{"id":38464,"date":"2019-07-12T07:33:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T11:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=38464"},"modified":"2019-07-12T07:33:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T11:33:10","slug":"ieee-spectrum-is-ham-radio-a-hobby-a-utilityor-both","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/ieee-spectrum-is-ham-radio-a-hobby-a-utilityor-both\/","title":{"rendered":"IEEE Spectrum: “Is Ham Radio a Hobby, a Utility\u2026or Both?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post<\/em> readers who have shared a link to the following article that follows the debate and discussion over an FCC proposal–RM-11831<\/a> (PDF)<\/a>–to \u201cReduce Interference and Add Transparency to Digital Data Communications.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IEEE article, written by Julianne Pepitone<\/a>, covers both sides of the debate:<\/p>\n

\n

Is Ham Radio a Hobby, a Utility\u2026or Both? A Battle Over Spectrum Heats Up<\/h1>\n

Some think automated radio emails are mucking up the spectrum reserved for amateur radio, while others say these new offerings provide a useful service<\/p>\n

Like many amateur radio fans his age, Ron Kolarik, 71, still recalls the \u201cpure magic\u201d of his first ham experience nearly 60 years ago. Lately, though, encrypted messages have begun to infiltrate the amateur bands in ways that he says are antithetical to the spirit of this beloved hobby.<\/p>\n

So Kolarik filed a petition,\u00a0RM-11831<\/a>\u00a0[PDF], to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposing a rule change to \u201cReduce Interference and Add Transparency to Digital Data Communications.\u201d And as the proposal makes its way through the FCC\u2019s process, it has stirred up heated debate that goes straight to the heart of what ham radio is, and ought to be.<\/p>\n

The core questions: Should\u00a0amateur radio<\/a>\u2014and its precious spectrum\u2014be protected purely as a hobby, or is it a utility that delivers data traffic? Or is it both? And who gets to decide?<\/p>\n

Since Kolarik filed his petition in late 2018, this debate has engulfed the ham world. Fierce defenders of both sides have filed passionate letters and comments to the FCC arguing their cases.<\/p>\n

On one side is Kolarik in Nebraska. In his view, it\u2019s all rather simple: \u201cTransparency is a core part of ham radio,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd yet, you can find tons of traffic from automatic[ally controlled digital] stations that are extremely difficult to identify, if you can identify them at all, and they cause interference.\u201d<\/p>\n

The automatically controlled digital stations (ACDS) Kolarik refers to can serve to power services like\u00a0Winlink<\/a>, a \u201cglobal radio email\u201d system.<\/p>\n

Overseen and operated by licensed volunteers around the globe, Winlink is funded and guided by the\u00a0Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc.<\/a>\u00a0(ARSFI). The service uses amateur and government radio frequencies around the globe to send email messages by radio. Users initiate the transmission through an Internet connection, or go Internet-free and use smart-network radio relays.<\/p>\n

On Winlink\u2019s website, the service says it provides its licensed users the ability to send email with attachments, plus messages about their positions, and weather and information bulletins. Representatives of the service say it also allows users to participate in emergency and disaster relief communications.<\/p>\n

But Kolarik\u2019s petition argues two points: First, because such messages \u201care not readily and freely able to be decoded,\u201d the FCC should require all digital codes to use protocols that \u201ccan be monitored in entirety by third parties with freely available, open-source software.\u201d Secondly, he wants the rule change to reduce the interference that he says services like Winlink can create between amateur-to-amateur stations\u2014by relegating the often-unattended automatic stations to operate solely on narrower sub-bands.<\/p>\n

Loring Kutchins<\/a>, the president of ARSFI, says he believes Kolarik\u2019s petition is \u201cwell intentioned in its basis. But the fundamental conflict is between people who believe amateur radio is about hobby, not about utility. But nowhere do the FCC rules use the word \u2018hobby.\u2019\u201d[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here to continue reading the full article on the IEEE Spectrum website.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to a number of SWLing Post readers who have shared a link to the following article that follows the debate and discussion over an FCC proposal–RM-11831 (PDF)–to \u201cReduce Interference and Add Transparency to Digital Data Communications.\u201d The IEEE article, written by Julianne Pepitone, covers both sides of the debate: Is Ham Radio a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[545,3],"tags":[389,4102,7321,7322,7323,7886],"class_list":["post-38464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ham-radio","category-news","tag-amateur-radio","tag-ham-radio","tag-ieee","tag-ieee-spectrum","tag-julianne-pepitone","tag-rm-11831"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-a0o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34242,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/ieee-spectrum-long-running-u-s-federal-radio-stations-beloved-by-hams-in-danger-of-shutdown\/","url_meta":{"origin":38464,"position":0},"title":"IEEE Spectrum: “Long-Running U.S. Federal Radio Stations, Beloved by Hams, in Danger of Shutdown”","author":"Thomas","date":"September 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: IEEE Spectrum Magazine) Several public radio stations that have broadcast the time of day continuously for nearly 100 years are on the chopping block By Julianne Pepitone Starting in May 1920, the U.S. federal WWV radio stations have broadcast the official time without fail. 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Amanda Dawn Christie works in radio. Not radio in the sense of performing on air. 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