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by slr555
2637 days ago
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I am an Extra class licensee in the US and while I have a lot of respect for the Ham community, deeply entrenched thinking places the future of amateur radio in jeopardy. If we only allow CW and SSB phone as truly open and accessible operating modes a whole world of technical innovation and integration will be lost. While the letter of the FCC rules might exclude some of the more recent digital modes listed, the traffic is not encrypted. With all the strong encryption out there in the world, it's hard to buy amateur radio as a threat to national security unless we're worried that a bunch of 80 year olds are going to take up arms against the republic. To me it sounds like some operators have sour grapes because they can't immediately listen to everybody's traffic. In short I support Ham moving forward and not becoming even more antiquated than it is. I do think the headline of the article is poorly written as I don't think this is about spectrum allocation in any way. |
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An amateur station transmitting a RTTY or data emission using a digital code specified in this paragraph may use any technique whose technical characteristics have been documented publicly, and the protocol used can be be monitored, in it’s entirety, by 3rd parties, with freely available open source software, for the purpose of facilitating communications
As I see it, the essential goal is to close the loophole whereby theoretically-open but practically-closed protocols can be used on amateur frequencies.
There is a broader debate in amateur radio about the use of automated data stations and the possible increase in the bandwidth limit, both of which represent delicate balances. There's clearly a cohort of geriatrics who want to keep double sideband voice and ban data, but there are also genuine issues with the behaviour of some data mode users.
A significant number of WSJT users are now transmitting at high power, creating significant issues with interference. WinLink is an absolute nuisance - it has always been illegal in the UK and I really can't see how it's legal in the US.
https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/100918881206/PETITION%20FOR%20R...
https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/7521098786.pdf