This is my take on this whole situation, be right or wrong, it's how I perceive this whole Emcom issue that's come up lately......
It's been no big secret that many in the emergency services who are also licensed amateur radio operators often crossed that blurry line between conducting emergency communications as employees, or strictly as ham's.
The FCC turned a blind eye to this common practice for years since these people "were" providing a service for the public good, and not for profitable reasons.
Lately there's been a lot of disagreement between those in the amateur radio community, the contest jockeys against those who are in it for the public service, such as those who run daily public service nets as in the Intercon Net, and Maritime Mobile Service Net. Those who have been running these nets for 30, 40 50 years have suddenly become an issue to contesters who want that frequency spectrum for their beloved contests. It's become a matter of greed and arrogance that these contest jockeys can't respect the function of these long standing public service nets, and for what, just to get their name and call sign into the fine print of a magazine.....
This issue was brought to bear by contesters, and made an issue by contesters, and the only people who will suffer are those in disaster areas that may not receive help because a profession fireman, EMT, Police officer, Hospital worker, or Emergency Manager couldn't bypass their already busy radio bands and utilize the amateur radio frequencies to facilitate getting help.
The whole issue is petty and bullshit.
That hospital employee was being paid for his work for the hospital, his participation in a disaster drill was above and beyond his normal duties at the hospital, and done as an amateur radio operator. He wasn't profiting from his radio transmissions, he wasn't selling anything, and he wasn't there being paid just to participate in the disaster drill, he was already there and on duty, used by the hospital to facilitate the drill, then return to his normally scheduled duties....big friggin deal.....and so what if the guy was collecting a paycheck for that day, I have no doubt he earned that paycheck doing his normal duties, and not for the few moments he may have spend pushing the key on that ham radio set at the hospital....
Does this mean that while I'm on duty as a professional fire fighter, that I can't check into the local 2 meter rag chew net on Wednesday nights, or the Skywarn net on Monday nights....the FCC is welcome to come and stop me....
It's been no big secret that many in the emergency services who are also licensed amateur radio operators often crossed that blurry line between conducting emergency communications as employees, or strictly as ham's.
The FCC turned a blind eye to this common practice for years since these people "were" providing a service for the public good, and not for profitable reasons.
Lately there's been a lot of disagreement between those in the amateur radio community, the contest jockeys against those who are in it for the public service, such as those who run daily public service nets as in the Intercon Net, and Maritime Mobile Service Net. Those who have been running these nets for 30, 40 50 years have suddenly become an issue to contesters who want that frequency spectrum for their beloved contests. It's become a matter of greed and arrogance that these contest jockeys can't respect the function of these long standing public service nets, and for what, just to get their name and call sign into the fine print of a magazine.....
This issue was brought to bear by contesters, and made an issue by contesters, and the only people who will suffer are those in disaster areas that may not receive help because a profession fireman, EMT, Police officer, Hospital worker, or Emergency Manager couldn't bypass their already busy radio bands and utilize the amateur radio frequencies to facilitate getting help.
The whole issue is petty and bullshit.
That hospital employee was being paid for his work for the hospital, his participation in a disaster drill was above and beyond his normal duties at the hospital, and done as an amateur radio operator. He wasn't profiting from his radio transmissions, he wasn't selling anything, and he wasn't there being paid just to participate in the disaster drill, he was already there and on duty, used by the hospital to facilitate the drill, then return to his normally scheduled duties....big friggin deal.....and so what if the guy was collecting a paycheck for that day, I have no doubt he earned that paycheck doing his normal duties, and not for the few moments he may have spend pushing the key on that ham radio set at the hospital....
Does this mean that while I'm on duty as a professional fire fighter, that I can't check into the local 2 meter rag chew net on Wednesday nights, or the Skywarn net on Monday nights....the FCC is welcome to come and stop me....
