[MIham] This reponse is from Jim Wades concerning the Radio Act of 1912

[FSK]

Thx Jim, That's why i stated it like i did...Thx for the responce....73
Frank

In response to the "history" of the Radio Act of 1912 as discussed below, i=
t is not only inaccurate, but extremely incomplete.

The Radio Act was not passed in response to the Titanic Disaster.  The late=
r incident resulted in maritime radio regulations, which required a 24-hour=
 radio watch on ocean-going merchant ships.=20=20

While it is true that the Radio Act was passed in response to interference =
problems, these were not solely an issue involving amateur wireless operato=
rs.  Commercial, military, and amateur operators all fought for spectrum, a=
s the government had no legal authority to allocate wavelengths.  While doc=
umented incidents did occur in which amateur operators interfered with comm=
ercial and military communications, the same was true within the commercial=
 arena.  United Wireless and others regularly jammed each other's communica=
tions on the Great Lakes and elsewhere.  A well known incident exists where=
 a commercial shore station on Lake Erie activated an automatic jamming dev=
ice designed to interfere with a competitor's communications, resulting in =
a missed distress call.  In other incidents, commercial operators refused t=
o handle distress communications from  ships equipped with a competitor's a=
pparatus.  All of these problems led to the passage of the Radio Act.

A couple of important points.  There were no licensed radio services before=
 passage of the Radio Act.  Therefore, the Amateur Radio Service did not ex=
ist as we know it.  Second, the Radio Act of 1912 placed authority for regu=
lation within the hands of the Department of Commerce, but granted the late=
r agency minimum authority to authorize wavelength.  This would prove probl=
ematic during the 1920s when the explosive growth of the radio industry res=
ulted in competition for wavelengths and power.  It was only through the br=
illiant administration of Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce that some=
 regulation was accomplished throughout this industry based on voluntary me=
ans.

The Radio Act of 1912 included a thinly veiled attempt to eliminate amateur=
 operators.  By limiting amateurs to the supposedly useless wavelength of 2=
00 Meters, it was thought that the limited ground wave propagation at this =
frequency would discourage long-distance communications, thereby resulting =
in diminished interest and the eventual demise of the hobby.  Of course, th=
e framers of the Radio Act could not foresee the invention of the Regenerat=
ive Receiver by Edwin Armstrong, nor advances in spark gap transmitter tech=
nology and, eventually, undamped continuous waves (CW) developed by vacuum =
tubes, and the exploration of the "short waves," all of which resulted in s=
ignificantly increased range and narrower bandwidth transmissions.

The limited authority granted the Secretary of Commerce by the Radio Act wa=
s found to be woefully inadequate by the 1920's, and this led to the passag=
e of the Radio Act of 1927, which resulted in the creation of the Federal R=
adio Commission.  This was the first true radio industry regulatory agency =
with the force of Administrative Law.  It's genesis has far more to do with=
 the chaos in the radio broadcast industry during the 1920s brought about b=
y the inadequacies of the 1912 law.

The current FCC was created in 1934 with the passage of the Communications =
Act.  It had a greater range of authority, covering both wire and wireless =
communications.

So, to make a long story short.  No, the Radio Act of 1912 is NOT a result =
of interference to the transmissions from the Titanic by radio amateurs.  I=
t was the result of widespread chaos in the entire radio sector involving a=
 wide range of users, include unlicensed radio amateurs.  It was also an at=
tempt to destroy Amateur Radio without taking a political stand by  elimina=
ting this segment of radio users through legislation.

The author of the piece quoted clearly has a very limited understanding of =
the history of radio regulation.  His rather incomplete analogy will lead i=
ndividuals to a very wrong conclusion about the history of both the Amateur=
 Radio Service and the basis for telecommunications regulation.=20=20

73,

Jim Wades,  WB8SIW





In 1912, Marconi Co. operators aboard the Titanic were slow to
> receive the iceberg warnings because relays were jammed by the crush of
> unregulated amateur wireless users hogging the spectrum. The Radio Act of
> 1912
> followed and, eventually, the Federal Communications Commission was forme=
d.
> The
> crash of 1929 begat sweeping financial regulations and gave birth to the
> Securities and Exchange Commission.
>=20
> Does anyone know if this is true? I sure don't, but if its not true, I fe=
el
> compelled to reply to the author
>=20
> Regards
> de John
> EI7IG

James Wades, PEM
General Manager, Michigan Net, QMN, Inc.
National Radio Emergency Network
P.O. Box 457
Allegan, Michigan  49010
Telephone: 269-673-8845

visit us at:  www.qsl.net/w8ihx/   and    www.aa8vs.org/nren/




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