[AReU] ARRL activity in Washington

[Tony Stone]

Here's a couple of articles I thought you folks might find interesting. 

73

Tony


From: ARRL Letter Mailing List <letter-dlvy@arrl.org>
To: <w4tas@gte.net>
Subject: The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 24
Date: Friday, June 13, 2003 6:53 PM

***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 22, No. 24
June 13, 2003



==>PRESIDENT HAYNIE TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL SUBCOMMITTEE

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, testified June 11 on Capitol Hill on
behalf of the Spectrum Protection Act of 2003, HR 713. The ARRL initiative
would require the FCC to provide "equivalent replacement spectrum" to
Amateur Radio if the FCC reallocates primary amateur frequencies, reduces
any secondary amateur allocations, or makes additional allocations within
such bands that would substantially reduce their utility to amateurs.
Haynie was the last of 11 scheduled witnesses to speak during the
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet hearing, "The Spectrum
Needs of Our Nation's First Responders."

"We are indeed a first responder," Haynie said on behalf of the nation's
some 680,000 Amateur Radio operators. Ham radio is more than "just having
fun playing on the radio," he told the panel, a subcommittee of the House
Energy and Commerce Committee chaired by Rep Billy Tauzin (R-LA). "It also
produces capable, trained volunteer communicators in systems of emergency
telecommunications that are impervious to disasters of all sorts," Haynie
said. "These volunteers are ready to respond--and do respond
immediately--when all other systems of communications fail, including
public safety communications whey they're overloaded, destroyed or lack
interoperability."

Among other examples, Haynie pointed out how Amateur Radio operators
answered the call on September 11, 2001, in New York City, at the Pentagon
and at the Western Pennsylvania crash site of the fourth hijacked
airliner. Hams also assisted federal authorities in the debris search
following the February 1 shuttle Columbia disaster, Haynie pointed out,
and aided in the response to tornadoes in the Midwest and South earlier
this year.

Haynie told the subcommittee that hams have lost more than 100 MHz of VHF
and UHF spectrum over the past 15 years and that another nearly 360 MHz of
VHF and UHF spectrum "has been substantially compromised." Haynie said
hams have shared spectrum successfully with government users on VHF and
UHF and have been able to "make do with less," but "that concept has
reached a breaking point with our service," he added. The 2.4 GHz area,
once left largely to amateurs, in recent years has become "polluted" with
wireless activity, Haynie told the panel.

"Interoperability" was the watchword of the day at the subcommittee
hearing, which got under way at 11 AM EDT and continued well into the
afternoon. Several witnesses testified that a lack of interoperability
among public safety responders at disaster scenes--including the World
Trade Center--prevented warning those in danger and resulted in a tragic
loss of life.

Haynie was not alone in offering supportive words about Amateur Radio. HR
713 sponsor Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), quoted a paragraph from the
submitted testimony of Norman Jacknis of the Westchester County, New York,
Department of Information Technology. "In the first hours following the
attack of September 11, 2001, the only way we could coordinate the sharing
of firefighting, medical examiner, health, and information technology
resources with New York City officials was through the highly trained,
volunteer Amateur Radio (ham) operators," Jacknis said. "This
irreplaceable resource must be protected from incursion by other
interests."

One of the two amateur licensees in Congress, Rep Greg Walden, WB7OCE
(R-OR)--a subcommittee member called for a halt to the "astonishing"
erosion of amateur spectrum. "Time and again, if you find an emergency,
you find a ham radio operator," Walden said.

FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Edmond Thomas also cited
the contribution of Amateur Radio operators to public safety. "The ham
radio community has offered invaluable service to first responders during
emergency situations," the OET chief said.

A Senate version of the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act, S 537, was
introduced earlier this year by Sen Michael Crapo (R-ID). The Senate bill
is being considered by the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee,
but no hearing on the measure has been set. The text of HR 713 and S 537
is available via the Thomas Web site <http://thomas.loc.gov/>.


==>FCC WRITES PART 15 DEVICE USERS ABOUT ALLEGED INTERFERENCE TO AMATEUR

Hold the phone! The FCC has written two Northern Virginia residents to
follow up on complaints from a local amateur who's alleging that he's on
the receiving end of harmful interference from telephone devices with the
capability to support multiple cordless remotes. Both are unlicensed Part
15 consumer electronics devices made by a well-known manufacturer. The
complaints from Bernie Keiser, W4SW--an ARRL member in Vienna, Virginia,
near Washington, DC--represented a bit of a turnabout from the typical
interference scenario, where ham operation occasionally generates
complaints of interference to cordless consumer equipment.

"Harmful interference to a licensed radio service from a Part 15 device is
a violation of FCC rules," warned Sharon Bowers, deputy chief of the
Consumer Inquiries and Complaint Division of the FCC's Consumer and
Governmental Affairs Bureau. Bowers explained that the equipment was
classified as an "intentional radiator"--a device that generates an RF
signal as part of its normal operation. In separate letters June 2 to the
two Part 15 users--both also Vienna residents--she pointed out that if
their cordless telephone devices cause harmful interference to licensed
spectrum users, "the operator of the device is responsible for correcting
the interference, ceasing operation, if necessary, whenever such
interference occurs."

Keiser told ARRL that the interference--in the form of broadband noise
from 2400 to 2450 MHz--impairs his ability to hear the AO-40 downlink and
beacon on the band. "I have a 2.4-GHz cordless telephone that does not
cause problems," he said. According to Keiser, the devices in question
electronically poll various remote stations, and it's the polling function
that apparently causes the noise. He was able to track down the noise
sources on his own and has discussed the issue with his neighbors, with
whom, he says, he remains on friendly terms. He said the owner of the
device that's causing the worst interference is a communications attorney
who understands the problem and hopes to deal with it through the
manufacturer.

In her letters, Bowers cited the applicable sections of Part 15 and
advised that the alleged harmful interference must be corrected before
they may use the devices legally. She suggested the consumers contact the
manufacturer or retailer of the devices to see if they'd either allow them
to return them or exchange them for devices that don't cause interference.
860-594-0384

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