[SFDXA] FCC NPRM 16-239 Your Help is Needed!

[Bmarx@bellsouth.net]

From a Friend:
>> Dear Amateur Radio Friends,
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>> Please note that there is an intense propaganda based lobbying campaign happening right now at the FCC that is going unopposed. Over 400 comments from the Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc./WINLINK crowd are urging the FCC to widen the bandwidth of obscured (encrypted) data that cannot be intercepted by the FCC or other hams, even other data operators – by their own admission – they just want free private, effectively encrypted email :
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>> https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/filings?limit=100&proceedings_name=16-239&sort=date_disseminated,DESC . 
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>> Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc., ARSFI, is merely a front organization for WINLINK and boaters that want free encrypted email over HF ham bands. Their members have openly admitted they are using effectively encrypted email that even other WINLINKer’s cannot intercept – no one but the two people in the point-to-point link are able to decipher the proprietary transmission. Even the FCC cannot intercept the transmission in ARQ mode, something most hams don’t understand: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filing/1222718116209
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>> ARSFI's campaign was launched after Dr. Ted Rappaport, an internationally recognized expert on Spectrum Utilization, sent the following comments in to the FCC, against NPRM 16-239 and RM 11708. https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/1116597429048/FCC%20Letter%20Nov.%2015%202018%2016-239.pdf . 
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>> Please support Dr. Rappaport’s astute and insightful, fact based call for FCC to stop all action on NPRM 16-239 and/or RM 11708, without adoption, and to first focus on drafting rules that ensure that only open, in the clear, easily decoded transmissions are used for all amateur communications, in order to ensure the self-policing and lack of commercial bypass on the amateur spectrum, as required by Part 97 Rules. 
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>> Additionally, Ron Kolarik, K0IDT, has filed a common sense approach to the problems created by wideband digital operations on HF. https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/100918881206/PETITION%20FOR%20RULEMAKING.pdf . In your comments, I would encourage you to also ask that the FCC move to enact Ron's proposed rulemaking, which would ensure all data is open and able to be monitored by other hams, as required by Part 97. Ron's proposal would also limit the "automatically controlled data stations" (HF email servers) to currently existing data bands, consistent with IARU band planning,. thus solving the interference issues with narrow band modes such as CW, RTTY, FT-8, PSK, JT-65, etc..
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>> It is easy to simultaneously file express comments for the four relevant proceedings on the FCC website. To submit a quick express filing at the FCC, simply go to:
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>> https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express , and in the Proceedings field, type in exactly (without quotes)  "16-239" and select it in the pull down, then enter “RM-11708” and select it in the pull down, then enter  “RM-11759” and select it in the pull down, and then finally enter “17-344” and select it in the pull down. Fill in your own name as filer, hit enter, and then your address and email. You should check the box for email confirmation. Express filings will not have paragraph and link formatting, but that's OK, it's quick, easy and gets the information across to the FCC. Your written comment will go to all four relevant proceedings where ARSFI is fighting for its spectrum takeover of private email.
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>> Here is a letter I "express filed" at the FCC. Feel free to use or modify my text. 
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>> My name is Dan White and I am a licensed amateur radio operator of 48 years. 
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>> Approval of NPRM 16-239 or RM-11708 would be very troubling to me for reasons already articulated to the FCC by hundreds of amateurs, as it would perpetuate not only malicious interference but major Part 97 rule violations with no ability to monitor traffic and self-police the hobby. 
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>> ARSFI is improperly perpetuating free, private email and internet access, mixing the boundaries of private email services (Sailmail, Airmail, WINLINK) and the hobby of amateur radio. Therefore, in short, I fully support Dr. Rappaport's testimony and recommendations of November 15, 2018, as shown at https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/1116597429048/FCC%20Letter%20Nov.%2015%202018%2016-239.pdf . 
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>> Furthermore, I support immediate FCC action for Mr. Kolarik's previously filed proposal of October 9, 2018, to ensure the amateur radio hobby can self-police itself, as shown here: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/100918881206/PETITION%20FOR%20RULEMAKING.pdf  
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>> Sincerely, 
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>> Dan White 
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>> W5DNT 
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>> Finally, please encourage your friends who care about the future of amateur radio to file such a brief statement that urges the FCC to stop NPRM 16-239, etc. and seek common sense solutions such as Ron's proposal.
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>> Thanks for your consideration in this call to action.
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>> Happy New Year in 2019 and 73!
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>> Dan
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>> W5DNT
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