[PVRCNC] FW: [PVRC] Winlink and Ted

Fri Jul 26 17:42:32 EDT 2019

Dear all, 

Very kind of all of you to comment.

I am sensitive to those who don’t share my views or have no interest in this topic, and many are clearly tired of my emails on this subject.  I will refrain from such frequent transmissions on the topic going forward.  Thanks for the compliments from several of you.  The hobby needs your unending support. 

One thing I hope we can all agree on is this: Whether you care or not about the topic, or use Winlink or not: A bedrock principle that should guide of our hobby and the operations of our elected officials in ARRL is that of transparency, openness, integrity, and diplomacy. Our hobby was created to establish goodwill. The elected ARRL board members have an obligation, far and above rank and file hams, to be the leaders, the vanguard, the ones who spotlight and harness the visionaries who can move our hobby forward.

The footnotes in this extensive and recent FCC filing: 

https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10724035705944/NYU%20Ex%20Parte%20Filing%20-%2007.24.19.pdf

lay out the legal basis of data in amateur radio, and provide what I and many top legal minds believe to be a strong legal argument to have FCC rules enforced and to end the effectively encrypted transmissions in amateur radio.

If you read the footnotes carefully, you see how ARSFI and Winlink have created a unique data system that gives the general public instant access to the amateur radio spectrum, without proper oversight and without knowledge to the control operator whose radio is sending those email messages.  

Why ARRL has continued to aggressively pursue more bandwidth or spectrum allocation for this type of service, without ever once addressing the fact that this is a closed, private network that cannot be decoded by hams in general over the air, and has no transparency on its messages BEFORE they are transmitted, is beyond my comprehension.

I would hope you, too, would question the actions of the ARRL board, and ask why it has continuously acted to advance the closed email network of Winlink. Why would the ARRL try and play “kingmaker” for ARSFI/Winlink and continue to petition the FCC for more and more spectrum and privileges while continuing to “look the other way” regarding the lack of transparency with this tiny group of developers (ARSFI). Why would ARRL leaders provide so much trust in ARSFI/Winlink, and them alone, to properly use and defend the ham spectrum? The FCC is clear that the hobby is meant to be open to ALL amateur operators.  There is no expectation of privacy, and no special provision for some users to have secret use of the spectrum or to be “private gatekeepers.”  The hobby is meant to be completely open.

As discussed in this recent FCC filing, ARSFI and Winlink are showing us what they care to show us,  “after the fact,” on the newly launched web viewer, without any transparency into their own back end network, and without over the air transparency of the transmitted signals in amateur radio. In an emergency, no one can copy the mail on the air and jump in and help, or participate in the discussion, or participate in the hobby as Part 97 instructs.  

This filing brings out the important fact that amateur radio was distinctly created to provide “amateur – to- amateur” communications, and not email to the public. It is strictly for non- hobby use and not to be used to bypass other radio services (e.g. email), in its role as a distinct service. 

I hope everyone, whether you use Winlink or not, can agree on the need for transparency in amateur radio.  This ex parte filing offers a very simple path forward for ARSFI and Winlink, which is easily doable for them,  and puts them on a path that allows them to operate lawfully in the ham spectrum:

1)      open up their over-the-air data signaling methods so that all can hear it for meaning over-the-air, just like all other data modes in the Amateur Radio Service; 

2)       open up and archive all their traffic , throughout the world,  on a web viewer,  and make sure the relay stations anywhere in the world can first read the email and verify its appropriateness BEFORE allowing it to be sent over amateur radio frequencies. 

As shown in this FCC filing, neither of these things happen today, but the ARSFI team is a bright group, and if motivated to do this instead of trying to find loopholes or working so hard to interpret FCC rules in a way that goes counter to the spirit and  regulations of the hobby, and instead of spending so much energy saying that these 2 simple things would end their network, they could conform in a heartbeat with no loss of service . After that, the baud rate could be dropped in favor of wider bandwidths for open data. 

My hope is that the ARRL board members who we elect will stand up for this position, and will work to establish openness, transparency and diplomacy.

My position, and we believe that of the FCC, will be that these 2 simple requirements are a critical prerequisite for Part 97 operations,  before ANY more bandwidth allocation is given for ACDS service. 

What remains to be seen is this: will the Winlink group and the ARRL board get behind these 2 principles and agree with the legal interpretation of this filing? 

Or, will there be continued rancor and battling, and more of your ARRL membership dollars burned up on pursuing more effectively encrypted data?  

How can the ARRL possibly argue with the legal position in this filing? Why would there be so much opposition from a small development team (ARSFI) to open up their data transmissions for over-the-air intercept, and to open up the entire back end  of their carried email messages so they are public and viewable, BEFORE a ham operator forwards them out over the air ? 

Like many of you, I eagerly await to see what ARRL has to say on this topic. 

On a personal note, I have had the benefit of personal relationships with many FCC Chairmen and many commissioners in my career, and I know they all hold the hobby of Amateur Radio in very good light, and I believe that they all would support the principles outlined in this ex parte filing. As a leader in education, I believe the tenets and positions in this filing are absolutely critical for our HF spectrum, and critical for the future of STEM in the USA, and I am very fortunate to have the strong and unending support of the entire NYU administration in pursuing this quest to have all transmissions and messages open in ham radio. We also have allocated more than $1M for a major new NYU amateur radio station on our new engineering building in Brooklyn, and are anticipating the creation of an organization that can serve as a national leader for the hobby. 

I am very excited about the future of our hobby, and believe that if all data can be made open for over the air decoding, and if the burden of providing openness is clearly placed on the developer of new data methods (as is being done with FT-8, FT-4, etc.), then there can be great gains and improvement in technological development in ham radio.

I hope that the ARRL leadership, and ARSFI, could come to see the value in adopting these simple 2 principles in their network. The hobby would win in a very big way if that happened. Do they have the will? We shall see.

73 ted n9nb

From: pvrc-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:pvrc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Brennan Price via PVRC
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2019 8:52 AM
To: Jim K4QPL
Cc: pvrc at mailman.qth.net; Vic; Alan Zimmerman
Subject: Re: [PVRC] Winlink and Ted

While I disagree strongly with Jim's threat threat assessment for reasons I have previously stated, Ted unquestionably has credibility and achievements that transcend this issue, and amateur radio itself. 

I'll gladly read what he has to say anytime on any forum. 

73 de Brennan. N4QX

On Jul 22, 2019 07:28, Jim K4QPL via PVRC <pvrc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

I agree with Steve. This is so important to amateur radio, now and in future, the real threat needs to be communicated as widely as possible and not just for those who sign up for a special group. Anyone not interested can use the “delete” key. And meantime thanks to Ted N9NB for his ceaseless and targeted efforts to keep commercial use off of ham bands and wideband QRM from contesting spectrum. 

73,

Jim K4QPL 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 21, 2019, at 8:30 PM, Alan Zimmerman via PVRC <pvrc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

Concur. This thread need to end. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 21, 2019, at 8:24 PM, Vic via PVRC <pvrc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

I am absolutely up to my gills with this interminable winlink stuff. I don’t think it is appropriate in this degree of intrusion on this contest reflector. Can someone (with me) suggest to Eric (moderator) that it is way time to let us move on?  Apologies that this request is necessary. Contest exuberantly. 73, Vic W4VIC 

Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
Get the new AOL app: mail.mobile.aol.com

73, Vic, W4VIC 

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