[Elecraft] kx3 aircraft radio

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

And MARS is not a precedent since it is designed to be supported by Amateur
Radio Licensees volunteering their time. The fact that the MARS operations
occur outside the Ham bands is irrelevant. It is not a "commercial" service
like aircraft comms. 

As another commercial licensee and technician of many decades in the USA, I
am not aware of any commercial use in which a Ham rig that has not been
type-approved for that service can be used - not even on the loosely
controlled "family radio" or CB frequencies. 

Even if you put your Ham rig on a commercial channel in an emergency and
saved lives by doing so, you are still in violation of the FCC rules,
although you can hope the FCC decides not to cite you for doing so. 

That certainly does not prevent a Ham licensee in an aircraft, experimental
or not, from talking to a Ham licensee on the ground on Amateur frequencies.
Either or both Hams in that case might be using equipment type approved for
commercial service on Amateur bands as long as it meets the FCC requirements
for Amateur transmitters. The only prohibition there is shipboard
operations. It is NOT allowed for a Ham to use the shipboard radios required
by the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations for anything but the
purposes for which it was installed. He/she cannot use it for Ham
communications under any conditions. A ship carrying a radio officer (or
GMDSS operator) who is also a Ham can operated from the ship, but ONLY using
equipment that is not in any way connected to the SOLAS gear - separate
power supply, separate equipment and separate antennas. 

But, according to a recent pose on this reflector, at least one commercial
airplane pilot Ham licensee uses the cockpit radio to work Ham stations on
the Ham bands when making long flights. That was surprise to me given my
experience with the limitations imposed on shipboard radio systems. 

73 Ron AC7AC


-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Mark Bayern
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 5:56 PM
To: glen at worstell.com
Cc: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] kx3 aircraft radio

As was pointed out earlier, the problem is not the FAA regulations, but the
FCC regulations.

Mark  AD5SS (and a handful of commercial FCC licenses)