Comm Site Fees to Significantly Increase for Ham Radio Repeaters

I couldn't DISAGREE More!!!

I don't always agree with the ARRL, but they have made a difference when it comes to protecting or minimizing spectrum loss. Yes, they have made mistakes, but I'll still give them a Passing Grade for their commitment to amateur radio.

 

Cellular carriers do provide emergency communications, but that's not their primary reason for having a network, they are motivated by PROFIT. A for Profit business is a COMMERCIAL entity. A commercial entity passes the cost of doing business on to its customers. So, comparing Cellular and Amateur operations is a stretch, there really is no comparison. Unless you know Hams that have lots of listeners that pay a fee for content

 

Cell Phone companies get paid for their services -- amateur radio operators don't. Properly implemented services defined as voluntary or non-commercial would be exempt from the fees.

Real simple. . .

 

Here's what the ARRL is actually doing: " ARRL to Oppose Forest Service Administrative Fees for Amateur Facilities"
See the details here: https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-to-oppose-forest-service-administrative-fees-for-amateur-facilities

 

Isn't the primary purposes of the ARRL supposed to be to "speak up" on behalf of it's membership by lobbying against such things for them? Because, it seems to me that do a whole lot of "encouraging", but very little else.

Personally, I can't think of a single thing the ARRL has done to help anyone/anything, other than their own bank account, in the last 5 years.

 

I may have missed this question in the comments, .. anyone know of any Congress or Senate members that are operators, or what possible subcommittee covers this issue ?

 

Comment deleted -- was intended as a reply to another comment

 

That hyperbole is nothing but unhelpful, curmudgeonly paranoia and harping of the type that constitutes the major impediment to the Amateur Service accomplishing its regulatory purposes. But I'm sure there are several 75M RWNJ roundtables that will welcome those remarks.

I pick up clues that USFS's Joey Perry probably has no idea what amateur radio is. This is what comment periods are for. In addition to submitting agency comments, we should be contacting our U.S. Senators and Representatives asking them to weigh in with USFS on our behalf.

As for ARRL, it is not some ethereal entity out there, it is its membership, and its elected and appointed volunteers. We need to press our Secftion Managers and Directors to stir up the pot. Section Managers should be urgently requested to launch email campaigns to their Section ARRL members and affiliated clubs, and nets, with several requests for comments to be submitted. Directors should be requested to urgently press the ARRL Executive Committee to direct appropriate ARRL personnel to contact USFS and also to get support from FEMA and other agencies.

Don't curse the darkness, light a candle!

73,

Kevin Hunt K7IWW

 

Tell us what YOU have done. The ARRL is YOU. Maybe you could be phoning your Division Director, did you ever think of that? If you can't think of "a single thing" that "ARRL has done to help anyome/anything, other than their own bank account, in the last 5 years," then I seriously question whether you have any involvement whatsoever with an affiliated club, as an ARRL volunteer, or as a member who bothers to read QST, listen to W1AW bulletins, take the ARRL Letter, or otherwise do anything beyond pressing the PTT button on an HT.

So again, I ask: What are YOU doing to utilize the ARRL's resources to address this matter?

 

The answer to that is SIMPLE and OBVIOUS: The Amateur Service is a VOLUNTARY pool of trained individuals who CANNOT BE COMPENSATED and who EXPEND THEIR OWN FUNDS maintaining repeaters, buying group amd personal gear, etc., etc. It is expressly established as such in pertinent treaties, statutes and regulations. Commercial telecommunications entities are FOR PROFIT enterprises. It is unfair to charge volunteers for the privilege of providing a public service for free, at their own expense.

 

Suggestion:

When the agency official recites their personal pronouns as "she/her," a comment should probably not be addressed "Dear Sir."

There are actually women is government positions. One is even Vice President.

 

It's obvious that you're just not aware of what the ARRL does. Everything we do is for the betterment of amateur radio. Your assessment is absurd and completely false. We do have lobbyists working on our behalf, and they do cost a lot of money. Even people like you benefit who are not members and don't support the league. As a radio amateur, you get all the benefits of ARRL membership in representation of your radio interests to the FCC, Congress, etc. I find it strange that you spend your time criticizing an organization you're not even a member of. Maybe if you were, you'd be better informed?

 

This is not in front of congress yet. They have asked for comment on the proposal. Nothing more.

 

The answer to that is SIMPLE and OBVIOUS: The Amateur Service is a VOLUNTARY pool of trained individuals who CANNOT BE COMPENSATED and who EXPEND THEIR OWN FUNDS maintaining repeaters, buying group amd personal gear, etc., etc. It is expressly established as such in pertinent treaties, statutes and regulations. Commercial telecommunications entities are FOR PROFIT enterprises. It is unfair to charge volunteers for the privilege of providing a public service for free, at their own expense.