[Elecraft] Illegal contacts during the CQ WW Phone

[Bob McGraw]

I read the messages regarding the topic.  There were many misguided 
thoughts and comments in my review of the messages as posted.

Yes, if you operated LSB on 7.125 your signal was in the CW portion of 
the band.  Even if one operated 3 kHz higher, 7.128 kHz, your sideband 
was likely into the CW portion of the band. And if one operated below 
7.175 with a General Class license you were out of the General Class of 
the band allocation.

The ARRL and the FCC have a written agreement regarding the monitoring 
of amateur frequencies.  This is known as the ARRL Volunteer Monitor 
program.  The members are volunteers who have attended and participated 
in formal training, both by video conferences and written materials.  
There is an administrator of this program at ARRL.   On a monthly basis, 
and on an as needed basis ,there is a formal method whereby members of 
the VM program document and report infractions.  These are reviewed by 
the ARRL VM administrator and assistants.  Three things typically occur 
with the reports:  (a) no action taken, (b) the offender is sent a 
letter from the ARRL VM administrator citing the offense, (c) the matter 
is referred to the FCC for action.

 From the other side of the fence, the FCC has in fact on several 
occasions asked the ARRL VM program to look for and document specific 
issues considered to be in violation.  This is fact whereby selected 
hams are performing certain monitoring services for the FCC.    There 
are specific and strict procedures being followed in all cases.

This weekend, I personally identified and documented 12 different ham 
radio stations by call, being operated outside of their license 
privileges.  These were reported to the ARRL VM program for review and 
any deemed actions.

Just hope your operation and station call wasn't on my list. I'm not a 
bad guy, I'm just doing the job you have asked to be done.   There is a 
program to do such.   And it works.

  Here is a summary report of actual actions for July 2025 as published 
in QST.

* Technician operators in Indiana, Colorado and Arizona were issued 
advisories concerning 20-meter FT-8 operation, a band on which 
Technicians have no privileges.

* Technician operators in Kansas and California were issued advisories 
concerning 40-meter FT-8 operation, on 40-meters where Technicians only 
have CW privileges.

*  An operator in Georgia was issued and advisory concerning 
transmitting music on 75 meters, which is prohibited by Section 
97.113(a)(4) of the FCC rules.

*  The monitoring hours reported for July 2025 were 1067 hours on HF 
frequencies and 1883 hours on VHF.

Yes we can do better and we can do more.  It takes time and manpower.  
There are many areas of the spectrum that needs attention.  There are 
many areas which are seeing improvements in operator discipline.  Just 
don't be one of those on the list.

73

Bob, K4TAX


On 10/27/2025 8:28 AM, elecraft-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2025 19:12:35 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Al Lorona<alorona at sbcglobal.net>
> To: Elecraft Reflector<elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [Elecraft] [OT] Illegal contacts during the CQ WW Phone
> Message-ID:<1961684858.899707.1761505955592 at mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> If I were the FCC, I would camp out on or near 7.125 MHz on Saturday during the CQ WW Phone contest and start logging the calls of all the US operators calling DX stations there. (If you call on that frequency on LSB, you're illegally transmitting out-of-band.)
> Just between the 1st and 7th innings of the baseball game yesterday, I logged 30 stations who did exactly that: they all called IP9C on 7,125.5. I'm sure there were many more.
> I have no idea whether the scoring committee disallows contacts made this way, or whether that's even checked. Certainly, those stations should not get credit for the illegal contacts.
> W6LX said that.
> Al? W6LX
-- 
Patience please; Rome wasn't destroyed in a single day!