sceiv

PROPAGATiiiN'''....''''~
FCC Enforcement
For years, the FCC has maintained that
there is very little money and Slall available10
enrorce the rufes on the ham bards. Wilh
fimrted resources, the FCC must set certain
p.'iorrties, beginning with matters 01 public
safety, 0 1 course, lhe FCC's flrst enforcemenl
priority is, and shook! be, invesligaling
inlel1erence effll(:fing law antorcement, publie
salety, avialion arK! ether life, deafh or
propertyservices,
II 'fOU've read thiScolumn more tnan once,
'fOU know thai I teet amateurs Shoufd be senpolicing.
Since the FCC ocesnt like 10 be
bothered by fhe peffy problems 01 amateur
radio (and most 01 fhem are pelly), il onfy
drives another nail into amateur radio's
coffin, every lime one at us bugsthe FCC with
a minor inlraction, pel peeve or other lime
wasting compfain1-
uniess n's posrtiw PR,
the tess attention we draw toward oursefl'1lS
lhe better.
Whife we amateurs shoufd work 10 settle
our own differences, fhis does nol mean fhaf
the FCCcanor should wash their hands 01 fhe
entireAmaleur RadioService,Wehavesome
serece enforcement problems-some met
have been going on for years-and il is high
time lhe FCC stopped hiding beh ind the "no
mon&}' or manpower" excuse and started
cleaning up some of these problems.
If the FCC is so poor and undllfStaffed, why
is il that th&}' can spend hurn:lreds 01thousands
01dollarschasingdown a bunch 01 kids
broadcasting rockmusic onthe relativelybarren
frequenc>&s above the 4(lm band, when
we've got hoards 01 violations happening on
the heavily populated 80, 20, 10 and 2 meter
bands? I sebrmt that it is not a question of
moneyarn:l personnel. rt is a maner of ma~
agementand priorities-both bad.
I am sick and tired 01losing the use of 50
kHz of the 20m bendto various forms 01vermin,
while the FCC spends thousands to
chase down harmless " pirates" on 7,415
"1Hz. I have heard blatanl violations of several
FCC regulations on an almost daily basis
on and around 14,313 10r over fiveyears, and
with the excllfltion of a lew fines ,the FCC has
doneabsolutely nothingto solve the problem,
ff is obvious that this group of idiots is not
going 10 go awayon their own. As a taxpayer,
I am turiovs that the agency empowered to
clean up this mess puts busting linear,us ing
CBers (because 01 a handful 01complaints)
above the continued clogging of a mapr portion
of an international resource A tew hours
spent monitoring on a Saturday afternoon
would provide ample evidence to ,evoke the
licenses of dozens of theseoperators.
I am tired 01 listening to barely disguised
commercials for various publications arn:l organizations.
1am sick to death of listening to
hourafter hour of intentional interference, aft
for Ihe sake01 a few contestpoints. I amat the
end of my rope when it comes to amateurs
whodon't underslandthat )'(Iu can't fit 10 kHz
of audio intoa 3 kHz wide signal.
I'm not the only one who ieets this way.
Judging from my mail, not to mention the
hundreds of hams I spoke with at the Oayton
Hanwention (and the hundreds 01 olhers at
bamrests across the country), the general
feeli ngamong ham radio operators is that the
FCC is using the " self-policing" excuse to
shirk part of their enforcement rssoonsem ­
ties. It's hard for 'fOUr average amateur to
accepttheIhousarn:ls of dollars put into chasing
downa coupleof teen-agers with a 4(1 wan
AM transm itter connected to a tape deck,
when weara forcedto put upwilh blatant arn:l
repeated violations by known persons or or-
84 73 Amateur Radio Today. June, 1992
David Cassidy N1GPH
ganizations occul1'ing from one end of the
amateur spectrum to the other.
As the editor 01 the Arlington (VA) 10 · 10
News PU t it in a recent newsletter,
.somethingisvery wroog when a Federal
regulatory agency expends its resources
chasing minnows, while the sharks swim
free."
There are iworeasces why this lack 01 attention
tc ongoing violations really ticks me
off, First,l justdid mytaxes, WhenI figurethe
percentage 01 my income that goes to Washington
every year and then figure the value
I'm getting rcr my investment, it makes me
wantto scream .Thefact that I am anAmateur
Radio Operator has very little to do with it. I
ama taxpayer, paying for theoperationof the
FCC. and don't like the waythey are setting
enforcement priorities, Second. as an Ametaur
Rad io Operator and prood cmzen 01the
Unitad States. I feel that rules vi," ations thai
occur on bands where propagation insures
that theviolationsare being heard aft over the
world shOl/ld be given more priority than a
CBeI getting into his neighbor's $20 telephone,
Iam not adVQCating thai thousands 01 you
startwriting tc the FCC, demanding action on
whatever has got your goat this week , This
wiff make us no friends in Washington and
only serves to clog up the works (since every
complaint, no matter how real or imagined,
must be answered). What I am saving is that
you,l and the FCC are WfJII aware ot several
ongoing violations 01 Part 97. It's about time
the FCC did something to clean up these
messes,
The time for reading about these fools in
theamateurradio press (and weall know who
I'm talking about} is ever. The time for passing
oot fines is ever. Certain probems have
gone way beyond the realm of "self-policing."
Now is the time lor the FCC to ceen
house a littla, and tfiey can start with the
cesspool on twenty meters. Now is the time
lor certain neme to losetheirlicenses, and 101
severer to Spllnd sometime in}ail.
When they're through rounding up the
hooiigans on 20 meters. how about it if the
FCC spends a few contestweekands tracking
down the illegal power operators and intentional
intel1erers. If they did this over the
course of six or eight major contests, maybe
contests would onceagain become a fun way
to sharpenoperating Skilis instead of thl! display
of "who can buythe biggest signai" th&}'
have become,
Afferthat, the FCC could spend acoupleof
days listening to that repeater out in LA (you
know the one I'm talking aboot-it was in all
the papers).ltwoufdn'ttakemuch monitoring
10 get the evidence necessary to ' evoke the
trustee's license and shut down that emberrassrnent.
While they're at il, why don't a couple of
monitoring stations put on a pol of coffee and
spend a few late nights listening to the fillh
that has become the 80 meter band (if you
think this contradicts whatI've written about
the First Amendment, go back and read it
again)?
The conceot of a "self-policing" service,
which is a nice thoughl. is and always has
bean a myth. You cannotenforce regulations
withoot the legal authority to back up thai
enlOlce ment with punishment n'e time for
the FCC to givtl up the convenient lie of amateur
radio being self-policing ami to start giving
1M amateur radoa taxpayers their lair
share of protection from iftegal operators.
TheFCC hasthe authority. I hope they start
to wake up totheir responSibil ity.1iI
JimGray W1XU
210£85t Chateau Circle
PaysonAZ85541
'""
__ISIS
ALASKA
ARGENTltiA
AUSTlVIlIA
CAN"l.ZONc
ENGLAND
",",WAn
IND'"
JAPA'I
MEXICO
PHILIPPINES
PuERTO IUCO
THAFAICA
U.S.S.R
EAST COAST
JUNE 1992
Jim Gray W1XU
EASTERN UNITED STATES TO:
A]J,SKA
ARGENT'''''­
AUSTAALIA
CAHAlZ
J OOL"!NO
HAWAII
INOJ"
JAPAN
MEXICO
Ptl!l lttltlES
PUERTO RICO
SOUTH AFRiCA
U.8.S.R
occur on June 21st, and a full moon on
June 14th.
I hope these gloomy predictions for
June propagation DON'T come true , but
let's wait and see. Itcouid be a very GOOD
month for VHFers who wilt find some conditions
much to Iheir liking. Always listen
to WWV at18 minutes past any hour for
current updeteson solariltlOphysiCal data
and announcements of importance. See
you next month. W1XU,fiI
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