Is this legal - repating announcement on 14.070 PSK31

[WD0MYM]

Well, I'll answer the question about how many times he sent it:

Repeats every few minutes, looks like everyday. At least I saw it all day Saturday and Sunday. That's all I'll say, I will keep my mouth shut (or my keyboard locked).

If anyone remembers KM0X radio in St. Louis and Jim White, he had a famous motto which would cover the situation perfectly.

[PE1RDW]

The RAC rules mirror the FCC. By including all "SWLs" in his message, he is directing his transmission at others outside of the amateur service (i.e., the general public). In my opinion he is broadcasting.

Communications with Radio Apparatus in the Amateur Radio Service

[SOR/2000-78, s. 8]
47. A person who operates radio apparatus in the amateur radio service may only

• (a) communicate with a radio station that operates in the amateur radio service;
• (b) use a code or cipher that is not secret; and
• (c) be engaged in communication that does not include the transmission of
  
  • (i) music,
  • (ii) commercially recorded material,
  • (iii) programming that originates from a broadcasting undertaking, or
  • (iv) radiocommunications in support of industrial, business or professional activities.

Bit of a confusion I think, the only mention of broadcasting in that is "programming that originates from a broadcasting undertaking", this means nothing more or less then they can not restransmit programs that have been made for fm or am radio stations not about broadcasting technical information yourself.

[KJ5T]

I think the issue here is that he is drawing users to his website for personal gain. I didn't look to see if he has ads now or not, that doesn't matter, he can use the traffic to get visitors later on. If he wants to share is link with his peers as he works them or perhaps he wants to send a radio bulletin once a week or so that shared information about helpful amateur radio sites including his own than I would see no issue with that. Sending his information though many times throughout the weekend is in my opinion broadcasting. You can slice it and make it legal but again as I said even it if is legal is clearly bad amateur practice.

[WA6ITF]

Lets see. You are licensed in the USA and VE6VIS is licensed in Canada. So if any rules are being broken, then its up to Industry Canada (the Canadian equivalent of the US FCC) -- to take action. As I do not know Canadian telecommunications law, I cannot comment further.

[AC4BB]

Lets see. You are licensed in the USA and VE6VIS is licensed in Canada. So if any rules are being broken, then its up to Industry Canada (the Canadian equivalent of the US FCC) -- to take action. As I do not know Canadian telecommunications law, I cannot comment further.

Good Luck, Getting Industry Canada,to do anything about it.

[W9DTC]

i saw the signal. I could decode it in three differenet places on my waterfall. 591 591. he completely wiped out everything else on that band for me for a while, so I just pushed the button and did something else.

Ignoring the possible legal issues, and even as a new ham, I can tell you this was poor operating.

[AC0FP]

"repating announcement on 14.070 PSK31" ?

[KC2UGV]

I heard this also, the bolded part is my problem with it.

I'm half asking here so.... isn't that "broadcasting"?

Being a newer ham, I'm not sure, but it seems like it to me.

Edit: Didn't notice that he's Canadian. Completely blind on their view of this.

Could be construed as a bulletin:

* Of interest to hams
* No pecuniary interests

But, it's a Canadian station, and I am not familiar with their rules.

[W8MLD]

I went to his webpage. He sure sounds excited about his Zzcoustics adapter. Loved it when he did the demo on the osilliscope and kept saying "Y cable...ZZCOUSTICS.....Y cable....ZZCOUSTICS" ROFL. He somewhat reminded me of that guy who did painting classes on PBS; just more exciting. Remember that guy saying ultra calmly "How about we put some beautiful trees right about there; ah yes that is wonderful, you are doing such a great job". HEHE

[AG3Y]

I am not sure what all the excitement is about. If he transmits a legal "bulletin" intended only for licensed amateur radio operators, and an unlicensed SWL happens to decode and read it, would it become an "illegal" broadcast ? ? ?

Any and all transmissions by licensed radio amateurs can and often are received by unlicensed listeners. That certainly does not make them "illegal broadcasts".

The problem I have with his "bulletin" is the frequency of his transmissions. That is to say, the number of those transmissions he is making, and the short interval between each transmission. Also, is he at the controls of his transmitter each time he is transmitting that message? Or does he have remote control facilities and a way of turning off the transmitter if something goes wrong, and suddenly he is transmitting a dead carrier without ID, or something worse, like hum due to a broken ground somewhere !

Those are the real issues, to my mind.

73, Jim