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1994-06-05
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The ARRL Letter
Vol. 12, No. 17
September 14, 1993
5-year ARRL effort bears fruit
FCC gives hams new protection against 'scanner laws'
An FCC decision on August 20, the result of a 5-year
ARRL effort, gives Amateur Radio operators a powerful new
tool to use against ill-conceived local and state laws and
ordinances.
In the past referred to as the "Scanner laws
proceeding," the Commission's Memorandum Opinion and Order
actually goes much further than simply saying that amateurs
have a federal right to own and operate their radios. The
Commission's decision supports at length the very essence of
the purpose of the Amateur Service.
The story of the proceeding, PR Docket 91-36,
actually begins with the FCC Part 97 Rules Rewrite
proceeding in 1988. ARRL's comments in Docket 88-139
proposed the addition of a new section to the FCC Rules to
clarify that the possession of amateur equipment, whether or
not that amateur equipment is incidentally capable of
receiving communications on frequencies allocated to other
services, is permissible.
Since that time, state statutes and local ordinances
have continued to be construed and applied to permit
confiscation of Amateur Radio mobile transceivers from
licensed amateurs, merely because those transceivers are
capable of receiving certain land mobile bands as well as
amateur frequencies.
The Commission's ruling will relieve amateurs of the
growing, unreasonable burden established by these laws,
which interfere with the proper functioning of the Amateur
Radio Service and public service communications provided by
amateurs.
In its handling of PR Docket 88-139, the FCC staff
decided to confine the proceeding as much as possible to a
restatement of existing rules, and to not address this and
other new issues.
But, the ARRL Board of Directors ad-hoc Part 97
Rewrite Committee wanted to keep the issue alive. So, in
response to the committee's recommendation, ARRL General
Counsel Chris
Imlay, N3AKD, brought to the Executive Committee in the fall
of 1989 a draft request for an FCC declaratory ruling.
The EC concurred, and the request was filed in
November 1989.
The FCC's lengthy Order will be treated at length in
November *QST*. The essence of their decision, based on the
ARRL motion for a declaratory ruling, is:
"We hold that state and local laws that preclude the
possession in vehicles or elsewhere of amateur radio
service transceivers by amateur operators merely on the
basis that the transceivers are capable of the reception
of public safety, special emergency, or other radio
service frequencies, the reception of which is not
prohibited by federal law, are inconsistent with the
federal objectives of facilitating and promoting the
amateur radio service and, more fundamentally, with the
federal interest in amateur operators' being able to
transmit and receive on authorized amateur service
frequencies.
"We therefore hold that such state and local
laws are preempted by federal law."
Amateur service defended
The FCC, in the "Discussion" section of its Order,
outlines several reasons for "the strong federal interest in
the preservation and advancement of the amateur service."
The Order cites as evidence the FCC's comprehensive
set of rules for the amateur service, rules made to ensure
that strong technical standards and operating practices are
maintained.
The Order also notes that FCC Part 97 Rules spell
out that the amateur service exists to "continue and extend
the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the
advancement of the radio art" (the FCC's words).
Finally, the Order details recognition of Amateur
Radio by the U.S. Congress, in specifically exempting
amateurs from license fees and in a 1988 "Sense of Congress"
statement that says, in part,
(The Congress) "strongly encourages and supports the
Amateur Radio Service and its emergency communications
efforts; and government agencies shall take into account the
valuable contributions made by amateur radio operators when
considering actions affecting the Amateur Radio Service."
ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ,
said "This result is all the sweeter because we had been
discouraged from getting our hopes up. The tide had been
running against assertions of federal preemption, and there
was some feeling that PRB-1 represented a 'high water mark'
unlikely to be achieved again.
"In short, the preemption declaration in PR Docket
91-36 represents an excellent job by the FCC and its staff,
as well as by those in the League who recognized the need,
prepared the arguments, and then kept the faith in the face
of pessimism about the likely outcome."
League defends position on club call sign program
The ARRL has responded to complaints filed against
it by the W5YI-VEC Inc. and the National Amateur Radio
Association, in the matter of choosing administrating
organizations for a proposed club and military amateur
station call sign program.
On August 5 the ARRL filed with the FCC its
opposition to the requests of four other entities to serve
as call sign administrators, citing shortcomings in their
submissions and reminding the Commission that there is no requirement
that more than one administrator be named -- "nor any
advantage to be gained from doing so."
The ARRL told the Commission that it saw defects in
the applications from the other four groups (W5YI-VEC Inc.,
the NARA, the Quarter Century Wireless Association, and the
Southeastern Repeater Association).
In response, the W5YI-VEC and the NARA filed
"Motions to Strike" the League's filing. The League has
responded by telling the Commission that the Motions to
Strike are not the "proper procedural vehicle" to use in
taking issue with the League's position, and saying in
addition that the claim made by W5YI-VEC and the NARA that
the League's opposition was defective is untrue.
W5YI-VEC in its Motion suggested that there is no
FCC rule permitting the League's opposition; the League
responded that its pleading was timely filed as opposition
to a petition (the applications of the four other groups to
be call sign administrators).
The League also said that the Commission could treat
the League's pleading (technically called a "Consolidated
Opposition") as an informal request for Commission action
(allowed under Section 1.41 of FCC Rules).
The League's Consolidated Opposition calls
"startling" an allegation of W5YI-VEC that the League "lacks
standing" to oppose other groups' being call sign
administrators.
In response, the ARRL again cited the history of the
new FCC regulation permitting the call sign program, e.g.,
that the League had the idea in the first place, promoted it
within the FCC and in Congress, and then finally urged the
FCC to adopt a program once it had been enabled by Congress.
The League further told the FCC that W5YI-VEC
objections to the "tone" of the League's August 5 filing
were not a basis for a Motion to Strike.
"Suffice it to say," the League said in its
Consolidated Opposition, "that the League continues to
oppose the self-promotional efforts of unqualified or less
qualified organizations to overly complicate and detract
from the efficient private sector administration of club and
military recreation station call signs...
"Amateur radio clubs and military recreation
stations deserve better," the League said.
The League responded to a W5YI-VEC contention that
it (the W5YI-VEC) could aggregate groups of people and call
them "members," calling such a plan "the essence of a sham
organization."
The League said that the argument of the NARA --
that the League's opposition to the applications of the four
other groups was really a petition to the FCC to reconsider
its Order enabling the entire program -- was simply
incorrect.
The League said that it merely continues to urge the
FCC to decide to appoint only one administrator for the
program; the decision is entirely up to the Chief of the
FCC's Private Radio Bureau, since the enabling legislation
has nothing to say about *how many* administrators should be
appointed.
The League said that the W5YI-VEC and NARA motions
to strike "are no more than an effort to defend (their)
defective applications ... there is absolutely no basis
whatsoever for striking the League's opposition, and those
motions should therefore be promptly dismissed."
No new club or military recreation station call
signs have been issued since 1977.
FCC DENIES PETITIONS
FOR A.R. RESTRUCTURING
The FCC has denied a petition by Scott Leyshon,
WA2EQF, to eliminate written examinations for amateur
operator licenses. At the same time the Commission denied a
petition by Vincent Biancomano, WB2EZG, which, although it
not advocate a "no written test" license, did, the FCC said,
concur in all other respects with Leyshon's proposal.
Leyshon's petition, filed April 19, 1993, argued
that current written examinations place a premium on FCC
rules over technical content. No comments were received on
his petition.
Biancomano's petition, like Leyshon's, was
characterized by the FCC as proposing that the Commission
state a goal of the amateur service as being either a
technical or a non-technical service.
The FCC said that of the 170 questions that appear
on examinations for amateur operator licenses, only (their
word) 46 concern rules and operating procedures, while 124
concern "contemporary technical matters." The Commission
said it did not believe that present examinations place an
unjustified premium on rules.
The FCC said that amateurs have over the years
expressed the view that they agree with the current
statement of the purposes of Amateur Radio, as found in the
FCC Rules, and the FCC agreed.
Biancomano has responded to the FCC, challenging
their decision. "The FCC for the second time," Biancomano
said, "refused to directly address the bulk of the issues
brought out in Mr. Leyshon's petitions (and mine),
essentially dismissing them with a one-page statement that
contains little in the way of information.
"While it is the purview of the Commission to accept
or deny a given petition," Biancomano said, it is also the
constitutional right of a citizen to petition government and
to expect a specific response to specific questions in that
petition. The Commission has in fact not provided such a
suitable response."
FREE EXAMS FOR NOVICES
QUESTIONED BY W5YI-VEC
The W5YI Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) has
filed a complaint with the FCC, asking that the ARRL-VEC be
forced to change its policy and begin charging for
administering Novice class examinations. The W5YI-VEC argues
that the issue is one of
"uniformity," claiming that ARRL benefits financially from
giving free exams.
The League, in a response to the FCC, disagreed,
saying that "VECs have always had the latitude to set their
own fees. We see no compelling federal interest in whether
or not a class of nine year olds ought to be charged for
taking an entry-level exam."
Two matters are at the heart of the W5YI-VEC
complaint, made in a letter to FCC Private Radio Bureau
Chief Ralph Haller:
First, that different accounting methods used by
various VECs may be contrary to FCC rules governing VECs;
some charge examinees on an individual basis, giving (W5YI-
VEC told the FCC) VEs and VECs the option of not recovering
out-of-pocket costs from any particular examinee.
W5YI-VEC also charged that the ARRL-VEC, by not
charging for Novice examinations, stands to benefit
financially. "Free examinations," W5YI-VEC said, "when all
other VECs charge, attract applicants. These applicants are
potential purchasers of examination preparation materials
whose purchasing decisions may be unduly influenced by their
choice of VECs."
The League's policy also affects codeless Technician
licensees who are not charged by the ARRL-VEC for taking the
5-wpm code test to upgrade to "Tech-plus" (thus gaining
Novice HF privileges).
ARRL SUPPORTS SHARING
OF VE RESPONSIBILITY
The ARRL has gone on record in opposition to a
proposal by the "Rules Committee of the National Conference
of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators" (NCVEC) that would
require a "contact" volunteer examiner be appointed for each
examination session who would have "overall" responsibility
for the session.
In comments filed August 30, 1993 to the proposal
(RM-8301), the League said that the concept of having three
examiners share liability for exam sessions' integrity has
worked well since the inception of the volunteer examiner
program in 1983, and that the benefits of the three-person
team would be diluted by the NCVEC proposal, if adopted.
The League said that the FCC's original Notice of
Proposed Rule Making more than ten years ago suggested a
three-person team with a "team chief" who must be an Extra
Class licensee. That idea was abandoned in favor of an ARRL
proposal that a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator system be
established (in FCC Report and Order 83-433, which enabled
the VE program).
The League said that it should be left to individual
VE teams to designate a "team leader" if they wish, "but in
no case should the concept of a joint and several liability
of the three-examiner team members be diluted."
The NCVEC proposal came out of the Conference's
annual meeting in June, 1993. The ARRL-VEC was represented
at the Conference but was not a party to the decision to
make the proposal to the FCC.
HQ staffers guests at annual JARL Ham Fair.
ARRL International Programs Manager Nao Akiyama,
NX1L, has been a long-time guest at the annual JARL Ham Fair
held every August in Tokyo. But new ground was broken when
the magazine *CQ Ham Radio* offered to bring over ARRL DXCC
Specialist Bill Kennamer, K5FUV, as guest of honor.
After many seconds of deliberation, Bill said yes.
The mission Bill accepted was to speak at the event,
held August 20-22, and to join Nao in the ritual checking of
QSL cards for JA DXers. With an eventual 61,000 attendees it
is no surprise that the pair eyeballed more than 10,000 DX
QSLs, eclipsing the old record of some 8,000 checked (by a
larger crew including field checkers) at the 1993 Dayton
HamVention.
Those 10,000 DXCC credits represented 202 individual
applications, to add to the total arriving in Newington in
September -- the Annual List month and the busiest of the
year!
But this visit was for more than just checking QSLs
-- DXing was the highlight of this year's Ham Fair and
hamdom's premier DX program, DXCC, headed the bill (pardon
the pun).
Bill Kennamer's job was to describe the massive job
of administering DXCC, with special emphasis on ARRL's on-
going work to computerize more than four decades of paper
records.
In advance, Bill and Nao prepared the text for a
brochure on the DXCC program specially tailored to DXers in
Japan, DXCC's biggest "customer" after the U.S. The brochure
describes the mechanics of working smoothly with the DXCC
Branch, and suggests solutions to the special problems of
swapping paperwork from halfway around the world.
Bill and Nao were guests at the elaborate opening of
Ham Fair, complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony to open
the doors. Shozo Hara, JA1AN, President of JARL, gave
opening remarks to the crowd, and served as Master of
Ceremonies for a group of welcoming speeches that followed,
including one by Bill. Kennamer also spoke at a noon forum,
answering the questions that are common to DXers around the
world. "I spent 30 minutes talking and Nao spent 45
translating," Kennamer said with a grin.
After that Bill and Nao went back to work; Nao made
appointments for anxious DXers to return to the ARRL booth,
so that no more than a handful of them were waiting on line.
The trip ended with presentation of a plaque to JARL
commemorating ARRL's 10th attendance at Ham Fair, another
plaque thanking CQ Publishing for making Bill's visit
possible, and a celebration dinner.
Bill Kennamer also reports finding the best place on
earth to buy watches cheap and that McDonald's gets it right
in Tokyo, but those are stories for another time (or place).
-- K1TN.
BRIEFS
* The third SAREX flight of 1993 is now set for
October 7; STS-58 on Space Shuttle *Columbia* was to have
lifted off for a 13 day mission on September 10 but was
delayed by recurring problems with the shuttle *Discovery*
(STS-51, not a SAREX flight). Fifteen schools are scheduled
to participate. Flight information updates will be available
on W1AW as the launch date nears.
* Philip M. Kane, N6SP, has been named Engineer-in-
Charge of the FCC's San Francisco office. Kane, 56, began
his FCC career as an electronics engineer at the S.F. office
in 1967 and has been acting EIC there since November, 1992.
Before joining the FCC he worked with the Israeli Ministry
of Communications and was licensed as 4X4UQ.
Kane, 56, was first licensed in 1952 as K2ASP; he's
an ARRL Life Member.
* The high cost of countries: A newsletter on the
scheduled February, 1994 DXpedition to Peter I Island, the
most-needed DXCC country in *everybody's* poll, reports that
$50,000 has been spent so far. That is a *downpayment*; The
newsletter is going to DX movers and shakers and may be
followed in greater detail in the various DX newsletters.
* On August 23, 1993, KH6HME and N6CA set a new 902
MHz terrestrial distance record of 2469 mi (3973 km),
according to N6CA. The contact, with signals just out of the
noise, came at 0136 UTC, on CW. For the next four hours the
pair tried unsuccessfully to make contact on 2304 MHz. 144
MHz was used for liaison. Chip Angle, N6CA, built the gear.
* Deadline for DXCC submissions to make the 1993
Annual List is Thursday, September 30 (receipt at HQ). Don't
forget that beginning this year the List will not appear in
*QST* but rather will be published separately and mailed in
early 1994 to all active DXCC program participants.
* Here are several corrections to the list provided
by the Foundation for Amateur Radio 1993 scholarship winners
published in our August 25 issue: Jeffrey Giesberg, KB2CZB,
and Beverlie L. Hartnett, N3NZK, were winners of QCWA
Memorial Scholarships; and David B. Perrin, KC1TS, won the
Ralph Hasslingler Memorial Scholarship; and Patrick J.
KA0ZEQ also was a scholarship winner.
* Japan has made it easier for amateurs from other
countries to operate there. On June 16 Japan revised its
radio laws to allow foreign nationals who hold Japanese
Amateur Radio operator licenses to establish and operate
their own radio stations in Japan even if they are from
countries not having a reciprocal operating agreement with
Japan.
Amateurs operating under the new arrangement will be
issued "7J" prefixed-call signs, good for five years.
Applications are taken by the International Section of the
Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL). (Thanks *The JARL News*.)