Why does the FCC require an operators' license for 10 meter radios?

An amateur licence confers on its owner the privilege of using much higher power than the c.b. operator may.

The licence goes some way to ensuring that the operator is aware of what is likely to cause interference to other users and services and, hopefully, equip him with the knowledge of at least knowing where to start looking for a solution if interference should be caused.

Licenses for Amatuer radio use were setup to ensure that operators possessed a "reasonable" amount of knowledge about regulations, technical matters and accepted radio practices.

Unfortunately many folks who would like to use radio equipment do not possess these skills, and don't care if they interfere, exceed power limits, or otherwise stomp over other courteous operations elsewhere in the radio spectrum. Obviously this is a destructive tendancy and so there needs to be some controls to fight against it.

This has been clearly demonstrated by what has been going on in 11 meters for many years. Much of this has spilled over into 10 meters because cheap asian 10 meter import radios are often easy to mod for 11 meters.. it wasn't long before operators simply started just using 10 without a care of having a license.

This is not to say there isn't bad Ham operators out there, there certainly is.. however generally the Ham bands are operated by reasonably competent individuals who operate within the guidelines set out for those frequencies.

Since Ham licenses are available to anyone who cares enough to study for an exam, there really is no good reason why a person can't obtain a license for using those bands if they really want to get on there.

As has been stated there are other options; CB is still around, FRS radios are also quite versatile; GMRS is out there (license required, but easier to get than a Ham ticket) and of course you can use a cell phone like you mentioned.

Sounds like you're a die hard CB'er. What happen? Couldn't pass the written test for an Amateur License? Bill M's answer is correct. With your attitude, I think you should stay on 11 meters. That's a big 10-4 good buddy.

Answer: Because 10 meters is in the Amateur Bands which the FCC requires a license to operate in this band. What is it you don't understand about that? Have a good day, Scott.

10 meters is part of amateur radio. With an amateur license you can use a transmitter with power up to 1000 watts. The FCC has changed the rules so you don't need to learn morse code to get a license. If you want to talk to your buddies without a license get an 11 meter (CB) radio.