rf - Free and Open Source Software

To Patch or Not To Patch
For 20 years, hams have a rgue d about
phone patches. After a generatio n o f di s­
c ussio n , the matter is about to be set tled .
The phone pa tch may be come another "standa
rd" appliance in the ham shack. But not
without so me trials and t ribulations.
The idea of the phone patch is al most as
old as the radio and the telephone. Military
services have used "radio-wire integration,"
and the phone companies have lo ng distance
rad io links. T ele pho nes in private a utomobiles
arc o bviously phone pat che s. Amateur
equipment has included phone pa tches for
years, too . A nu mber o f respect ed co mpanies
make t he m , a nd a rticles have appea red
fro m ti me to time in CQ and 73 magazines.
Wh y, t he n , is there so much co nfusio n? The
problems and arguments start with the " tariffs"
filed by the telephone compa nies. For
mo st practical purposes, a tariff ca n he considered
as a law. Almost every tele phone
book prints a tariff which bothers the amateur
with a phone pat ch -"No equipment,
apparat us. circ uit o r device not furnished by
the telephone com pa ny shall be attached to
or con nected with t he facilities furnished by
the telephone company...." The arguments
caused by this tariff arc show n by the attitudcsof
t he a ma teur rad io magazi nes and the
AR RL. CQ ma ga zine ha s contin ued to print
phone patch articles. 7 3 magazine has been
rejecting articl es until a decisio n is mad e by
FCC. An d t he ARRL has ma intained the
o pinio n that all phone patches are illegal.
T here is no mention o f p ho ne pa tches in
" T he Rad io Ama teur's Handboo k," and t he
o nly mention of tele pho nes warns the a ma ­
t eur to contact the telephone co m pa ny if
telephone inte rference o ccurs.
T he o ffic ial attitude o f t he tele phone co m­
panies has been that phone pa tches were no t
legal. As a practical matter. though, " Mo t her
Bell" has realized t hat ama teur usc of phone
pat ches act ually increases tele ph o ne t raffic.
Of course. the re were objectio ns if th e a rnatcur
tried to connect h is o wn extension
phone in the shack an d to install the wiring
himsel f (t hus avoid ing ext ension pho ne chargcs
I. Poo rly design ed or o pctatcd pa tches
have somet imes (though seldom } b ro ught a
knock on the door. But as a pructicul mar -
56
Dale E. Coy, WS LHG
3322 4 9th Loop
Sand ia Base, N ew Mexico 87116
tcr, the ham who asks t he ph one co m pany to
install an extension phone in t he ham shack
h as usually fou nd that the phone installer is
quite willing to assist in ho oking u p the
pho ne patch. At least , that wa y, it is done
correctly , The fact is that hams have rarely
Of ever) been prosecuted fo r o pera t ing a good
phone pa tch .
The possibility has always e xisted, though.
that the a mateur might be doing somet hing
illegal. T his possibilit y has resulted in a
great rel uctance to use phone patches. Some
recent decisions of the FCC may change the
tariffs, a nd co uld result in expanded use of
the phone patch.
T he FCC can , if it wishes, rev iew tel ephone
company tariffs a nd set aside tho se ta riffs it
docs not approve. In 19 56, the FCCs
" Hush-Ad'hone" decision caused a cla rification
o f tariffs to allow use o f devi ces wh ich
are not elect rica ll y connected to the phone.
The legal wording o f the decisio n ca used
many la wyers to feel that amateur phone pa t­
c hes wou ld also be considered legal, although
they are usu ally co nnected to t he phone
lines. After 12 years, in ] une, 1968, the FCC
has clarified its position in a d ecision o n the
"Carterfonc" case. T he most significa nt
portions of the FCC o pinion a re printed below.
We hold that the tariff is un reaso nable in
th at it prohibits the usc of int er-con necting
devices wh ich do not advcrsclv affect the
telephone sys tem....Our conclusion here is
th at a custo me r desiring to li se an inte r­
co nnec ting device 10 improve th e utility to
him of both the tele pho ne system ami a
private radio system sho uld be able to do \0
so lo ng: us the inte r-co nnection docs not adversely
affect the telepho ne company's oporatio
ns or the telephone system's ut ilit y
for others. A Tariff which pr event s this i..
unrea sona ble....We arc not holding that t he
telepho ne co mpanies may not prevent the
u..c or device .. which ac t ually ca use hurru u r
that th ey may not set up reasonable ..tandards
10 be me t by int er-connection device...
These rcmcdic.. arc a ppropriate . We believe
they urc also adequate to full y protect the
vyv tcm.
T he opinion se t aside t hc ta riffs preventing
connections to the tele phone syxt cm, a nd
73 MAGAZINE