Letter to the ARRL... by W6LG - Jim Heath Youtube Elmer

Many thanks, we only refer to ti as “Amateur Radio” over here. Thanks for clearing it up

 

I’m sorry I’m not reading all that! Somebody else answered my question politely, thank you for the time you took though.

 

I think the point is that the FCC refers to just about everything as a "service" but some hams choose to give the word a greater significance than is really intended.

Martin (G8FXC)

 

Exactly what I understood it as but thanks, personally, in the The USA I think it is a service though that was my point. Look at all the work done in Natural disasters etc.. thank you Martin appreciate yours and everyone’s time.

 

I apologise if my first response seemed rude, I did not intend it to be. Thanks for what you have written it perfectly sets out the situation for me and I thank you for it.

 

It's a "service" in your country, too. In fact it's a "service" everywhere.

The Amateur Service is defined by the International Radio Regulations, as has already been mentioned.

The International Radio Regulations ALSO define what each "service" is (there's a couple of dozen), and defines generally what "service" means ... and it does not mean what some people prefer to think it means.

The US FCC simply uses the same defintion as the ITU. It explicity says so at
Title 47. Chapter 1, Subchapter A, Part 2, Subpart A, Section 2.1 Terms & Definitions.

So what matters is what does the ITU-R say a "service is"?

The ITU-R definion of "service" is ... is everyone braced for the big shock ... quoted directly from the Definitions and Terminology section of the ITU-R :

Term : service
Definition : A set of functions offered to a user by an organization.

i.e.:

"A set of functions ..." = licensing, regulation, enforcement (if any), etc...
"... user ... " = amateurs
" ... organization ..." = whatever your licensing & regulatory organization is.

That's all there is to it. So, amateur radio is a "radio service". But that not mean that amateurs must "serve". It means that the licensing or regulatory authority in each country provides a service of licensing and regulation TO amateurs.

 

You are close, but a somewhat wider definition of "radio service" is the regulated use or utilisation of radio communications in any form and for any purpose,

No implications of utility or usefulness are made, and it does certainly does not imply any obligation to "serve".

ISM represents a somewhat special case, where spectrum originally intended for Industrial, Scientific and Medical purposes also becomes used for communications. Another special case is radio astronomy, where there only is reception of extraterrestrial radio waves, but it is nevertheless categorised as a "service".

Should amateur radio for some reason become completely disconnected from regulations or a "free for all", it also ceases to be a "service".

73/
Karl-Arne
SM0AOM