THIS IS THE COMPLETE SPEECH VERY WELL DONE>>>W1PE > > FCC FORUM - Remarks by RILEY HOLLINGSWORTH, K4ZDH > > > Special Counsel, Spectrum Enforcement Division, FCC Enforcement >Bureau > > > Well you could have gone to the Flea Market, but you came to >CHURCH >instead! I've got you now. Thank you for coming to Dayton. Just by your
>sheer numbers you make the DARA Hamvention one of the most powerful forces >in Amateur radio, and it shows that you are serious about it ...and that >you care about its future. > > > By participating in an event such as this you help ensure its >future >...you show your numbers and your determination. > > > I'm not going to go over enforcement updates - there's no need >to >take up your time on that. You can follow Amateur radio enforcement in the >publications---QST, CQ Magazine, and on the websites of ARRL, RAIN Report, >Newsline and now our own FCC webpage by going to FCC.gov and going to the >Enforcement Bureau pages. The ARRL web page has a link to that as well. > > > I want to talk to you about what bothers me most about Amateur >Radio >...and I want to give you a homework assignment. > > > The blatant rule violators ...I think you can see that we are >taking >care of them - or most of them - on a gradual basis. Current violations are >about what we would expect from a service your size. > > > But what concerns me most is this: You still need to "lighten >up." I >said that last year but you need to take it to heart more. All of you can >learn from each other. And you need to work together more and show a little >more respect for your diverse interests and for the service as a whole. It >isn't about you. It isn't about enforcement. It's about Amateur radio. > > > Every time you get on the air, you need to decide what's most >important to you ...the best interests of Amateur radio as a whole, or your >own pride or ego or "rights". I realize I may be preaching to the choir >here, but on the air you need to be more cooperative and less >argumentative. And I need you to take this message with you when you go >home. > > > Your homework assignment is to read Dave Sumner's article in May >2007 QST, page 9. I have a couple hundred copies for you and if you can't >get one, contact me and I'll scan one to you. > > > In a nutshell, I have good news and bad news. The good news: >nothing >is wrong with Amateur radio. It is a good service that is showing its value >to the public on a daily basis. Bad news is that there is an element of >Amateur radio that too often reflects present society generally. Whatever >the phenomenon behind Road Rage - whatever that is - that's what I am >talking about. All of you need to work together and depend upon the FCC >less to solve your operating problems. We live in a rude, discourteous, >profane, hotheaded society that loves its rights, prefers not to hear about >its responsibilities, and that spills over in to the Ham bands. > > > I can't really say it any better than Dave Sumner did in May >2007 >QST-Page 9, and your homework assignment is to read it: "Most of the >unpleasantness that erupts from time to time on the most popular HF bands >can be avoided if we're willing to be flexible in our frequency selection." > > > I have some messages to all the groups along these lines. But >before >I get to that, I want to say that a little more kindness would go a long >way in your service. Lots of you are like people in a parking lot arguing >over a parking space when there are hundreds available. We are all ordinary >people, and even on the best days, probably work and think at around 60% >efficiency. We are not the greatest nation on earth. We think we are but we >aren't and we aren't the greatest people. Look at the evening news for >about a week if you don't realize that. And think about what the rest of >the world sees going on in America. > > > What we ARE is this: "We are rude, self important, cell phone >yapping, road raging, and stressed out monsters behind the wheel." And all >too often behind the microphone. You are increasingly calling upon the FCC >too much to solve your problems. Remember: "Most of the unpleasantness that >erupts from time to time on the most popular HF bands can be avoided if >we're willing to be flexible in our frequency selection." > > > To all Amateur Radio operators in general: I was looking at a >1968 >QST the other day and noticed inside the back cover an ad for Swan >transceivers. Some of you might remember the 350 and the 250. These were >really state of the art at the time. The 350 has 17 little controls and one >big one. The VFO, presumably to make it easy to change frequencies. Now >let's go to a 2007 QST magazine and look on the back cover at the Kenwood >TS570. It has 46 little controls and knobs, and one big one, the VFO. Look >near the back at the ICOM 7800. It has about 75 little controls and >buttons, but the real big knob is still the VFO ...presumably to make >changes in frequency the easiest function of all! > > > That's why you are the only service that has thousands of >frequencies and hundreds usable at any given time of day or year. It was >designed that way to give you alternatives, to have fail safe back up plans >and to experiment and lead technology. Even the public safety services >don't have thousands of frequencies. > > Now some frequencies are like bad neighborhoods. They are being >cleaned up but it will take more time and it's just not something that >happens overnight. We will get there. Take 14.275 for example. Probably in >the future it will be determined that RF radiation does indeed cause brain >damage, but ONLY at 14.275. It is a bad neighborhood. Stay away. I get >calls every week from the same group of people who went to 14.275 and got >abused. > > > Now if you had 3 alternative streets you could take to work >every >day but when you used one, you always got a rock thrown at your windshield, >wouldn't you decide to take one of the other streets after, say, 5 or 6 >windshields? After several windshields the logical question would arise as >to who is the biggest fool - you or the person throwing the rocks! Why >don't you take the same approach to Amateur Radio? > > > There are good operators and poor operators, just like >everything >else in life. There is a Canadian there that Canada considers mainly a >fruitcake and doesn't take him seriously. Their Amateur rules are more lax >than ours and so are some of their laws. It's an international problem and >we can do very little about it. But when you go there and take the bait >(And you ALWAYS seem to take the bait!) ..you get into arguments, you make >the problem WORSE and you make it an American problem as well and Amateur >Radio gets a black eye. There is a bad operator in Italy. too. But these >are not problems we can correct. > > The other day I was talking to one of the complainants about >14.275 >and I asked why he insisted on going there. He said "Well, old (name >deleted) likes to talk there and he doesn't have any other antennas". Well, >that must be a hell of a precisely cut antenna to only operate on the 20 >Meter frequency of 14.275! I heard an argument there the other afternoon >and one operator was saying "I'm not going to be driven off the frequency. >I got rights!" > > > The Orientals have a saying about Americans; they say an >American >will lose butt to save face. Just go somewhere else. The world is ugly >enough ...don't add to it. People make mistakes and 90% of interference >perceived as deliberate is accidental or at least unintentional. Listen to >this complaint we got: > > > "I've listened all day to a drift net beacon on 75. It's S9 here >at >home so its probably up or down the Bay. Please make a DF and find it." Now >that message came in at 4:57 PM. At 6:29 PM THIS message came in: "You're >going to laugh. It was a Linksys five port Ethernet switch in the next >room. When I tried to DF it with a selective AM radio I noticed the signal >went silent when I left home." > > > Why do you always assume an offense? Again, "Most of the >unpleasantness that erupts from time to time on the most popular HF bands >can be avoided if we're willing to be flexible in our frequency selection." >Again, in a problem like 14.275, just leave. Report it to us if it is a >violation. But just use one of the hundreds of other useable frequencies >you have and enjoy radio! > > > I know of one net that when they get interference they say "OK >everyone, go to frequency B." They just remain silent for half hour. It >drives the interferer crazy because he can't find them! > > > As Dave Sumner said in his May article: "It is unfair to your >fellow >Amateurs to assume every instance of interference you may encounter is a >hostile act." Even if it is, the best contribution you can make is to leave >and not make it worse. Remember that saying from the 60's: "What if they >gave a war and nobody came?" Well, what if they gave an argument on 75 >Meters and nobody came? You can help us and help Amateur radio by making >this contribution: Don't respond. Don't become the problem. Report it to >us, then use the big knob. It is possible that with current society being >rude and hotheaded, this is as good as your service can get for a while >anyway. That remains to be seen, but defuse problems, don't add heat to >them. > > > We can enforce our rules but we can't enforce kindness and >courtesy >or common sense. And a very wise person, who happens to be standing to my >left (Bill Cross), once told me: "You just can't regulate stupid." If we >could, we'd be working for the United Nations instead of the FCC. > > Now I have specific messages for more of you. > > > To the Nets: Just because you have been on the same frequency >for 75 >years, that doesn't mean you own it. All frequencies are shared. If you >vary your frequency, or even if you don't have a net one night, the radio >world isn't going to end. > > > To repeater owners: Just because you are coordinated doesn't >mean >you own the frequency. Coordination is a recommendation, not a frequency >assignment. It's your call sign on the repeater and it's your station and >your responsibility ...just as if you had left the door open to your >station at home. If there is abuse, lock the door. Don't ask us to be >baby-sitters or hall monitors of your repeater. That's what control >operators are for. Nobody asked you to start a repeater. If you shut it >down tomorrow, what would happen? People would use OTHER repeaters! > > To the contesters: be more courteous. You are responsible for >the >frequency you are operating on and realize that's true even when you >operate split. All frequencies are shared. > > > To those who don't like contesters: lighten UP!! Contests are >short >lived. Use the WARC bands. Wash the car. Cut the grass. Learn from the >contesters - and this applies to you Traffic net folks too - learn from the >contesters. They pass information a lot faster and more efficiently than >you do. Contesters are some of the best radio operators on planet Earth. If >the contesters operated at the same pace as some of the emergency traffic >nets, the contest would be over after the first few dozen signal strengths >were exchanged! > > > To the widebanders: If you want to be a Broadcaster, apply for a >broadcast license. Using extraordinarily wide bandwidth on crowded >frequencies at peak operating time is rude, selfish and inconsiderate. > > > To the QRP'ers: Thank you thank you, thank you for your >vitality, >inspiration, enthusiasm and for being BUILDERS again! I wish I could take >your enthusiasm and spread it over all segments of Amateur radio. When I >watch you folks, I see the excitement and magic of my first contact. > > To those who don't like QRP'ers: Lighten UP. ANYONE can use a >linear >amplifier as a crutch. > > > To the rag chew nets: 4 or 5 people meeting on the same >frequency >every night for 50 years using 1200 watts to talk a few hundred miles when >100 watts would do just fine is not a net. It's an informal roundtable. It >ain't going to hurt you either to vary your frequency or skip a night. And >the so-called "net" on 75 that bills itself as an "Oasis of Amateur Radio": >Give us all a break. You are an ordinary roundtable. And no net is an >"Oasis of Amateur radio." > > To those of you who don't like DXpeditions: Lighten UP! If a >group >of people want to spend a lot of money to go to a rock or sandbar in the >ocean, live in a tent and swat flies and scorpions for a week and talk over >Ham radio 24 hours a day, SO WHAT: LET'EM DO IT!!. DXpeditions, too, are >short lived, and such operation must be important to SOMEONE. Scarborough >Reef drew over 50,000 contacts didn't it. And weren't over half of them CW, >by the way? Nobody would have even known about it had it not been published >in popular radio magazines. > > > And to those of you who have been continual problems and we just >haven't gotten to you yet: you now have a problem yourselves. Your renewals >are coming up. YOU have the burden of proof in showing that you should have >a license and YOU have to come to Washington to make your case. And we are >going to have a LOT of questions for you. > > > And finally, to all of you who will no doubt moan about the code >being eliminated, I say this: > > > ----IF it was such an earthshaking issue, why did less than 1% >of >you even file comments during the decision making process?? WHY is it >important NOW but it wasn't important THEN?? > > > ----HOW can it be a "filter", when the worst enforcement >problems we >have all passed a 13 or 20 WPM code test? > > ----It wasn't eliminated; it just isn't required anymore. For a >drivers test, did you have to know how to drive a 5 or 6 speed >transmission? Well, those are some of the coolest cars on the road! > > > ----The idea of eliminating the code requirement has been >kicking >around for years, yet there is more code equipment today than ever before: >keyers, keys, straight and bug and readers ...you name it. > > > We won't know the effect of eliminating that requirement for ten >years. I personally won't be here ...years of Hamfest hotdogs will have >taken their toll. But I HONESTLY don't see it as an enforcement problem. > > > I'm loyal to the code. I wish we could have kept it at 13. But >my >bet is that dropping the requirement will turn out to be a stroke of >genius. > > > Only Time will tell, but if we don't so something to draw in >more >people, and appeal to greater numbers, in a few years at Dayton we'll ALL >be bumping into each other with our WALKERS! Let's face it folks - look >around - we're getting' OLD!! > > > We all need to try NEW things and always work towards keeping >Amateur radio dynamic. Know the issues: participate in it. But most of all >ENJOY it!!! > > > And thank you again for all the incredible support you give our >enforcement program. The self-regulating aspect of your service never >ceases to amaze me! > > And in closing, I have yet another message for all of you, in >and >out of the choir: I have been working for you for 8 years, 7 months, 16 >days and about 2 hours now. I can't imagine a BETTER group of licensees to >work with. I have always had interesting jobs with the Commission and I am >one of the few people on earth who like their job. I have always liked >working at FCC, but you folks are the BEST and I am so thankful that I have >gotten to work FOR you and WITH you and I sincerely thank you for that >opportunity, and I sincerely admire you and respect you for all your >passion and dedication. Now don't forget to come up and get your reading >assignment! > > -- > > > > _________________________________________________________________ Need a break? 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