A couple of things of potential interest to contesters from this week's ARRL
Letter (full copy available at www.arrl.org)
-- 73 Tom K1KI
ARRL TO FCC: SHORT-TERM SUSPENSIONS AN ANSWER
The League thinks the FCC should have statutory authority to suspend ham
licenses for up to six months, once the Commission has good reason to
believe an operator has grossly violated the rules. In comments filed in
response to an FCC Notice of Inquiry seeking ways to streamline the
Commission's administrative activities, the ARRL said short-term suspensions
would be one way for the FCC to address malicious interference and other
serious rule violations "without delay and expense." The League maintained
the suspensions would be a viable deterrent.
Under the League's scenario, the FCC also would be able to immediately
modify an Amateur Radio license to preclude operation on certain frequency
bands or at certain times of day, also for up to six months.
In its filing, the League said that most of the 650,000 hams in the country
behave themselves on the air and obey the regulations, and the Amateur
Service "requires little enforcement effort." The ARRL pointed to the
volunteer examination program as a model of self-regulation. However, the
League said that in recent years, the FCC--and especially its Compliance and
Information Bureau--has been "completely ineffective" in providing a
meaningful enforcement presence for the few who flout the law, and this has
led to an increase in instances of malicious interference. "Since 1983,
there have been virtually no enforcement actions taken by FCC in the Amateur
Service," the League's filing states. In recent years, the League said, hams
have viewed the FCC as a "paper tiger" that fails to act "in even the most
egregious" cases.
"There is no substitute for Commission action in certain types of compliance
cases," the ARRL said in urging the FCC seek authority for the reforms.
In other matters, the League criticized the FCC for continuing to "focus on
the symptom rather than the cause" of home-electronic equipment
interference, even though it has authority to do so. The League urged the
FCC to require manufacturers to put notices on products indicating they are
subject to harmful interference, and to provide interference-resolution
information and contact representatives for RFI resolution. The ARRL said it
was not optimistic that the pilot privatized interference resolution program
would work, since it puts the burden of resolving the interference problem
on the consumer, not the manufacturer.
The League also recommended establishing a cadre of volunteers who would use
their skills to resolve interference problems involving other radio
services, provided volunteers could be guaranteed some protection from
lawsuits.
The League further suggested the FCC reduce its administrative burden by
adopting the ARRL's Petition for Rule Making, RM-8677, which asks the FCC to
implement the Inter-American Convention on an International Amateur Radio
Permit (IARP). This could eliminate the burden of processing reciprocal
license applications of hams visiting from elsewhere in the hemisphere. The
ARRL also suggested that the US take advantage of the European Conference of
Postal and Telecommunications Administrations' (CEPT) Recommendation T/R
61-01 arrangements and issue a CEPT license that would be recognized by
other participating administrations and valid for visits.
The League's comments conclude by observing that the Commission's NOI
"signals to the League an intention to reduce the Commission's functions to
the role of auditor and mediator, rather than regulator," and calling this
"a positive trend for the Amateur Service."
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E-mail: frenaye@pcnet.com
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box 386, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444
>From Mr. Brett Graham" <bagraham@HK.Super.NET Sat Mar 23 01:28:19 1996
From: Mr. Brett Graham" <bagraham@HK.Super.NET (Mr. Brett Graham)
Subject: 3rd Asia-Pacific Sprint - LAST REMINDER!
Message-ID: <199603230128.JAA21716@is1.hk.super.net>
Remember, the 3rd Asia-Pacific Sprint will be held on _SUNDAY_ 24 March from
1230 to 1430 UTC.
Objective: For stations outside the Asia-Pacific region to work as many
Asia-Pacific stations as possible within the 2 hour time limit.
For stations inside the Asia-Pacific region to work as many
stations as possible, anywhere in the world, within the 2 hour
time limit.
(A complete list of the Asia-Pacific countries is defined below)
Winners: Each DXCC country, each continent plus one overall.
Winners receive a cool Asia-Pacific contest T-shirt.
(Sponsorship of prizes is solicited - if interested, please
send an e-mail to ap-sprint@dumpty.nal.go.jp)
February [8 Feb 97], the second Saturday of June [8 June 96] & the
third Saturday of October [19 Oct 96])
Time: 1230-1430 UTC
Bands: 20m & 40m only
Mode: CW only
Power limit: 150W output
Entry categories: Single operator, Single radio only
Contest exchange: RST + Serial number beginning with 001
Duplicate contacts: Same station may be worked only once on the per band
Multipliers: Prefixes per WPX rules (once only - not once per band)
QSY rule: Called station (usually CQer) QSYs at least 1 kHz after a QSO
Final Score: Number of QSOs x Multipliers
Asia-Pacific countries for this contest (coutries from Asia side Pacific
Rim to 180 degrees longitude):
3D2(all), 1S/9M0, 9M2, 9M6/8, 9V, BV, BV9(Pratas), BY, BS(Scarborough),
C2, DU, FK8, FW, H4, HL, HS, JA, JD1/Ogasawara, JD1/Marcus, KC6(Belau),
KH2, KH9, KH0, P29, T2, T30, T33, UA0, V6/KC6, V7, V85, VK1-9(all except
VK9X & VK9Y), VS6, XU, XV/3W, XX9, YB, YJ, ZL(all except Chatham & Kermadec)
Results will be posted to: CQ-CONTEST@TGV.com
AP-SPRINT@dumpty.nal.go.jp
CQ Contest Magazine
Rules and results will be distributed by an automated info-server.
Send a request e-mail to: info-contest@dumpty.nal.go.jp
with the command in the body: #get ap-sprint.rule
All logs must contain complete QSO information plus a summary sheet
and your T-shirt size. Electronic logs are gladly accepted by e-mail! The
log & summary sheet must be in ASCII format (no binary files, please).
Sample entry format is shown below.
Post your entry to:
JAs - Tack Kumagai non-JAs - James Brooks
P O BOX 22 15 Balmoral Road #03-08
Mitaka Singapore 259801
Tokyo 181 SINGAPORE
JAPAN
Email: 9v1yc@equator.lugs.org.sg
Log deadline: E-mail - 72 hours after end of contest
Post - Postmarked no later than 7 days after contest
Sample Summary Sheet
--------------------
ASIA PACIFIC CW SPRINT CONTEST
CALLSIGN USED:
OPERATOR:
COUNTRY:
DATE:
BAND QSOs POINTs PREFIXES
7
14
--------------------------------------
Total
SCORE:
Comments:
____________________________________________________________________________
(TYPE or PRINT)
NAME CALL
Address:
City :
Prefecture/State:
Postal Code:
Country:
____________________________________________________________
Sample Log
Any ASCII file output from CT/TRLOG/NA/ZLOG etc logging software
will be accepted.
BAND MM/DD/YY HHMM CALLSIGN RSTNR RSTNR NEW POINT
SENT RCVD MULT
20 09/30/95 1310 JE1CKA 599001 59917 JE1 1
40 09/30/95 1312 9V1YC 599002 59916 9V1 1
40 09/30/95 1316 VS6BG 599003 59922 VS6 1
20 09/30/95 1317 JE1JKL 599004 59931 1
[END]
73, VS6BrettGraham aka VR2BG bagraham@hk.super.net
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