Skip, With all due respect, (and you have considerable), it seems that some of the arguments may be counter productive and may in some cases affect the survival of amateur radio.
We are not a hobby in the eyes of the FCC. The hobby part is only due to a fortuitous intersection of our interests with what we are chartered by law. Looking at the five FCC Part 97, basis and purpose for amateur radio, you won't find anything suggesting a hobby component. What you will find is: #5 Advancing international good will. Some of us may help a little in that regard. #4 The expansion of a trained reservoir of operators and communications. Is that as important anymore? Probably not like it used to be, but maybe somewhat important. #3 Improvement through rules which advance skills in communications and the technical art of radio. We will look at that below. #2 Continuation of our ability to advance the radio art which is similar to #3 and then there is the big one and is the first one on the list ... #1 Recognizing and enhancing our ability to provide to the public, "a voluntary and non-commercial communications service "PARTICULARLY WITH RESPECT TO PROVIDING EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS." You have done a lot toward at least one of those by your "advancement of the radio art" with sofware that you have written. Some of us have fulfilled other parts of the charter. But we are now eclipsed by new technology and part of our emergency capability is of much less value than it used to be. It is only if we continue to advance the radio art and advance our communications ability and provide something of value to our served agencies that we will be allowed to even operate on our many frequencies throughout the spectrum. The goal that FEMA would like for us to have, is a total RF solution from anywhere to anywhere else and do it in very rapid real time delivery. We all know that this is impossible. But what we can do is meld our RF technology that we do very well with e-mail delivery. If we don't do it, we no longer have much to offer for message handling in many emergency situations. Besides, what real ham would not want to insure accurate (and timely) delivery of messages when even large parts of the internet and other telecommunications services are down? At this time we do not have enough spectrum to adequately handle much traffic on RF paths. There are groups (e.g., LinLink) who are working on an RF only system. In the meantime we have only one system that actually works and can deliver this powerful communications method. A method not readily available to emergency organizations and government ... at least not yet. At the moment, it is illegal to transmit a voice message and then pass digital traffic on that channel (like they do in MARS). We need to make these changes so that we are not held back from using our communications capabilities. Ironically, SSTV folks can operate on voice channels and send images (pictures) all day long But they can not send "data." Even emergency data. Right now it is OK to transmit digital voice on voice channels and yet you can not transmit digital data AND voice on voice channels. Even emergency data. So lets get our bands divided rationally and base the channel not on the specific mode, but on the bandwidth. Narrow BW's for CW and other narrow digital modes, moderate for wider digital modes, and wider still for voice, digital voice, digital data, etc. I will agree that allowing semi-automatic stations carte blanche access to large parts of our bands has to be carefully done. We should not give them all of what they ask for if they are using modes that can transmit on top of ongoing communications. Pactor modes do seem to be very abusive and probably we should never have allowed closed and proprietary modes on our bands. With newer technologies, such as the SCAMP mode (Sound Card Messaging Amateur Protocol) in the Paclink SCD program, you can NOT transmit on a busy frequency, unless the human operator intentionally does this by overriding the software control. How do I know this? Because I have been one of the beta testers for this new Winlink mode. To be honest, I was skeptical that it would work all that well, but anyone who has actually tried the mode will attest to that it works very well indeed. My ideal would be an open, non-proprietary system for amateur radio. While Winlink is a closed system, with private ownership, the ARRL is making some arrangements that should be able to insure that we can not be held hostage by the owners. The ARRL ARESCOM plan has already built Winlink into almost all of the communication pathways. Recently, one of more strident Winlink supporters chastised me recently because he considers me an old fuddy duddy living in the past due to my lack of unequivocal support of all aspects of Winlink and because I have actually dared question some parts of the system. But as he he pointed out: "The NTS model is being *replaced* with the WL2K system. " While I am not totally sold on all aspects of Winlink 2000, we can pick and chose which portions will help us meet the needs of emergency communications for our local situations. I admit that the Winlink supporters can be a bit arrogant if you have ever followed their discussions attacks on anyone even questioning their system. But then some of the opponents of Winlink 2000 have also misrepresented the system. For those of us in the middle, well ... we seem to take flak from both sides:) The fact is that whether Winlink and other systems (and there will be other systems), will be deployed, will depend upon if they can do the job. But we hams can not do the job if we don't have enough frequencies to operate digital modes and are kept from advancing the radio art. 73, Rick, KV9U -----Original Message----- From: Skip Teller [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 4:35 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Digest Number 1490 Urgent! The following was just posted on www.zerobeat.net. Please read carefully and send comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Failure to do may result in PSK31 operations being forced down into the CW regions of the bands in order to escape QRM from 2.4 KHz-wide unattended Winlink Pactor-III robots! It may also mean an invasion of Pactor-III robots into the RTTY contesting areas. Please spread the word to every ham you know or contact! 73, Skip KH6TY ************************ Winlink wants YOUR frequencies! Not satisfied with dominating the 3.8% of the HF ham frequencies set aside by the FCC for wideband unattended operations, Winlink, for the sole benefit of their less-than-1% of the US hams, is now pressuring the ARRL to take away frequencies used for contesting, Dxing, ragchewing, experimentation, and award-chasing, and make those additional frequencies available for Winlink to dominate with their unattended email robots. If you have ever had your CW or PSK31 QSO trampled by a Pactor station when you were already on the frequency, or you do not want this to happen to you in the future, then you MUST email Dave Sumner, CEO, at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and tell him the following without delay! 1. That you do NOT agree to give up any frequencies outside of the present FCC sub-bands for automatically controlled digital station operations, INCLUDING the Executive Committee's intention to increase the space on the 30 meter FCC sub-bands, where unattended wideband digital operations are already allowed (and already dominated by Winlink), by 33%, because 30m is already a SMALL band and a band that has to be SHARED with commercial services. 2. That you DO NOT BELIEVE that unattended or so-called "semi-automatic" Winlink operations will not dominate any frequencies they publish, SINCE THEY DO ALREADY, even though they claim to have "activity detection" already in the modems they use. That the claim of "activity detection" is a false promise in order to get the ARRL to petition the FCC to take away spectrum from everyone else for the increased convenience of the 5100 Winlink users, who mainly use ham radio as a way to get remote email access to the Internet, and not for communications. 3. That the HISTORICALLY HIGH LEVEL OF INTERFERENCE BY PACTOR STATIONS to everyone else has demonstrated time and time again that even the operator-controlled Winlink Pactor stations don't care if a frequency is busy (because they can easily take it away), in their passion to get their email from the Internet, so they MUST NOT BE ALLOWED to mix with hams trying to COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER! 4. That you do NOT agree that more space should be allocated to unattended phone-width DIGITAL operations because the phone bands are already overcrowded with hams trying to talk to each other, and any re-allocation to make more room for phone-width signals should only be used for analog or digital voice that will benefit 99% of the hams instead of the less-than-1% that Winlink represents. 5. That there is no spectrum that can be taken away from where CW and person-to-person digital communications like RTTY, PSK31 and MFSK16 are used for ragchewing, Dxing, and contesting. 6. That ham radio is a HOBBY, not a quasi-commercial email "service" as Winlink provides, and that ham radio, from the very beginning, has always been mainly about hams communicating with other hams, and not about being used for unattended email gateways to the Internet, mostly for a few sailors, because the FCC Maritime Radio Frequencies were set aside for that purpose and are underused. 7. That all unattended wideband digital operations, of any type, MUST be confined to the current sub-bands for automatically controlled digital stations, and not allowed to use any frequency they wish just in order to avoid having to wait a short time for a clear frequency in the sub-bands. Here is the Winlink bulletin that was posted on their servers: **************** VERY IMPORTANT Update, March 23, 2005 HELP US KEEP AND ENHANCE WINLINK 2000. PLEASE RESPOND BY APRIL 6! All, Recently, we asked that all Winlink users write to the ARRL to save our Winlink wideband (Pactor 3) operations on the 30 meter band. The ARRL had just recommended the deletion of such operations on that band for all US licensed Amateurs. Our users did respond to the request for opinions, and as a result, the ARRL Executive Committee has now rescinded their original recommendation to delete wideband digital operations on 30 meters. Once again, we are asking you to write to David Sumner at [EMAIL PROTECTED], and request the following: 1. That bandwidth space be expanded for digital modes above 500 Hz, and that semi-automatic operations be allowed outside the current very restricted sub-bands. Semi-automatic operations are always initiated by human beings who are capable of listening before they transmit. 2. That because sophisticated signal detection is planned for the Winlink 2000 semi-automatic operations, the unattended receiving end of Winlink 2000 will have built-in protection from interference. It is already available in the modems we use. Even without it, most QRM is avoided by those initiating the connection listening carefully before they transmit. That you understand there are additional inexpensive, and soon to be readily available, technologies such as SCAMP now being beta tested for Winlink data transfer that already deploy signal detection. 3. That your use of Winlink 2000 wideband mode (Pactor 3) is valuable to you, and assists greatly with your personal safety and well-being (if it does). 4. That under the current band plan, digital operations are cluttered, without adequate space for normal operations. The addition of additional technologies, all crammed into the current limited space will make it impossible to use. 5. That the future of the Amateur Radio service is dependent on viable communications using enabling digial voice, image and data technologies, and it is important that STATIC REGULATIONS not restrict future development of these technologies as they change. PLEASE use your own words, and if there is something else you wish to add, please do. PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS REQUEST BY THE ARRL TO PROVIDE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND INFORMATION BY APRIL 6. IT IS CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESSFUL OPERATION OF WINLINK 2000, and other high bandwidth data transfer, voice and image digital modes. Responding to their request for your opinion will help keep Winlink 2000 alive. Not responding may end the very service we now provide. Please do not leave it to others. Respond to David Sumner, CEO, [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you wish to also copy your ARRL Division Director, save a copy, and we will soon put out another message with the States and locations of each. Thanks, Steve, k4cjx **************End of Bulletin**************** You are welcome to cut and paste whatever you wish from this posting, but PLEASE email Dave Sumner, CEO, at [EMAIL PROTECTED], AND your Division Director, WITHOUT FAIL, and say you DO NOT AGREE with what Winlink is asking for. You need to do this URGENTLY, because if 5000 Winlink users send emails, the ARRL will only see 5000 votes in favor of Winlink expansion and will have no way to know that all those 5000 just came from Winlink users who have been told their email may be cut off unless they email in favor of Winlink. They will be identified only by their callsigns, just like everyone else. To stop this attempted takeover, EVERYONE ELSE needs to vote NOT to agree to the Winlink request, so ARRL does not get the wrong impression that the "majority" of hams want to sacrifice the frequencies they use for communicating, so that the less-than-1%, that are Winlink users, don't have to wait longer than 90 seconds to receive an email on HF or can't send picture attachments to the Internet. Please act today to help preserve amateur radio as a hobby, for the traditional purpose of communicating with other radio amateurs, and not as a radio gateway to the Internet for a special interest group. Thom K3HRN The K3UK DIGITAL MODES SPOTTING CLUSTER AT telnet://208.15.25.196/ Yahoo! Groups Links -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.9.1 - Release Date: 4/1/2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.9.1 - Release Date: 4/1/2005 The K3UK DIGITAL MODES SPOTTING CLUSTER AT telnet://208.15.25.196/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
