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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.
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.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
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.
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.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.