[SFDXA] Riley Hollingsworth to North Carolina Club: Amateur Enforcement “Very Much Alive”

[Bill]

    Riley Hollingsworth to North Carolina Club: Amateur Enforcement
    “Very Much Alive”

**
11/19/2014

Former FCC Special Counsel for Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, 
*told* <http://arvideonews.com/hrn/HRN_Episode_0174.html> the *Forsyth 
Amateur Radio Club* <http://www.w4nc.com/> that the FCC is still active 
in the Amateur Radio enforcement arena, even though it’s not always 
apparent. He spoke to the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, club on 
November 10.

“You may not think so, but enforcement is very much alive,” said 
Hollingsworth, who — although retired — still keeps up with goings on at 
the FCC and with the enforcement activities of his successor, FCC 
Special Counsel Laura Smith. “You just don’t hear a lot about it, as you 
used to,” he said, because ham radio news media report only the “big 
announcements” these days. During his tenure, Hollingsworth routinely 
released preliminary letters of inquiry and warning notices to radio 
amateurs suspected of breaking the rules. Now, he said, the FCC is using 
“the IRS model” of releasing information, partly in response to privacy 
considerations.

“You only see final actions [now],” he said. “So, you don’t think a 
lot’s being done, but it’s all behind the scenes, and you don’t know 
about it.”

What is /not/ helpful, he told the club members, is e-mailing or writing 
Laura Smith or the FCC proper to demand Commission attention to 
particular enforcement issues. Hollingsworth said the FCC has received 
“nasty e-mails to FCC personnel” concerning suspected ham radio rule 
breaking.

“I’m talking about horrible e-mails, threatening e-mails, threatening to 
the degree that the security office sometimes gets involved,” he said. 
“We’ve got to stop this.” Hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet, 
he stressed, gives some people within the FCC a bad impression of ham 
radio and could prove counterproductive.

Hollingsworth suggested that hams interested in keeping up with 
enforcement subscribe to the /*FCC Daily Digest* 
<http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/daily-digest>/ or view it on the FCC 
website. “You read these and you get an idea of how busy the FCC is 
across the board,” he said. The FCC also *documents* 
<http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/Welcome.html> Amateur Radio 
Service enforcement actions on its website. The page is not frequently 
updated, however.

Hollingsworth pointed out that the FCC is still running two parallel 
websites, since many were unhappy with the new site when it was unveiled 
a few years ago. The old — or “transition” — site remains fully functional.

Hollingsworth praised FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for his role in helping 
to get the agency on a more active footing, and Enforcement Bureau Chief 
Travis LeBlanc, who was appointed last March. “I’m very impressed with 
him,” Hollingsworth said of LeBlanc. The Enforcement Bureau is the FCC’s 
largest bureau.

In remarks now familiar to many who have heard him speak at Dayton 
Hamvention and elsewhere, Hollingsworth also warned his audience members 
against getting into on-the-air spats with rude or careless operators.

“Don’t engage people, and don’t humor the idiots,” he said. “Stupidity 
can’t be regulated, no matter how good the rules are. Just turn the big 
knob. Every rig has one.”

Hollingsworth speculated that a lot of interference that is considered 
deliberate actually is accidental, but that hams encountering it 
automatically assume offense. He said the number of rule breakers 
represent only a small fraction of a percent of the Amateur Radio 
population, however, and “they’re getting whittled down.”

“Our responsibility is to get Amateur Radio through the next 100 years,” 
Hollingsworth concluded. “You must recruit. You’ve got to keep these 
newcomers interested” and show them everything ham radio has to offer.

Today’s hams, he said, ought to be presenting a good example for those 
who follow. “It’s time for us to leave a legacy for this avocation,” he 
said.

http://www.arrl.org/news/riley-hollingsworth-to-north-carolina-club-amateur-enforcement-very-much-alive

Hollingsworth’s complete talk appears as *Episode 174* 
<http://arvideonews.com/hrn/HRN_Episode_0174.html> of the online Amateur 
Radio television series */HamRadioNow <http://www.hamradionow.tv/>/*, 
produced by Gary Pearce, KN4AQ./— Thanks to /HamRadioNow/and Gary 
Pearce, KN4AQ/