47 U.S.C. § 318
Section 318 · Transmitting apparatus; operators license
Amended 6 times on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Frank v. United States (1965)
Most recently applied in 286 Ill. App. 3d 660 - Gem Electronics of Monmouth, Inc. v. Department of Revenue (February 1997)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The actual operation of all transmitting apparatus in any radio station for which a station license is required by this chapter shall be carried on only by a person holding an operator's license issued hereunder, and no person shall operate any such apparatus in such station except under and in accordance with an operator's license issued to him by the Commission: Provided, however, That the Commission if it shall find that the public interest, convenience, or necessity will be served thereby may waive or modify the foregoing provisions of this section for the operation of any station except (1) stations for which licensed operators are required by international agreement, (2) stations for which licensed operators are required for safety purposes, and (3) stations operated as common carriers on frequencies below thirty thousand kilocycles: Provided further, That the Commission shall have power to make special regulations governing the granting of licenses for the use of automatic radio devices and for the operation of such devices.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–414 made technical amendments to directory language of Pub. L. 102–538, §205(1). See 1992 Amendment note below.
1992—Pub. L. 102–538, §205(2), redesignated cl. (4) as (3).
Pub. L. 102–538, §205(1), as amended by Pub. L. 103–414, struck out cl. (3) which read as follows: “stations engaged in broadcasting (other than those engaged primarily in the function of rebroadcasting the signals of broadcast stations),”.
1976—Pub. L. 94–335 substituted “engaged primarily in the function of rebroadcasting the signals of broadcast stations” for “engaged solely in the function of rebroadcasting the signals of television broadcast stations” in parenthetical provisions of cl. (3).
1960—Pub. L. 86–609 inserted “(other than those engaged solely in the function of rebroadcasting the signals of television broadcast stations)” after “engaged in broadcasting”.
1937—Act Mar. 29, 1937, inserted provisos.
Cross References
Radiotelegraph operators licensed as ship's officers, see section 7101 et seq. of Title 46, Shipping.