FCC Proposed Rulemaking about paid employees and emergency drills

I missed that item. Must have been buried hoping nobody would notice.

But it's not a surprise. A couple months back, an email was sent out by our Division saying that ARRL had already talked to the FCC about their proposal.

But not to the Wireless Telecommunications bureau, which is the one that the Amateur Service is actually under? Wonder why not?

 

Another reason why it's hard to understand why the ARRL would support "blanket waivers" and doing away with the rules prohibiting employees from having ham radio in their job.

Much of the function of ARES will be circumvented and before long will lose most of its mission and will wither and die.

 

It's done, stick a fork in this Turkey!!!!

Cause they did not ask NN4RH or N5PZJ about who to contact, DHS has become a power in itself and this waiver elimination is a done deal.

 

it isn't the radios that are the problem. Part 90 has limitations that are there for a reason. Frequency agility, spectrum management, etc. There is a reason why the FCC doesn't approve field programmable portable and mobile radios without the use of special dongle and passwords. Just imagine the nightmare of problems when untrained individuals start programming and tuning radios.

The beauty of our service is us- the operators. We posses skill and ability, that just as our basis and purpose stipulate, is there to be called upon to serve our community in a voluntary fashion to enhance the public good.

We can go in, setup ad-hoc networks, repeaters and communication paths without the restrictions of part 90 waivers, applications, etc. We have the skills to make it work when nothing else can. We have access to the vast amount of spectrum and modes, and the freedom to use it as we see fit within the rules. Sure, you can do everything with part 90 radios if not more than any ham gear, but when you have a disaster of epic proportions and all that gear is destroyed, the magic is in the people not the equipment to get the lines of communication open again.

That is where ham radio shines and always has since the beginning using RF to communicate.

 

great attitude. Just we need, more folks like this making statements that sound like those terrorists in MI, I am sure these comments will go over very well with the FCC (those same "worthless government employees) who granted you your license. Thanks, keep doing your level best to ensure the future of our hobby.

 

I agree with you. It IS a done deal. That doesn't make it a good deal. But I think the FCC's mind has been made up since last fall when they announced they would grant waivers. The FCC wants out of the ham radio regulating business, and have for a very long time.

There remains, though, the question, what will this do to amateur radio? In the short term, for the non-hams who whol ham licenses as a part of their job, it will actually be a good thing. In the long term, I would guess it is going to fall flat on its face, because it will show DHS that ham radio should be entirely controlled by them, and not the FCC. If that should happen, it will result in strong regimentation of what used to be amateur radio, and will stop even the heros from being able to rag chew, or to even use informal language. In other words, this is begging for more government control of amateur radio, and under DHS, that will take place. Your VHF HT will be like the ones the TSA folks use.

I can also envision a requirement for amateur radios used in these environments to be 'certificated' and without VFO control. What we appear to be seeking is to turn amateur radio into government radio, and all of the parameters that go along with that will have an extremely negative affect on the hobby. Somewhere down the line, those 'volunteers' will have to forget about being hams, and learn to be government radio operators. It won't happen overnight, but DHS is not going to be happy with a bunch of - and I hate to use the word - whackers in its 'employ.'

The change that the heros are seeking will destroy what they have. I could see where amateur radio would continue to exist much as it is today below 144 mhz. Above that frequency, though, the takeover by DHS, as the controlling government agency, would pretty much eliminate any amateur radio activity.

That may be a dire picture. Yet we all know that when the government controls things, it gets run the way the government wants to run it, not the way we want to. This will be a DHS-run 'amateur radio.'

I guess, since I don't play with VHF much, I shouldn't complain. It probably won't affect me personally in any significant way. DHS doesn't want 40 meter CW. But it can wreak disaster on two meters. Perhaps that's a good thing, as two meters has fallen into much disuse since the repeater craze faded. May as well give it to DHS.

Ed

 

As this goes forward we do need to watch that as we get more "cram hams" in the hospital and if they are really just appliance operators then we lose our value.

One key value to me is that we can make a station work under all kinds of adverse conditions. We are good at all kinds of fixes that keep a station on the air. These skills need to be transferred to these hospital employees also or else the first problem and the radio is out of commission.

 

Hello, Erik. One of the very good reasons that the idea of using hospital folk will fail if this becomes widespread practice. Now, I don't think you've admitted you're employed by the hospital industry here, but, none the less, your radio knowledge wasn't learned in your employment. Your more than 25 years of licensure and active VHF and UHF activity is much more than could be expected from the average hospital-nourished ham.

A channel switch position or push button error on a Part 90 radio is much easier to recover from than a vfo error. Or, perish the thought of an accidental memory clearance on a 2M rig. Memories in Part 90 radios don't get messed up from the front panel. Only from software and keyboarding errors via a RIB or some such. Being a Motorola man with an EF Johnson icon, you know what I mean.

Yes, it takes a great deal more than just a cram study session or two to be able to effectively serve our communities.

Not all of us possess the skills needed to do what you describe. However, collectively, we can accomplish a great deal. It is our freedom from infrastructure that makes amateur radio flexible and able to provide assistance. A radio set up permanently inside a hospital is not all that flexible.

That is an epic statement as well. Disasters that can destroy Part 90 trunked radio systems with vulnerable centralized control can also take out amateur stations, repeaters, antennas and the like that are fixed and in place.

But, then again, properly designed Part 90 conventional analog and digital repeaters with overlapping coverage areas will likely not all be destroyed. Diversity of location is the key. At the same time, if Part 90 mobiles have high-power simplex capability along with their normal split repeater function, that will yield almost the same result as what amateur radio can bring to the table. That is, for VHF, UHF and SHF coverage. Not for HF, though. But, with SHARES and MARS anxiously jumping up and down like school kids to "serve agencies," there is no reason why volunteers from those groups could not sufficiently assist the hospital lobby.

The collective years of experience in the average ARES group is not in the same ballpark with what could be expected of a group of average hospital hams. Yourself, excluded, of course. The very essence of what makes amateur radio work is what you touched on. It is the people who make the difference.

Reminds me of years ago in the broadcast industry when all operators of directional AM broadcast stations had to possess a First Class Radiotelephone license. The disc jockeys all went to cram school in LA to memorize the answer sequences. They didn't know an ohm from a volt. They never could touch the transmitters or phase shift networks for obvious reasons.

To me, the push to license hospital employees via cram courses sounds like the same thing. Courting disaster by pushing out the volunteers who have the necessary depth of knowledge and replacing them with some cram school wonders that won't know enough to be effective in a crisis.

73.

 

When I first went into broadcasting I had only a Second Class license. It was not useful in broadcasting. We had, though, several AM "jocks" who had cram school First phones, as we were a directional AM, and Class B FM. The first phone guys could take meter readings on the directional array, and that's about all they could do. If something went wrong, the had the couple of us who were not licensed make the necessary adjustments (which is legal, as long as supervised by a first phone) and then they signed off on it.

By the time I felt ready to get the first, it was a GROL and no longer needed anyway. I got it, simply by default.

The problem here is we are suggesting these doctors, nurses, janitors, carpenters, medical techs, (a) have time to play radio instead of doing their real job in an emergency, and (b) can be taught to set up even a channelized amateur radio to operate properly. They don't have the interest. They want 'tools' not 'hobbys.' Ham radio is not a suitable tool. The Part 90 radios are tools, and nothing more. They need apples, we offer apricots. Or banana splits.

But I think it is indeed a done deal, and that will change the face of amateur radio forever. As I said in an earlier post, if DHS gains control we will likely lose all of two meters and a good bit of 70 cm. Or at the very least, we will continue as secondary users on 440 and become secondary on 146.

I am so against having DHS control amateur radio. Or FEMA. Or the Red Cross. We have been a separate radio service for 90 years or more, except for a brief time during World War II. We need to keep our independence or we cease to exist.

I do think that if DHS decides it needs HF frequencies, it will turn to MARS and SHARES, before it turns to amateur radio. But at 146 mhz above, they will turn to us because we are an easy target.

Ed

 

If this is the case, then why didn't the over zeoulous HAM POLICE just prosecute the guilty parties (as a matter of fact, why not just do that now) and leave the rest of us EMCOMM guys alone? This could have been done quietly and totally within the existing rules. Why make such a big stink about it? I would and still support their going after the GUILTY parties. There wouldn't be this debate now at all, and no request for a rule change. Is it because some people want to use the rules to further their own interests and not just to protect the HAM radio service?

 

Please correct me, but isn't MARS Amateur Radio?

 

I totally agree, and that is why taking away the opportuniity to train and drill and exercise is the most stupid idea I've heard in a long time. That is where they will learn all of those things you have pointed out, just like I'm sure you did when you were a greenie. I don't know anyone who was born with the knowledge required to become a good HAM. Whether it was through rag chewing or drills, they had to learn it somehow.

 

Amen, and very well said.

 

No. Not nearly. MARS is made up of amateurs, but is on separate frequencies, under separate control, and under a completely different control structure.

 

Ed, Its been a done deal since the FCC said it will grant individual waivers, sorry EMCOMM was the reason Amateur Radio Started out to "Relay" Messages across country in the EARLY 1900's so its been here in one form or another. RACES in the early 1950's and WERS in WW2 is another example. My idea is place the stuff under RACES and the Limitations on drills and activations will keep some of the abuse in check on unmitigated use for business needs when there is no emergency. As a KATRINA survivor, in emergency I won't be barking "USE PART 90, not my precious ham bands", all things are fair game in love and war.

Does the FCC want out of the Ham business? Not really but we are not their main concern, not a money maker for the treasury nor the public awareness about us is almost nil. Can you say "NOT A PRIORITY?" Public awareness about ham radio and the percieved good it can do could help the hobby avoid the onslaughts of interests who covet our territory.

DHS doesn't want the Ham Kitty either, so you stuff that fantasy, DHS has its own Dept at FCC and as far as it wants to go is th suggest some stuff, I think RACES should be thrown in their lap but so far FEMA (DHS) has only shown a lukewarm interest in that baby, I would like to see this EMCOMM stuff be put under RACES and the ARRL/ARES thing would then have to play SECOND fiddle, remove the ARRL/ARES from the direct equation and you have some that has limited drills, local and State control (Most all emergencies are local) so voila, limited use and control.

The Wacker syndrome makes me laugh, it is an invention of the Para-Professional emergency worker for job protection, its a turf protection mechanism to downgrade volunteers for JOB PROTECTION. When the S**T HITS THE FAN (SHTF) most government workers want to look at preserving the status quo and not looking worthless (most are). I was in KATRINA and the hams set up networks where the STATE GOVT GUYS were powerless. Messages started flowing out of the AREA thanks to the "WHACKERS" and the GOVT twiddled with their Part 90 radios.

Too much drama here, I see getting funding for repeaters. Did not happen in New Orleans, a soon as the Commercial stuff came on line, ham radio backed out.

More the reason to put it in RACES, but then after seeing GOVT action in KATRINA, your fantasy would not work.

BTW-40 Meters was our favorite band in KATRINA, STATEWIDE coverage both day and Night with minimal problems. VHF was reserved for the local boys and girls to report back to EOC.

GOVT FOLKS thought 40 Meters was a Canadian Football Yard Play, they had no idea that it even existed. GET THE HINT?