Ofcom Will Remove Mandatory Ham Callsign ID Interval, Allow Encryption For Some

product_bucket writes: The UK's radio regulator, Ofcom, today published changes in the licensing conditions that remove the mandatory 15-minute callsign ID interval on all allocated frequencies apart from 5MHz, where special conditions remain. In its place, a requirement for the station to be "clearly identifiable at all times" has been made, along with a requirement to transmit the station callsign "as frequently as is practicable" in a form consistent with the operating mode. The decision also permits the use of encryption (PDF) when the station is being used for, or on behalf of a user service such as St. John Ambulance. Unusually, no response to the consultation (PDF) has been made available, so there is at present no way to assess the extent to which the changes were based on actual responses.

Comments

bad idea

[qwp]

bad idea. But hey it's just public airwaves, what is the worst that could happen?

Re:bad idea

[The New Guy 2.0]

Ham radio started falling apart when cell phones that could connect to PBXs for conference calls became popular... Looks like they're trying to make ham more like cell phone now.

Re:bad idea

[ColdWetDog]

I really don't get this - repeating your callsign every 15 minutes isn't particularly onerous. If it really bothers you, just set up your transmitter to kick it out in CW every so often. The encryption does makes sense for St. John's Ambulance (an emergency medical charity if I'm reading it right). US hams have asked for encryption for use in ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) so personal information can be transmitted appropriately. Perhaps the UK's experience with this will move the FCC to act on it. Or perhaps not, what the FCC needs right now is a giant enema - that's the only way I see it moving along.

Re:bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I really don't get this - repeating your callsign every 15 minutes isn't particularly onerous. If it really bothers you, just set up your transmitter to kick it out in CW every so often. The encryption does makes sense for St. John's Ambulance (an emergency medical charity if I'm reading it right). US hams have asked for encryption for use in ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) so personal information can be transmitted appropriately. Perhaps the UK's experience with this will move the FCC to act on it. Or perhaps not, what the FCC needs right now is a giant enema - that's the only way I see it moving along.

Indeed.

Re:bad idea

[amorsen]

Yes, it is a horrible idea to give those HAM guys more freedom. Every time we relax the rules for them, we get disasters of biblical proportions, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

Re:bad idea

[TWX]

I think they really don't know what to do with ham radio. Some have tried to take it in a packet radio direction, but realistically that requires encryption. Some have tried to use it for more general-purpose voice communication, but again, privacy concerns come up. Cell phones have made it a lot more difficult to justify the time and expense, and other kinds of unlicensed radio or looser-licensed radio (GMRS/FRS type stuff) makes it harder to justify using ham radio for short-distance communications, and Internet-based voice over IP communications makes it a lot harder to justify using ham radio for long distance communication.

I have a 2m HT and a 10m mobile that needs repair. I last turned on the 2m radio on a road trip so I could listen to a simplex frequency in case anyone else asked for help. I barely received some other parties' rag-chewing, but that was the only time 146.520MHz lit-up. I haven't spoken with anyone in close to a decade; I only renewed my license because it was of negligible cost and effort to do so. I don't know what to do with ham radio even as a licensed operator, and I don't think that most other people do either.

If these changes allow ham radio in the UK to increase in usage, then maybe similar regulation changes in the US could help increase usage and make what was supposed to be something of an educational hobby actually provide something useful and educational again.

Re:bad idea

[jerel]

As a new-ish ham, I hear a lot of "ham radio is dead" stuff, and it's just not true. There are more registered hams now then ever before, and the rate of new licensees is also going up. (i.e. the number of new hams every year keeps going up) But the new young hams are not getting into it for the same reasons the older hams did. Most of the older hams were at least amateur radio electronics guys. Now, nobody (or very very few) builds a radio from bare components, and the first level of license requires only a basic understanding of radio electronics principles. In my book it's still very cool to put up my antenna (I live in an antenna-restricted community) and know that when I contact someone in another country, I'm doing it without relying on somebody else's infrastructure. It's just me, my battery, my radio, and my antenna, and I'm talking to some guy half-way around the world! How cool is that? And emergency communications will always be a valid use. In fact, in a real emergency, cell phones are useless for a variety of reasons, some of which can be failed infrastructure, or even just simple congestion. If an earthquake hits or a hurricane, cell towers go down or everybody jumps on their phone and then nobody can get in on the overcrowded towers. Or EMS blocks all calls except for emergency services to use. I don't know how it's going to evolve, but it always does, and it's most definitely not dead. 73, WT6G

Re:bad idea

[gnu-sucks]

Why does emergency communication need to be encrypted? If you place yourself in a situation where ham radio would really save the day, the last thing you would want is *less* compatibility with other stations and agencies.

All this will do is allow commercial users to encroach onto the ham bands unnoticed because illegal encrypted traffic is indistinguishable from legal encrypted traffic.

I think it's already questionable why local police departments would use encrypted P25. If the last few months of newsworthy police activity are any hint, we need more opportunities to observe law enforcement, not fewer.

Why the heck does an ambulance need to use ham radio frequencies? Why would they need it encrypted? This argument is simply nonsense. If its an emergency, sorry, loose some privacy in place of saving your life. Hams have enough trouble setting up a PL on a radio, can you imagine them trying to coordinate encryption over the air? In emergency situations, communications networks like ham radio work because they are SIMPLE. They can spring up spontaneously out of nowhere and don't require anything more than a radio, antenna, and battery. This is why ham radio has been helpful in times of emergencies when complex cellular and digital trunking systems fail. There is an elegance to the simplicity of analog.

And if the DOD needs to transmit encrypted information using a ham radio, then can't they just do it anyway?

Furthermore, digital communication does not "need" to be encrypted as some posters here have stated. The protocol needs to be documented and standardized. Encryption doesn't help. Error correction does though, and these are totally different things. WiFi, for example, does not *need* to be encrypted.

Re:bad idea

[Ol Olsoc]

I think they really don't know what to do with ham radio. Some have tried to take it in a packet radio direction, but realistically that requires encryption.

Nothing in Ham radio requires encryption. What on earth is your rationale? Packet Radio has mostly turned into APRS anyhow. The only people I know who are espousing Packet are those who don't want to use NBEMS, because they think it's too difficult, with the added reason that thtey don't want to upgrade their license class.

Some have tried to use it for more general-purpose voice communication, but again, privacy concerns come up.

Are you one of those Hams that is trying to get the encryption ball rolling on Ham Radio? Fuggedaboudit. There is a lot more to Ham radio than whacker's dreams of green vest glory. And the rest of us don't want it destroyed on that account. If encryption is needed, then professional radio operator are demanded. You don't think that once you get encryption that thd need for security clearances does not follow? If teh data has to be kept secret, it will hav eto be handled bu secured personnel .

Cell phones have made it a lot more difficult to justify the time and expense, and other kinds of unlicensed radio or looser-licensed radio (GMRS/FRS type stuff) makes it harder to justify using ham radio for short-distance communications, and Internet-based voice over IP communications makes it a lot harder to justify using ham radio for long distance communication.

And during an emergency, when everyone is using their cell phones to call relatives to say "I'm okay", those cell phone towers go down in a hurry. To have sufficient emergency power to last say, a week, you won't want to pay that bill.

The present day quasi-paradigm of the Ham radio Emcomm Op is a bad one. Too many think they will show up at HQ with their Handi-talkie, and start barking on it, saving people's ;ives, and then going home to a hero's welcome.

The reality is that Ham radio prepares you to communicate, but more along the lines that you are the only one prepared inside the disaster area. So you are the one getting messages out of an area that has no power, no phone, no Internet, no smartphones. There are some areas where there is more organization, where there is more of a need (The Erie PA area comes to mind) but for most of us, nah.

I have a 2m HT and a 10m mobile that needs repair. I last turned on the 2m radio on a road trip so I could listen to a simplex frequency in case anyone else asked for help. I barely received some other parties' rag-chewing, but that was the only time 146.520MHz lit-up.

Not terribly surprising. Most 2 meter activity is on repeaters, not simplex. And most repeater activity is on weekends, except for retired Hams.

I haven't spoken with anyone in close to a decade; I only renewed my license because it was of negligible cost and effort to do so. If all you have is an HT and a 10 meter radio, it's not surprising. HF radio is a blast, you can talk around the world on less power than that light in your frig. I think you have formed your opinion based on personal experiences not rooted in actuality. It's like the people who tune into the 80 meter bsnd in the middle of the day and don't hear anything (it's a much better night time band) and decide no one is using it. There is actually a lot of activity, it's determined by time of day, solar conditions and frequency.

I don't know what to do with ham radio even as a licensed operator, and I don't think that most other people do either.

What to do? Here is just a samplig of what I have done so far this year:

Taught digital mode classes to Emergency and experimenters

Built a low power Software Defined Radio using Surface Mount Technology.

Designed and built several Soundcard interfaces for the classes and myself

Condicted a di

Re:bad idea

[Ol Olsoc]

Ham radio started falling apart when cell phones that could connect to PBXs for conference calls became popular... Looks like they're trying to make ham more like cell phone now.

Ham Radio is dying, and has been since the early 1900's. And always will be dying. Forever.

Re:bad idea

[Ol Olsoc]

I really don't get this - repeating your callsign every 15 minutes isn't particularly onerous. If it really bothers you, just set up your transmitter to kick it out in CW every so often. The encryption does makes sense for St. John's Ambulance (an emergency medical charity if I'm reading it right). US hams have asked for encryption for use in ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) so personal information can be transmitted appropriately. Perhaps the UK's experience with this will move the FCC to act on it. Or perhaps not, what the FCC needs right now is a giant enema - that's the only way I see it moving along.

Let's hope not. The ARRL has come out against a recent petition to allow encryption

The rejection article at arrl.org sums it up nicely:

In denying the petition, the FCC concluded, “Thus, while the proposal could advance one purpose of the Amateur Radio Service — value to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications — it would undermine other characteristics and purposes of the service. Therefore, we agree with the comments that say, in various ways, that amending the rules to allow encryption to obscure the meaning of messages transmitted during emergency services operations and related training exercises would not improve or enhance the operation of Amateur Service stations or otherwise be in the public interest.”

And that's really it. Fact is, ARS has handled info without encryption for a long itme now without issue, and the inclusion of encryption would change the nature of Ham radio forever, which might be nice for the emcomm people, but a disaster for the rest of us. We have remarkable access to radio, but it's because what we do is in the open, if we're doing encrypted work, a whole lot of that access, and who they allow to do that access will change. If you have to have encryption, go commercial.

Re:bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I understand your concerns, and they are well thought out.

Encryption is needed for transmitting sensitive medical data, otherwise it's not allowable on ham bands.

Re:bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Welcome to the club!

I know ham radio licensees are increasing in the US. But the article was about the UK. Not sure if they are also increasing there...do you know?

BTW, I've heard that ham radio is getting worse/slowly going out of existence for, let's see, about 38 years now. I have to admit I get on the air less now than when I was first licensed, but it's still a great communications service. And it certainly excels during emergencies!

Re:bad idea

[grumling]

I agree that whackers are a problem with modern ham radio, but they do help protect the bands (especially UHF and above) just because the ARRL can wave the disaster flag at the FCC every so often. I got into the hobby to play with radios and experiment, not be a "hero."

But I also think there's been a massive overreaction by the health care industry because of HIPAA, and DHS' attempt to co-opt the bands under the guise of disaster relief after the FCC screwed up the police bands with narrow banding. I've participated in traffic nets. I'm a big boy and know what counts as health and welfare traffic. And I also understand that most of the time hams should be sending "I'm OK" radiograms to family members outside the disaster zone and helping keep the shelters stocked, not sending doctor's email over our bands.

Re:bad idea

[Obfuscant]

Nothing in Ham radio requires encryption.

Why yes, it would be wonderful for the same kind of people who play fart sounds on the local repeater to be able to send telecommand signals to amateur radio satellites. Just a great idea. By the way, that's one of the kinds of signals that is explicitly called out in the regulations as allowing encryption.

But the rules don't actually talk about encryption, they talk about obfuscating the meaning. There are a large number of people using what used to be called HSMM -- basically, 2.4G wifi -- and they have encryption enabled. Why is it necessary? To keep Joe Ignorant from using his unlicensed laptop from connecting to a licensed NAP.

Packet Radio has mostly turned into APRS anyhow.

Also wrong.

There is a lot more to Ham radio than whacker's dreams of green vest glory.

Got no idea what you think you're saying here.

The demand for encryption, as I noted before is not to increase usage, it is based on the pipe dreams of Emcomm people, who claim it is impossible to send Health and welfare information that isn't encrypted.

Also wrong. Nobody has said it is needed to increase usage, and "health and welfare" traffic has nothing to do with it. What is involved is the integration of amateur volunteers (and non-volunteers) into hospital emergency communications plans. And now, the excuse that the hams passing that traffic won't be employees of the hospital is gone, because it is highly likely that at least some of them will be. They'll have a radio in their hand they cannot use because HIPAA applies to them.

Re:bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Then don't use ham bands.

Re:bad idea

[Ol Olsoc]

But I also think there's been a massive overreaction by the health care industry because of HIPAA,

THIS!. It's difficult for me to get the status of a family member. After all - "Privacy!"

Then these hospitals, these guardians of privacy, thesde bastions of HIPPA, put a unguarded computer on the net, and give everyone's records away. Or just put it on Facebook.....

http://www.journal-news.com/ne...

http://www.journal-news.com/ne...

http://www.inquisitr.com/12847...

http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/...

http://www.inquisitr.com/12847...

And onandonandonandon. The uncontestable fact that Hospitals are the largest source of leaked personal data means that there is no need nor point for it to be encrypted, because as soon as it's in plaintext, it's darn near publicly posted.

Re:bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Then don't use ham bands.

We all wish you wouldn't, and leave us alone to use encryption if we want to.

Re:bad idea

[Ol Olsoc]

Nothing in Ham radio requires encryption.

But the rules don't actually talk about encryption, they talk about obfuscating the meaning. There are a large number of people using what used to be called HSMM -- basically, 2.4G wifi -- and they have encryption enabled. Why is it necessary? To keep Joe Ignorant from using his unlicensed laptop from connecting to a licensed NAP.

Do you have their call signs? I'd love to know. Encryption is not legal. If I open a hinternet, I cannot encrypt it.

Packet Radio has mostly turned into APRS anyhow.

Also wrong.

give me the citations then. Shouldn't be too hard. I have emcomm folks wanting to take my aprs repeater for their use. Seems odd if they already have their own. There are a few packet repeaters, but it's definitely an off use of them. At least here, it's NBEMS or some Winlink (although the Winlink stuff often doesn't play well with others. I've had a lot of PSK31 contacts interfered with by unattended Winlink stations just opening up on us, mid QSO.

There is a lot more to Ham radio than whacker's dreams of green vest glory.

Got no idea what you think you're saying here.

Google "Whacker", some fun imagery too. Short version, a whacker is a person who gets into emergency work Fire, Ham Radio, with dreams of glory. Usually wannabe police, who couldn't cut it. They tend to be an annoyance.

Here's a pretty good definition:

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/W...

They tend to get big pickups with a lot of lights, or retired police cars. Put a whacker bar across the top.

And they just looooove badges: http://www.maxarmory.com/ham-r...

If you have a pretend police badge, you just might be a whacker.

The demand for encryption, as I noted before is not to increase usage, it is based on the pipe dreams of Emcomm people, who claim it is impossible to send Health and welfare information that isn't encrypted.

Also wrong. Nobody has said it is needed to increase usage,

Try to keep up here, The very specific post I was replying to included this exact text: So spare me the "No one said".

"If these changes allow ham radio in the UK to increase in usage, then maybe similar regulation changes in the US could help increase usage"

and "health and welfare" traffic has nothing to do with it.

What is involved is the integration of amateur volunteers (and non-volunteers) into hospital emergency communications plans.

Tell me exactly why it is not possible to incorporate Amateur radio into hospital emergency communications plans without encryption? It has been done for a long time. We've had a station at our local hospital long before it was fashionable, and has not sent a single encrypted message. Has sent health and welfare.

And now, the excuse that the hams passing that traffic won't be employees of the hospital is gone, because it is highly likely that at least some of them will be. They'll have a radio in their hand they cannot use because HIPAA applies to them.

Oh dear, you are parroting the early post 9-11 hysteria, when As an example, emergency types were coming around and trying to declare eminent domain on our repeaters. It doesn't work. Guy in camo and desert storm boots comes to our meeting, tells us how since by definition, everything they do is emergency work, we had to turn over our repeaters to them. It was politely suggested that who was going to build the next repeater if there is a problem. He said we'd build his group another. Wrong. Ambulance guys were getting licenses, and hoping to gossip about their bosses a

Re:bad idea

[citizenr]

except a lot of people use encryption every day right now and FCC doesnt do anything about it. AMBE is basically encryption, and only way to decrypt it is to pay DVSI or ICOM

Re:bad idea

[gnu-sucks]

Are there really ambulances in England using the ham bands? For transmitting medical data?

I guess they use their bands differently than we do here in the US...

Re:bad idea

[gnu-sucks]

Not sure where you live, but here in LA there is a fair amount of activity on 146.52, and plenty of activity on the local repeaters. Same goes for the 440 repeaters, there's always someone talking it up.

I would say if you find the amount of traffic disappointing, get up the nerve to call CQ, and make a point out of doing every time you are in the car at least a few times. Stir up the traffic! Tune in to your local repeaters and just ask if anyone is monitoring. There should at least be a control op on each one.

And if you want to see bands packed full of people, get a 20 meter SSB transceiver and a monoband antenna and you will work world-wide DX from your car pretty much whenever you like.

Re:bad idea

[thegarbz]

I think it's already questionable why local police departments would use encrypted P25.

I don't. Many departments use the radio for back to base fact checking amongst other things reading out the person's criminal history. I can't get this from my local police but the next jurisdiction over still use analogue narrowband AM to transmit stuff. It's not all that encouraging to hear a person's name, license plate, registration, insurance details, and the number of times he's been nabbed for being blasted over public airwaves.

Now there's some discussion to be had about whether a 2-way is really the proper technology to get this information out to police, but I'm sure there's no budget to change that. There never is.

Re: bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

St. John's Ambulance is not an ambulance, per se. It is what US hams call a "served agency", like the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. The purposes of encryption are ostensibly the same as what ARES groups have asked the FCC for, and been denied, several times.

Re:bad idea

[Ol Olsoc]

except a lot of people use encryption every day right now and FCC doesnt do anything about it. AMBE is basically encryption, and only way to decrypt it is to pay DVSI or ICOM

That's not encryption. That would be like saying that any of the Ham radio codecs are encryption ,only difference is that most are free. It's a codec. designed that people can read or hear it.

Re:bad idea

[Ol Olsoc]

As a new-ish ham, I hear a lot of "ham radio is dead" stuff, and it's just not true.

There are a number of older Hams who we call "Old Farts", for whom personally, Ham Radio is dying. Their buds are dying off, their high technology is no longer high technology. I don't mind people going into reminiscent mode, but all too many of the old farts are openly antagonistic toward anyone new, and any new technology.

I suspect that there were old farts during the transition from spark to alternator radio, From that to tube radio. I know old farts decried the mass switch from AM to Single Sideband. Then as the Morse code testing went away, they went into full dudgeon. Now, just like the old Single sideband haters, the old farts sit in the corner of club meetings, telling us all about how everything is bad, and Ham Radio is dying.

Yeah, for them it is. But not for the 96 year old Ham I had a digital computer mode QSO recently. H'e jus picked up a new laptop, and was trying it out on PSK31 mode.

In the meantime, the rest of us are having a blast, bouncing signals off the moon, talking to astronauts in the space station, building satellites, setting up networks for weather and position reporting, doing propagation research, talking around the world on milliwatts, writing software for radio use, building radios and support peripherals, and helping out in emergencies. And sometimes putting together an old school one tube radio and pounding on a Morse key.

Re:bad idea

[TWX]

Google "Whacker", some fun imagery too. Short version, a whacker is a person who gets into emergency work Fire, Ham Radio, with dreams of glory. Usually wannabe police, who couldn't cut it. They tend to be an annoyance.

Here's a pretty good definition:

[rationalwiki.org]

They tend to get big pickups with a lot of lights, or retired police cars. Put a whacker bar across the top.

[maxarmory.com]

If you have a pretend police badge, you just might be a whacker.

Oh god we have one of these people at work (big company, I've never met him). He drives a retired Crown Vic cop car, and for a long time he kept adding more and more cop-looking stuff to it, complete with "Emergency Dial 911" stickers on the quarter panels behind the rear wheels. Even had what looked a bit like an official seal on the doors, and had a clear lightbar on the roof. He also had a roof number painted on. He'd occasionally set-up a large antenna on the ground connected to a large project case via cable, that connected to the car via cable, leaving this setup out in the parking lot unattended.

One day the car was stripped of its faux-cop memorabilia. I suspect he got busted finally, from pushing the fake cop look too far. He then decorated it as a zombie-hunting vehicle with "Umbrella Corporation" on it instead.

I don't get people that make a lifestyle out of masquerading as some kind of authority that they can't legitimately claim. Fake cops, fake firefighters and EMS, fake soldiers, fake special-forces, etc. A buddy of mine that actually is former military offered for me to ride on the Sherman tank in a Veterans' Day parade, but I was not in the military so I declined. I don't get it- if you want to make that claim, they're happy to enlist you or to otherwise give you the experience to legitimately make the claim unless you're so whacko that they don't feel they can have you.

Re:bad idea

[TWX]

I transmit that I'm listening from time to time when I am listening. I don't CQ because I don't have anything that I particularly want to talk about while I'm driving with family in the car.

Last time I had the radio on I was in the four-corners region, and it's VERY rural there. I'm not exactly surprised that no one was talking.

Re:bad idea

[Ol Olsoc]

Not sure where you live, but here in LA there is a fair amount of activity on 146.52, and plenty of activity on the local repeaters.

I often Squawk APRS while driving, and it's interesting how many hams call me on .52 simplex while I travel through their area.

Side use for aprs. When Im traveling alone, my better half can use aprs.fi to see where I'm at at any given moment. Of course I can't go to the stripper bars any more...... And yes, 20 and 40 are a madhouse some times. And when there is a contest or QSO Party, you won't find a kiilohertz of empty band.

Re: bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Then hospitals have no reason to participate in ARES(tm). Thes days they do want to know who is where with what kinds of conditions.

Re:bad idea

[gnu-sucks]

Well... if you don't have much to talk about I guess you can't complain about not having many folks to talk to.

But seriously, I find it nice to talk on simplex on the way to and from work. It's a good time for a conversation that is confined to a fixed length of time. With the family, my son and I have Baofeng UV-5rs that are very fun.

Re:bad idea

[Muad'Dave]

Nothing in Ham radio requires encryption.

I would allow encryption on amateur satellite command uplinks and perhaps on repeater command functions, but not for general use.

Re:bad idea

[Obfuscant]

Are there really ambulances in England using the ham bands? For transmitting medical data? I guess they use their bands differently than we do here in the US...

It's called "RAYNET" and it is very similar to ARES in the US. Support for emergency services like hospitals and government agencies. Hospitals, at least in this area, get a lot of support from ARES. Hospitals tend to deal with medical data.

Re:bad idea

[Obfuscant]

Do you have their call signs? I'd love to know. Encryption is not legal. If I open a hinternet, I cannot encrypt it.

Are you in the US? If so, yes, you can. You are not encrypting it for the purposes of obfuscating the meaning.

"If these changes allow ham radio in the UK to increase in usage,

That says neither that it is needed nor that it was intended for that purpose.

give me the citations then.

Here. While it includes an HF component, the local transport is almost exclusively via packet.

Tell me exactly why it is not possible to incorporate Amateur radio into hospital emergency communications plans without encryption?

Because the hospitals are eventually going to ask for it.

Has sent health and welfare.

"Health and welfare" is not medical information covered by HIPAA.

One of the first problems that happens, is a paid employee is no longer a volunteer. They can be of course, but their use is limited via amateur radio.

You've already lost that battle. You should keep up with the changes to the regulations.

but I should let you know I am a technical adviser to our local group. So I'm not completely ignorant of emergency amateur radio communications.

Well, I dunno. You've said a lot of things that are wrong. They may have been correct in the past, but times have changed. Just your statement that "encryption is not legal", for starters. Your ignorance of Winlink. That you think there is some limit on government employee's use of ham radio. And that you seem to think that "health and welfare" traffic is what HIPAA is about.

Re:bad idea

[Obfuscant]

I transmit that I'm listening from time to time when I am listening. I don't CQ because I don't have anything that I particularly want to talk about while I'm driving with family in the car.

There are those who would claim that your listening announcement IS calling CQ. I hold the opinion that "it's nice that you're listening, if you wanted to talk to someone you'd say that."

Ofcom

[leathered]

If Ofcom really want to help ham radio operators they could do more to ban or restrict power network adapters and the multitude of other gadgets that leak QRM all over the airwaves.

Bring back the Radiocommunications Agency. Ofcom is a behemoth that has its fingers in too many pies to be an effective regulator.

Re:Ofcom

[Anonymous Coward]

Same in the US. There are at least 3 power transformers within a few hundred feet of my QTH and they totally wreck every signal in those directions, especially when there is high humidity or rain. It's obvious they have failed but no amount of complaining has gotten them fixed for over 15 years.

Re:Ofcom

[Mister Transistor]

My bud had the same issue. Several shots from his .45 ACP, and guess what - the next day they replaced the transformer!

Re:Ofcom

[Ol Olsoc]

My bud had the same issue. Several shots from his .45 ACP, and guess what - the next day they replaced the transformer!

You know you can just talk to the utility company. There are some who need prodding from the F.C.C, but if you approach it correctly, as in "I think there is arcing in your transformer" then point out the liability risk. Anyhow, most utilities are pretty helpful in trying to quiet things down.

Re:Ofcom

[Anonymous Coward]

Call the power company. They are REQUIRED by the FCC to fix those issues. Power Companies have a dedicated team that is used to track down those RFI noise source generators in their system such as bad insulators, loose wires etc.

Read more about it and how to file a complaint with the FCC if needed to force them to comply on the ARRL website.

If the power company is interfering with a licensed radio frequency (commercial, or amature) then they are in violation of federal law and can be subject to huge fines from the FCC.

H.A.M. Radio!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it is a horrible idea to give those HAM guys more freedom. Every time we relax the rules for them, we get disasters of biblical proportions, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

I hate those H.A.M. people!

Re:H.A.M. Radio!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ham mmmmmmmmmmmrgrgrrglrgrglrlgrlglrgrlgrg

Another view

[Ol Olsoc]

If you can use encryption, you need to be trustworthy. And in the weird world of GB these days, this sounds like a pretext for making certain that their hams are considered trustworthy by the Guvmint.

Not sayin' just sayin'

Re:Another view

[grumling]

The issue, at least in the US, is that we're expected to be self-policing. The FCC, as an extension of the IRU, puts severe limits on speech over the airwaves. I'm sure the UK is similar. When encrypted information is transmitted there's no way to know if the information is in compliance. For example, imagine an ambulance service installing ham radios in all their vehicles then instructing their drivers to get amateur licenses. They could start using the local repeaters for business communication and no one would be able to prove it. The ambulance company could say they were conducting a drill, or that the drivers were just rag chewing during their downtime because they enjoy the hobby, whatever.

BTW, in the US, amateurs have been setting up DMR repeaters. Most of these repeaters are capable of encrypted communications. It's just a setting in the software.

Re:Another view

[grumling]

Oh, and because we're licensed by governments, we're already tested for our trustworthiness. Some are a little more trustworthy than others though...

Re:Another view

[Ol Olsoc]

BTW, in the US, amateurs have been setting up DMR repeaters. Most of these repeaters are capable of encrypted communications. It's just a setting in the software.

Many of the cheap HT's from China are also encryption enabled. But that self policing comes into play. I can direction find them if need be.

Re:Another view

[Ol Olsoc]

Oh, and because we're licensed by governments, we're already tested for our trustworthiness. Some are a little more trustworthy than others though...

Mighty low bar that. Though there have been a few refusal to renow or licenses set aside for some of the more egregious violators.

Re:Another view

[amorsen]

They could do all that, but really, would they bother? Just to save the cost of a frequency license? That sounds rather far-fetched.

Re: Another view

[grumling]

And a repeater, tower (or rent), a maintenance contract, etc. it adds up when your primary goal is to "maximizize shareholder value"

Re:Another view

[Obfuscant]

They could do all that, but really, would they bother? Just to save the cost of a frequency license? That sounds rather far-fetched.

And yet, this reports the abuse of ham radio by the Indianapolis, IN, USA police department. You can read about FCC actions, for example, this one, which is typical of the kinds of illegal use commercial operations make of ham radio.

Licensed operators kill it

[DigitAl56K]

I have a scanner and periodically listen to HAM and GRMS channels, and my opinion is that licensed operators have killed the platform. In my area conversation is about *absolutely f'ing nothing of interest to almost anyone*, some douche periodically transmits junk to annoy everyone else, and any time someone with an interesting use comes along someone who knows all about the rules scares them away - doubtlessly feeling like they've just done everyone a great service. And perhaps keeping the airwaves clear for emergencies is one idea, but having those airwaves there and nobody using them for anything useful most of the time is such a waste.

I realize Slashdot is full of HAMs waiting for the next disaster so they can save us all with their radios as our last bastions of hope, but there is my anecdotal personal opinion for you. Maybe traditional HAM would be more popular vs e.g. encryption/packet radio if traditional licensees weren't so anal.

Involuntary encryption.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been playing with AMPR (TCP/IP over hamradio) using a couple of raspberrypi's. I've been using rsh, because, well, ssh is encrypted and so banned for use on ham bands. But some numbnuts has decided that if ssh is installed, then rsh is a symlink to ssh. Thanks, but I thought this was linux. If I wanted a system that tried to save me from anything "difficult" I'd be running Windoze.

Re:Involuntary encryption.

[Ash-Fox]

You can run ssh without encryption.

The only way of doing so to my knowledge requires a patch and recompiling the SSH daemon and client.

Involuntary encryption.

[Anonymous Coward]

You can run ssh without encryption. I'm not sure if you can disable authetication, but that is not illegal anyway.

I like baked ham with honey

[Anonymous Coward]

Mmm, you're making me hungry.

Private Conversation, anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not alarmed about the use of radio encryption in medical emergencies. Mine is more the basic question of WHY (in this age of military-grade encrypted internet e-mail) we're prohibited from having a private conversation on ham radio? For me, I'd LOVE to be able to have an occasional 'spies-night-out' , set-up my little wireless set and tap my enciphered radio message to old friends of mine, just like the old days. I enjoy both classical cryptography AND radio, so why not both, especially if I identify myself using my valid callsign? I fancy a glass of port and an occasional double-incomplete-columnar-transposition cipher from time-to-time. (grin)