[TNham] Commentary: SERA's "All Tone All The Time" Policy Highly Questionable

[Greg Williams]

I posted the following commentary on my web site at ETSKYWARN.net.  I
welcome comments and feedback to the issue.
Greg

When I picked up my quarterly edition of the Southeastern Repeater
Association's SERA Journal, it only took a matter of seconds for me to
become highly outraged at the state of amateur radio...again...for
basically forcing all the constituents within its 8-state jurisdiction
to adopt an "all tone all the time" policy. If you apply for a repeater
frequency, you have to have a toned repeater.  If you currently have a
repeater, you have until July 1, 2006 to comply.  Otherwise, any
complaints regarding interference will be ignored.

Not so much the decision, so much as it was the manner in which it was
presented, is what "tweaked my potentiometer".  The opening paragraph of
the SERA's Summer Board Meeting Report (August 2004 edition, Page 5)
opens up with a very curt and straightforward "warning" to its repeater
owners and users:

If your repeater doesn't use tone access, don't complain to SERA about
interference.  And if you complain to Riley instead, when he asks SERA
if you're coordinated, SERA's answer will be a qualified "no."

Now doesn't that sound pleasant and diplomatic?

I can understand the decision to a degree.  I have seen multiple
instances during SKYWARN nets of repeater interference due to band
conditions or someone running "5 watts" into a repeater in Bowling
Green, KY who just so happens to be able to hit 146.940 in Knoxville at
any given time of the day/year.  It's annoying, but part of amateur
radio and generally accepted, especially if the band conditions are
truly open and not because someone doesn't use good operating practice
by using the lowest power output necessary to hit a repeater.

HOWEVER, forcing a repeater to become toned to solve one problem, in
effect, opens a Pandora's Box of others.

There is one issue which was not covered at all in any mentioning of the
articles in SERA's journal.  Emergency Communications!  When SKYWARN
(the largest emergency communications activity we participate in here in
SERA country) is activated, are we now supposed to be excluding radio
amateurs who are in distress?

§ 97.405 of FCC's Part 97 says:

No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of
any means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential
communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human
life and immediate protection of property when normal communication
systems are not available.

Well, are we suddenly going to start preventing the use by an amateur
station of communicating with the National Weather Service or those in
contact with the NWS or emergency services?  If bad weather knocks out
911 service, as well as police and fire communications (as the Mossy
Grove tornado proved can happen), who is going to have time to search
and program their radio for CTCSS when seconds count?  Many times we at
East Tennessee SKYWARN get check-ins from stations who are visiting the
area from out-of-town, and out of the SERA service area, and how are
they to know that "all tone, all the time" is now in effect?  More often
than not, out-of-town hams use out-of-date repeater directories, and the
ARRL Repeater Directory does not always update the changes made for 1-2
editions (remember, the ARRL Repeater Directory is issued every 2
years).

Now, I'm not the expert in repeaters, because I merely use them, I do
not own any. And I know that many repeaters with tone have the
capability to have the tone(s) turned off remotely. HOWEVER, if we turn
off a repeater's tone for emergency communications, does that instantly
negate the repeater's coordination because it technically is no longer
"all tone, all the time"?

Am I jumping off the deep end with this?  Perhaps.  HOWEVER, I have good
reason to.  Too many times I have seen rules "evolve" from one intent
and suddenly turn into a plethora of other issues that can do more harm
than good.  

The primary purpose of this ruling is to negate the amount of
interference complaints SERA receives.  HOWEVER, what is to stop someone
from "camping out" and trying to impose better coordination for their
repeater because some other repeater in the "fringe areas" had to turn
off tone capability for an emergency? What if the tone board fails on a
repeater?  Should that repeater be shut off entirely until the board is
fixed or replaced?  And if that repeater is used for emergency purposes,
will amateurs have to go scouring the countryside for a repeater that
suits the needs of those affected until the tone board is replaced?  And
then we are back to square one of familiarizing ourselves with ANOTHER
toned repeater, programming our radios, and on and on, again, when
seconds may count.

And if interference is the main impetus behind this decision, how does
toning a repeater get better action from SERA?  Will they address
interference complaints more discreetly?  Will action plans be in place
to handle the complaints faster and with more intense scrutiny?  I
seriously doubt that the SERA council will handle these issues with any
more concern than they did before, they just have an excuse to not have
to handle as many.

SERA's board represents its members.  Its members are the repeater
owners across the states represented by SERA, from Mississippi to West
Virginia. Exactly how many repeater owners had a say in this?  According
to their meeting minutes it was discussed primarily in an e-mail thread
before this particular board meeting, and nowhere is it mentioned about
how the repeater owners felt in regards to the issue.  Probably because
they, like the users such as myself, did not know this was up for
discussion.

I have seen the results of forcing an issue amongst the masses.  Lest we
forget about the EmComm certification requirement that would have forced
Tennessee section volunteers to shell out money to become "certified" to
conduct emergency communications.  Had I not resigned and many
Tennesseans (including several EC's in the fringe areas who had no idea
it was going to happen) not become aware of the true issue, then it
would have railroaded through practically unopposed.  I have seen these
tactics done way too often.  Lest we in Knox County also forget the
wheel tax issue that was railroaded through with little to no
publicity.  Only when someone did something about it was it truly put to
the test, and looks to be on the road to repeal.

It's not that the issues are done, it's HOW they are done.  I firmly
believe in a democratic society, where the people affected the most make
the decisions that direct their future.  The mere fact that this issue
was dealt under the radar has all but infuriated more than just a few I
am sure.  But sitting in silent anguish will not ensure change.  It must
take a concerted effort by all affected to take a stand on the issue
and, as my former employer often told me, "do the right thing".

Therefore, I encourage repeater owners to gauge the effect from the
people who use their repeaters.  Have nets discussing this, have town
hall meetings at a nearby restaurant or church, discuss it at the next
ham radio club meeting, just get a true measure of who is directly
affected by this decision and, more importantly, HOW they will be
affected.  I can almost guarantee that the ones truly welcoming this
rule change are the > 5% of repeater owners who file complaints of
interference which sparked this drastic change to begin with.

There are still many amateurs who use radios without tone capability. 
There are probably many more who do not know how to program CTCSS into
their radio.  As I composed this commentary, I listened to a net for a
bike event where they had trouble getting a user's radio to work on a
toned repeater because they didn't know how to program CTCSS into the
radio.  As a result, several minutes went by trying to resolve the issue
rather than concentrating on the task at hand.  Whether it is the user's
fault for lack of preparation is irrelevant.  The fact is that these
kinds of problems will now be surfacing across 8 states that have been
forced to comply with the new rules.

While I think that you should know how to use your own radio, and all
the functions it does, how often do you utilize every single feature in
the latest and greatest rigs that do everything short of cooking you
breakfast?  With instruction manuals the size of the King James Bible,
who has time to sift through every bell and whistle your high-dollar rig
has to offer?

Nevertheless, judging by the "tone" of the SERA Journal, it appears that
there is little sympathy or empathy for the radio amateurs who do not
have the CTCSS capability built in to their radio.  If this is how SERA
is addressing its future, then many radio amateurs will want no part of
it.  And how the people directly affected by this decision react, SERA
would be wiser to take into account the voices of their constituents the
next time they make a drastic change in how they do their business.

I just hope Wayne Williams isn't turning over in his grave right about
now.

Greg Williams, K4HSM
Webmaster - ETSKYWARN.net
k4hsm at knology.net
k4hsm at twiar.org