[Elecraft] Re: Using /QRP in the USA

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

In 1976, only slash mobile. portable, one or two others which I forget
were legal.... Doesn't seem to matter everybody does what they please on
the air anyway, -Helm.
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Yes, I suspected you were thinking of a few years back. All of that has
changed along with dropping the /portable/mobile designators, the
ability to have a call sign that doesn't belong in your call zone, and
no logging. 

I used to conduct SOLAS inspections on shipboard installations for their
annual FCC certification and had to know the rules by chapter and verse.
Sometimes the FCC inspector would get it wrong, and it was up to me so
show them where the ship was legal "in the book".   So it became a habit
to know the regs and keep them handy. Besides, there are readily
available from the US government web site. The Amateur Radio regulations
(Title 47, Part 97) are available at
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_01/47cfr97_01.html. They have
both "plain text" and PDF (Adobe Acrobat) files for download there. I
keep a text copy of the regs on my hard drive so I can quickly search
for a key word to find a topic I want to check out. 

I realize that some ops, like people everywhere, think that the rules
are for the "other guy", but I think that operating according to both
the regulations and always using good operating practices is as much a
part of Ham radio as having a clean signal with  good keying. 

A long time ago I learned not to let the bad operators be my teachers
and tell me how to behave. I take pride in doing it right, whether it's
a solder joint or the way I operate my station. 

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289