[Elecraft] PACTOR iii

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

International third party traffic is illegal unless the US has a
specific agreement with the country involved.

Secondly, third party traffic is limited to *non-commercial* messages
"of the type that would not be transmitted by commercial means."

Navigation data, weather charts, supply orders, reservations, arrival
schedules, etc. - including "telegrams" to family and friends - are all
traffic that would normally be carried via commercial marine circuits
(just ask any old time ship's Radio Officer).

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 4/30/2012 8:57 AM, Mark Bayern wrote:
>> "Your using Pactor to email family and friends. Unless your family and friends are all amateurs, communicating with them was at one time not allowed.
>
> Really? When? Since the beginning of time Amateur Radio has been used
> for third party traffic [in the US]. Ever hear of Heath&  Welfare
> messages after a disaster? radiograms? Just _what_ was the Amateur
> Radio _Relay_ League was relaying back in the teens and twenties?
>
>
> Excerpt from from the book '200 Meters and Down' by Clinton B. De Soto, 1936:
>
> ~~~
>
> In 1914, Hiram Percy Maxim of Hartford, Connecticut, was a prominent
> businessman, engineer, and inventor (notably of the Maxim Silencer).
> He was also an active radio amateur, with one of the best-equipped
> stations in the Hartford area. One night in April he attempted to send
> a message to another ham in Springfield, Massachusetts. He had a
> one-kilowatt station (call 1WH), and Springfield was only 30 miles
> away, well within his normal range. He was unable to make contact, and
> remembering that he knew another ham in Windsor Locks, about halfway,
> he contacted the Windsor Locks ham, and asked him to relay the
> message, which was successfully done. This was not the first time a
> message had been relayed, but it set Maxim to thinking. At that time,
> a great deal, perhaps most of amateur radio activity consisted of
> sending and receiving messages, not only between amateurs, but
> involving the general public as well. But at that time the maximum
> reliable range of a station was a few hundred miles or less, and so
> Maxim realized that a formally organized relay system would be of
> tremendous use to amateurs.
>
> ~~~~
>
>
> Mark  AD5SS
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 9:37 PM, Scott Manthe<scott.manthe at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> Well, some of the irritation is brought about something you mention
>> casually: Your using Pactor to email family and friends. Unless your
>> family and friends are all amateurs, communicating with them was at one
>> time not allowed. Amateurs were not allowed to communicate with
>> non-amateurs, no matter the mode, excepting for autopatches and phone
>> patches. None of these operations was automatic, and a licensed amateur
>> was always in control of the transmission. This is not the case with the
>> Pactor autobots.
>>
>> Secondly, and this just my opinion, there is a maritime radio service,
>> so why don't you sailors use that to email your family and friends and
>> transmit logs and get weather information? Since vessels have a
>> dedicated radio service to do everything needed, why pollute the amateur
>> bands with maritime communications? There is absolutely no need to use
>> the amateur bands for this, especially the autoforwarding stuff. No way
>> to justify this, except that sailors have a lot of money and influence
>> in both Newington and D.C.
>>
>> 73,
>> Scott, N9AA
>>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>