[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1279 - February 15, 2002

[Tim Miller]

Amateur Radio Newsline 1279 - February 15, 2002

The following is a Q-S-T.

Ham radio helps in the face of a California wildfire and an appeals 
court says that pirate broadcasters cannot be banned from getting FCC 
licenses.  These stories are first on Amateur Radio Newsline report 
number 1279 coming your war right now.

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HAMS AID AT FALLBROOK CA. FIRE

Ham radio was on the scene as a wind-whipped fire raced through the 
remote north-western portion of Fallbrook California on Sunday February 
10th.  Sixteen homes were destroyed along with one sheriff's vehicle and 
two fire trucks.  Among the houses that suffered damage was that of 
Grammy winner Rita Coolidge.  An estimate 2600 acres were burned as this 
report is being prepared.   Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, 
has the details:

--
According to Bob Gonsett, W6VR,  Amateur radio operators were more than 
ready when the emergency the emergency hit.  And so was their local 
repeater system:

--
W6VR:  "We have two repeater systems that are tied together on Red 
Mountain that serve Fallbrook and Fallbrook is fortunately a hotbed of 
Amateur Radio activity.  Lots of logistics communications took place in 
support of Red Cross activities, animal evacuations, people evacuations 
and it was a very, very busy repeater system which, incidentally, is 
backed up by emergency power."

--

Gonsett, who is editor of the CGC Communicator broadcast industry 
newsletter says that hams were posted at key points in the community.  
This included the fire department, the sheriffs department, the hospital 
and the evacuation centers.  Some hams provided mobile communications 
for animal rescue operations.  Others, who specialize in evacuation 
matters and health and welfare traffic worked in conjunction with the 
American Red Cross to provide support.  W6VR says that it was just about 
a textbook ham radio communications effort for both people and 
equipment.

--
W6VR: "Their performance was outstanding in every respect.  The 
repeaters worked flawlessly.  There was no jamming.  The greater 
community pulled together on this one."
--

Volunteers came from across the region.  Bill and Wayne Dewey, WD6AHW 
and WD6AHX, served as the Net Control operators.  A father and son team, 
the Dewey's spent hours directing all radio communications on the 
Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club's repeaters.  Another ham volunteer was 
Jess Mauk, KD6YEI, of San Diego.  He manned a RACES van sent in from San 
Diego County.  In all close to thirty radio amateurs served in the first 
wave of volunteer communicators.  Gonsett says that hams were there 
because they wanted to help:

--
W6VR:  "It was really heartwarming to find such an outpouring of 
devotion from the ham community in people coming up here and making 
their presence known and contributing as they could.  They were all 
useful and the community leaders thanked us repeatedly for our roles."
--

Most communications took place over the Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club's 
dual redundancy repeater system  This is actually two separate machines 
designed and built by Chris Durso, AA4CD.  One outputs on 146.175 MHz 
and the other on 445.600 MHz.  Both carry the same audio.  In time of 
emergency anyone with a scanner radio in the Fallbrook and Temecula 
California area can tune to either frequency and hear all of the ham 
radio communications.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP.

--

One last note.  According to Gonsett, one of the luckiest hams on Earth 
has to be Joel Brown, KE6FHS.  Brown is the  president of the Fallbrook 
Amateur Radio Club.  His home survived the wildfire.  Sadly, his 
immediate neighbor's' house burned to the ground.  (ARNewsline(tm), 
W6VR)

**

RADIO LAW:  COURT THROWS OUR PIRATE RADIO LICENSING BAN

Just because a person one operated a pirate radio station is not enough 
reason for the FCC to ban him from ever getting a broadcasting permit.  
So says a Washington D.C. Federal Appeals court.  Amateur Radio 
Newsline's Paul Courson, WA3VJB, reports from the nations capitol:

--

The government is not allowed to use your past as a bootleg radio 
operator to block you from holding a legitimate broadcast license, 
according to a ruling from a federal appeals court February 8th.

But any victory might be short-lived for onetime pirate operators 
wanting to turn legit. 

The case out of Washington DC involved Greg Ruggiero, a onetime bootleg 
radio station operator around New York. He challenged an FCC rule that 
bans those found guilty of pirate broadcasting from ever holding a 
license, or being formally associated with the recently-created low-
power radio station service, an industry that has become known as FM 
microbroadcasting.

The appeals court agreed with Ruggiero's claim such a ban is 
unconstitutional as the law is now written. But the court also left open 
the possibility Congress could write a more narrow law in line with the 
First and Fifth Amendments. Part of the argument centered on a protest 
philosophy held by many unauthorized microbroadcasters, who see their 
bootleg ops as civil disobedience.

The appeals court, siding with the former bootlegger, said there was 
some evidence Congress, in writing the ban into broadcast law, meant to 
punish those with a protest message, without really improving future 
compliance with the law. They called it viewpoint discrimination, and 
said ... not allowed.

Communications law experts are mixed whether the ruling has implications 
beyond FM low-power broadcast licensing, including whether FCC can use 
violations in one service to administer broader punishment.

Traditionally, the FCC has kept open the option of revoking other 
licenses held by a violator, beyond the service where the violation took 
place. For example, someone in violation on the ham bands might have his 
commercial radiotelephone license pulled as well.

In Washington, Paul Courson, WA3VJB, reporting for the Amateur Radio 
Newsline. 

--

And what might this decision mean to Amateur Radio?  Especially those 
cases where ham licenses are challenged based on character issues.  
According to retired ARRL President George Wilson, W4OYI,  probably very 
little.  George, who is also an attorney, says that despite the ruling, 
the FCC still has the authority on a case by case basis to deny a 
license to a pirate broadcaster. They can also still designate for 
hearing the license of any station who breaks the law or violates 
government rules.  (Published news reports)

**

RADIO LAW:  FOIA BECOMING MORE DIFFICULT

Hams fighting the FCC over enforcement and other issues are finding  it 
a lot more difficult to obtain government records under the Freedom of 
Information Act.  This is because of an administration policy change 
made a month after the September 11th terrorist attacks.  That's when 
Attorney General John Ashcroft directed all agency leaders to be more 
cautious in releasing records. 

Over the years, some hams who have been tagged with violations by the 
FCC have tried to use the federal Freedom of Information Act to try to 
get a line on their accusers.  Most of the time the government refuses 
unless the person making the request can show good reason for the 
information to be released.  

While not of a national security nature, none the less, bureaus like the 
FCC will most likely be heading the words of Attorney General John 
Ashcroft who says that agencies must carefully consider things including 
the effectiveness of law enforcement before releasing any documents.  
Ashcroft says that agencies that legitimately turn down requests made 
under the Freedom of Information Act will have the backing of the 
Justice Department in doing so.  (Published news reports)

**

RAIN PROMO:  HOW MANY HAMS ARE THERE IN THE USA?

I'm Greg Sperling, KB9DBC.  

Just how many hams are there in the United States?  

As you heard last week here on Amateur Radio Newsline, the picture is 
not a rosy one.  You can hear Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, interview with 
W5YI publisher and VEC Fred Maia this week on the RAIN Report.  It is 
accessible in both Windows Media and RealAudio at www.rainreport.com and 
for the technologically challenged by telephone at 847-827-7246.  (RAIN)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  LOS ANGELES AREA PAROLED RADIO OPERATOR  RE-ASSERTED FOR 
PROBATION VIOLATION

A Bell California man on parole for jamming police communications is now 
being held without bail for violating his probation and allegedly making 
death threats on the 2 meter band.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce 
Tennant, K6PZW, has the details.

--
You may remember that back on November 14, 2001, the FCC set aside an 
Amateur Service license and the call sign KG6IRO that it had issued to 
one Jack Gerritson.  That grant was made only a few days earlier on 
November 8th.  The Commission took action after it received information 
that Gerritsen had been arrested in 1999 and convicted in 2000 for 
interference to the Los Angeles Police Department radio system.  

Gerritsen was out on parole after serving one year of a five year prison 
term on that conviction.  On January 29, Los Angeles FCC agents 
participated in the pre-dawn re-arrest of Gerritsen after authorities 
received complaints of death threats allegedly made by him on several 
Amateur frequencies. 

As Gerritsen was on parole in the earlier case,  a no-bail search and 
arrest warrant was served.  This is because the terms of his probation 
banned him from possessing any kind of radio transmitting equipment. 

But at the time he was taken into custody Gerritsen reportedly had over 
twenty radios at his premises.  Of these the FCC says that eight were 
capable of operating on frequencies in the Amateur, Marine, Land Mobile 
and Public Safety bands.  The FCC says that Gerritsen even had a Marine 
radio with batteries connected to it, and a length of antenna line 
running outside his residence hidden in a closet.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los 
Angeles.

--

The FCC says that after they set aside Gerritsen license that he  
continued operating and causing deliberate interference to numerous 
Amateur radio repeaters in the Los Angeles area.  It acted on these 
complaints.  Now Gerritsen may spend the next four years in jail.  (FCC 
release, other sources)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  FCC ORDERS POWER COMPANY TO HELP A HAM

The FCC has told an Alabama power utility that it has to clear up 
interference it is causing to a local ham radio operator.  Amateur Radio 
Newsline's David Black KB4KCH, has the latest from our South East Bureau 
in Birmingham:

--

For more than two and a half years, Dan Jeswald, W4NTI, says his ham 
radio communications have been hampered by a pesky problem:  
interference.  Jeswald moved to Anniston, Alabama, in June, 1999.  It 
wasn't long after that, he says, that he began experiencing interference 
on numerous high frequency bands.  He says 6 meters became unusable 
because of popping sounds and other interference Jeswald says sometimes 
rates full scale on his equipment.  He says the noise is worst during 
cold weather and sometimes goes on for days.

Jeswald suspected a faulty transformer or other power company equipment.  
He says he contacted Alabama Power.  Jeswald says the power company 
responded and began working on the problem.  But in midstream before the 
problems were eliminated, Jeswald says there was a change of people he 
dealt with at the power company.  Jeswald says his efforts to get help 
with the problem since then
have gone nowhere.

With few options left, Jeswald contacted the ARRL, which put him in 
touch with the FCC.  On January 30th, Special Counsel Riley 
Hollingsworth sent a letter to Alabama Power's Chief Executive Officer.  
In the letter, Hollingsworth advises the utility about Commission rules 
governing equipment that generates unintended interference.  And he 
informs the company of its responsibility to fix the problem, or 
possibly face fines if a violation is found.

A call to the power company seeking comment was not returned.  
Meanwhile, Dan Jeswald just hopes the airwaves clear up--and soon.