[TWIAR] Ham radio operators play key role

[Greg Williams]

Ham radio operators play key role
Norma Mendoza, nmendoza at theintelligencer.com 
<mailto:nmendoza at theintelligencer.com>
11/28/2005

Amateur radio operators played a vital role on Sept. 11, 2001, when all 
the cellular systems went down in New York City and the normal police 
and fire systems were overloaded.

Jeremy Muller, an amateur (ham) radio operator from Hudson, N.H., said 
amateur radio operators stepped in to assist the New York Police and 
Fire departments in handling communications.

"Many volunteer operators worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week, for 
almost a month following that disaster," he said.

Muller read the account in the Intelligencer about a ham operator in 
Maryville being asked to remove his radio tower and let us know that he 
was the subject of the New Hampshire Supreme Court case about amateur 
radio towers that along with other decisions in Federal Circuit Courts 
set precedents for protecting the rights of amateur radio operators.

He was perturbed by the Maryville mayor's statement that although he 
thinks ham radio operators are important he doesn't believe they belong 
in residential areas.

"I wonder if Mayor Gulledge is suggesting that ham radio operators be 
required to purchase separate real estate for their stations or if he is 
suggesting that ham operators not be allowed to live in residential 
areas," Muller said. "Either suggestion is ridiculous. Most ham 
operators are normal people who live in residential area like everyone 
else. Most of us can't afford to have a separate location for our 
stations."

He said they set up their radio stations in their homes and have to be 
ready in the event of a disaster to operate from their home stations to 
provide the necessary disaster communications to their communities.

"We also have to be ready to provide mobile and portable communications 
when disasters interrupt normal communications," Muller said.

He said if ham radio operators have to live in segregated areas or have 
to drive long distances to get to their stations, they will be severely 
limited in the services they provide. In addition, he said, if the radio 
operators have to fight the municipal governments in each and every 
case, it places an unacceptable financial burden upon them.

"If municipalities keep placing roadblocks in the way of amateur radio 
operators who wish to erect stations, sooner or later we'll give up 
trying," Muller said. "When that happens, your local agencies won't have 
hams to fall back on. Those who think that the normal communications 
systems can handle the load during a disaster will learn the hard way 
when those systems go down and amateur radio isn't there to take up the 
slack."

Muller said the entire purpose of the limited preemption of local zoning 
allowed by the Federal Communications Commission is to keep local 
governments from regulating hams off the air.

He said the New Hampshire Supreme Court decision in Marchand v Hudson 
may not carry the force of law in Illinois, but that decision and other 
decisions in federal and state jurisdictions should carry significant 
weight in determining how the law treats amateur radio in other cases.