Attn: Ham Operators who are emergency responders...

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2009

Contact: David Coursey

ARPC Files Petition to Amend 97.113: WB6NOA, N5GAR & N5FDL Seek
Changes Allowing Volunteers and Professionals to Train Together

October 24, 2009 -- The Amateur Radio Policy Committee today released
a copy of its Petition for Rule Making recently filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

The petition seeks changes necessary to allow amateur radio operators who are also paid emergency responders to participate in on-the-air emergency training exercises. The FCC recently stated that such activities--which had been taking place for many years--violate Part 97.113(a) of its rules and must be stopped.

Part 97.113 states that amateur radio operators may not communicate on behalf of their employer, even if it is a fire department, hospital, law enforcement, or a disaster relief charity, except during actual emergencies.

That means on a day-to-day basis that these professionals are prohibited from participating in on-air training exercises or even casual on-air conversations about their agency's emergency programs. Thus, hams working for an emergency management agency cannot participate in the agency's on-air training events with agency volunteer ham operators.

The Amateur Radio Policy Committee was formed to seek changes to FCC rules and put an end to this nonsense. Emergency responders should be able to train with their volunteers without needless interference from the FCC.

The committee consists of well-known amateur radio author Gordon West, WB6NOA; former North Texas ARRL Section Manager Tom Blackwell, N5GAR; and San Joaquin County (CA) ARES Coordinator David Coursey, N5FDL.

The petition proposes a change to Part 97.111 which describes communications permitted in the Amateur Radio Service. The proposed new language would make legal the following:

(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.

The petition also proposes minor wording changes to 97.113 to make it consistent with the suggested new language.

A copy of the petition may be downloaded from N5FDL.com, which also includes much additional information about this controversy.

More details here...

http://n5fdl.com/

Text of the petition...

http://n5fdl.com/storage/ARPC%20Part%2097%20Petition%20Final.pdf