N5FDL Amateur Radio

As promised, I am posting a PDF of the Petition for Rule Making filed with the FCC by the Amateur Radio Policy Committee seeking relief from provisions of 97.113(a) that the FCC has threatened to enforce against paid emergency responders who are also licensed radio amateurs.

The petitioners are Gordon West, WB6NOA; Tom Blackwell, N5GAR; and myself.

Here is the text of the paragraph we propose be added to 97.111, which describes communications permitted in the Amateur Radio service. Specifically, we are proposing that the following be made permitted communication:

(6) Transmissions necessary for disaster relief or emergency response,
including training exercises, planning, drills or tests, without regard to
whether the amateur operator has related employment, where the
transmissions are for the exclusive use of amateur radio operators for
noncommercial purposes.

There are also two minor additions to 97.113 to make it consistent with the change we are proposing to 97.111.

Why is this necessary? FCC rules allow paid emergency responders to use Amateur Radio to support emergency response and disaster relief, but prohibits its use during training. For example, a paid emergency manager who is a licensed ham cannot legally participate in on-the-air training with the agency’s ham volunteers. Or to even have a casual QSO about the agency’s programs!

Our proposal is intended to make such training and conversation (planning) legal, allowing these dedicated professionals to make full use of their skills, including amateur radio.

I am posting this Friday night for listeners to my interview on The RAIN Report. I will be adding additional information on Saturday afternoon. Please send any comments and questions and I will do my best to answer them.