One of the comments made by Bill Cross, at the FCC Forum in reference to Winlink 2000 was that:
"Most of the controversy here seems to swirl around how certain licensees use it. Some use it for a radio e-mail system. Others use it for getting weather maps while they are on sailboats in places the brave dare not go. Others use it for their personal business activities, such as buying and selling stocks. These uses are really a Section 97.113, a 'prohibited communications' question, not a technology question." While I was a bit disappointed that they completely side stepped the main concern that I have seen expressed about Winlink 2000, namely, the interference issue where the operators either do not listen before transmitting or the automatic station is designed to transmit on a busy frequency, they did stress that there is no such thing in amateur radio as unattended operation and the control operators were always held accountable for their actions. He also stressed the importance of self policing of the amateur bands. Because of Mark, N5RFX's petition that was accepted to modify Part 97 last year, image is permitted on RTTY/Data frequencies providing the bandwidth is 500 Hz or less (because they have redefined image to be considered as "Data" in such cases). This means that a weather map is now legal to transmit on HF RTTY/Data frequencies using narrower modes such as FAE400, Pactor, Pactor 2, etc. It would not be legal to transmit a weather map from the U.S. on Pactor 3 when in the RTTY/Data portions. But few of us can possibly know what is being sent since it is not something that can be decoded with existing sound card modes, nor even easily decoded with the expensive modem. But was he really saying that getting weather maps and general e-mail use was included with buying and selling stocks and these uses are a prohibited communications? Or was he saying that the first two uses were OK and only the stock activity was not legal? Note: Even with my follow up, I have not heard back from the FCC since my initial inquiry before Christmas 2007. 73, Rick, KV9U
