[RTTY] PropNet Article in QST

[George Henry]

Just sent to Steve Ford, WB8IMY:

I was very disappointed to read your glowing endorsement of PropNet in the March QST "Eclectic Technology" column.  

If you have been monitoring PropNet for any period of time, you know full well that virtually every PropNet station out there is beaconing automatically, in violation of 97.203(d):  the time stamps verify that the beacons are being sent automatically.  Every attempt to persuade PropNet users that they are beaconing illegally has been met with double-speak claims that their transmissions are somehow not "beacons".  Furthermore, the instructions for setting up PropNetPSK given at http://www.n7yg.com/propnetpsk/index.html make NO mention of the requirement that beaconing only be done while attended, and if fact, tell one how to set up the software to beacon automatically.

There is a complaint before the FCC right now, asking them to shut down PropNet for this very reason, and your endorsement of the system does not help.

It is irresponsible for you, as the editor of QST, to be endorsing a system which so blatantly violates FCC rules, and I am calling on you to immediately issue a retraction of your endoresment in the next ARRL Letter, as well as the next issue of QST.

George E. Henry, KA3HSW
ARRL 0001155357