clear and unambiguous violations of FCC rules and not become interpreters in areas that are controversial.

To become an official observer, the amateur must first be appointed to the position by their section manager. ARRL field services will send the amateur a manual which describes the amateur auxiliary, how the official observer is supposed to conduct business, and several technical details concerning FCC rules and regulations. The potential official observer also receives a self-paced test that they must pass to receive the appointment. Once the test is forwarded back to ARRL field services (and passes), the amateur receives their official observer appointment. The OO performs his/her function by listening for such things as frequency instability, harmonics, hum, key clicks, broad signals, distorted audio, over deviation, out-of-band operation, etc.

In hard-core rules violations cases, OOs refer problems to higher echelons of the amateur auxiliary and may be requested to gather evidence for possible FCC enforcement actions.