Most Trippiest Part of Ham Amateur Radio Test Textbook by Radio Scxhack

“You cannot transmit to the public directly.” - Page 63

“Sometimes you will hear a repeater station transmitting a professional-sounding amateur radio news service for hams. This is perfectly legal. But what is NOT legal would be a news broadcast talking about non-ham subjects that was intended to be received by non-ham public listeners on scanners.” - Page 64

These quotes come amidst a section whose intent seems to be present proper protocols and procedures for ham operators - as determined by the FCC. Big amongst them are no obscenity or vulgarity (though there’s no list of unacceptable words, either), no secret codes and no broadcasting to the general public.

Each of those restrictions to me reveals the underlying politicization of an entity such as the FCC. Yet as a casual reader to that textbook, it disallows any kind of commentary or questioning on the part of the reader as to the appropriateness of the rules being laid out. Maybe this text is poorly written and argued though, I’m open to that. But I feel like if we as a nation are going to so highly regiment the application process of an aspirant to communicate on an equal footing using technologies that are available to major corporations, then maybe we could open up that process to some rigorous scrutiny, some review and insight into the depths by which the telecommunications industry has been so blithely politicized without anyone so much as breathing a word of it - simply because they want to pass the licensing exam.

So, to bring these questions out into the open and hopefully involve more of the ham/amateur radio audience - and thus learn more contextually what members of the subculture value - I want to just put forward these questions:

  1. Why can’t you or I as an average citizen broadcast something to the public over freely available radio wave technology?

Actually, there are a lot of follow-up questions to that, but that’s a great place to start! Any takers?

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This entry was written by happy thanksgiving, y'all!, posted on January 18, 2009 at 10:51 pm.

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11 Comments

  1. nitro2k01
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 8:46 am | Permalink

    What if these rules are not originally FCC’s idea, but a request from ham operators/adaptation of existing rules that there was a consensus about among hams?

  2. Timothy Obama
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 10:25 am | Permalink

    i’m not sure how they evolved. thats an important subject my textbook fails to address

  3. remote presence
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 12:47 pm | Permalink

    http://ham-shack.com/history05.html

  4. Justin Boland
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 5:01 pm | Permalink

    How much of reality are US citizens allowed to see? That’s a question that interests me a lot, as a co-developer of OmniPanOpticon technology that allows for ubiquitous global surveillance in the public domain.

    Which is, of course, utterly illegal. The compartmentalization of information is much like any other religious axiom: totally absurd upon examination, but circularly airtight upon ingestion.

  5. Timothy Obama
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 6:13 pm | Permalink

    From that link above and there’s another one I’ll find as well

    After amateurs had returned to the air in November 1919, hundreds of them began to explore the area of broadcasting. In May, 1920, amateur station 8XK joined many other hams in the transmission of music. Incidentally, it WAS LEGAL for amateurs to broadcast music, news, sports, lectures, advertisements or indeed just about anything else they wanted. The Radio Act of 1912, still in effect, did not mention amateurs, rather, one paragraph made a general reference to individual private or commercial stations. The only real restriction was the 1 kw power limit and the 200 meter wavelength, after that, the government didn’t care. Thus, those amateurs who had built equipment to modulate their CW transmitters eventually played a phonograph record or two, sang (or tried to sing), or broadcast some form of entertainment.

  6. Timothy Obama
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 7:04 pm | Permalink

    http://ham-shack.com/history06.html

    Pandemonium broke out.
    Stations, liberated from all Federal control, upped their power, jumped
    frequency, and/or began full time operations on daytime or time shared
    frequencies. Smaller stations were jammed off the air. Unlicensed
    transmitters appeared out of nowhere, dropped down on any convenient (or
    inconvenient) frequency, and began broadcasting. Anarchy was King

    http://ham-shack.com/history07.html

    Democracy was still a foreign idea to most nations; many hovered in that gray area between Old World Monarchy
    and Fascism/Communism. Communications were a government monopoly.  Individual private stations were feared; they could compete with
    the Government Stations, or they could be used in anti-government activities. This attitude was even present in the representatives
    from England and France. As for the other countries, many were blatantly anti amateur radio. Germany, for example, stated that
    private stations could violate “the rights of the State”.  Switzerland was on the record against amateur radio. Japan would
    tolerate amateurs, however they would have to use “phantom” (i.e. non radiating ) antennas. In other words, you could have
    a transmitter, you just couldn’t radiate a signal!!!!

  7. Justin Boland
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 7:17 pm | Permalink

    you’ve uncovered a forgotten revolution, tim

  8. Timothy Obama
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 10:34 pm | Permalink

    The actual ham operators - that document claims - didn’t partake in any of the shenanigans. But there is most assuredly a wealth of forgotten lore and history here: a point when people actually were informed about broadcast rights and technological equality.

  9. Timothy Obama
    Posted January 20, 2009 at 1:09 am | Permalink

    Microbroadcasting usually serves a town or community which doesn’t hear
    what it wants on commercial radio. A 100-watt FM signal will travel
    approximately 20 miles, while a 100-watt AM signal can typically be heard
    for 30 miles; however, most microbroadcasts fall in the range of 15-30 watts,
    with an audible range of 10-12 miles.
    There’s only one problem. AM or FM microbroadcasts with power
    greater than 1/4 watt are illegal, and the Federal Communications
    Commission will only license FM or AM broadcasters with a power of 100
    watts or above.

    http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Lounge/7704/micro.html

  10. Ben, N1WBV
    Posted January 20, 2009 at 8:09 pm | Permalink

    Wow. I just spent about 15 minutes commenting on this, but then I read the ToS. Yikes. No thanks.

  11. T-Omegathy
    Posted January 20, 2009 at 8:16 pm | Permalink

    Why is that Ben? My terms of service is meant to render at the commencement of our communication a clear statement about my terms and expectations. I feel like the clarity of communication, protocol and ritual involved in Amateur Radio is a major part of what draws me to that field to begin with. I’d hope that my interest in simply holding guests on my website accountable for their own words won’t limit or inhibit anyone’s ability to authentically express themselves. That’s not what this forum is for. Everything here by me, 7,000+ articles over 6 years on highly specialized sets of information is granted to the Public Domain perpetually and I ask that my correspondents and contributors follow that same spirit of Free, True & Open-Ended communication.

    Cheers!

    Respectfully yours,

    Tim Boucher

Public Domain Where Applicable, Copy Left Where Not, Universal Free Realms Everyware Else for 2009 and for forever.the timboucher experience. No rights reserved.