|OPERATION of Student Buoy Projects IN THE AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE     30 Apr 06
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|                                                                       WB4APR
|
|The Amateur Radio Service is authorized by the FCC for radio communications
|between duly licensed amateur radio operators for the purpose of developing
|personal expertise with the radio art.   The rules allow for experimentation 
|but again, only within the spirit of the rules for providing a set of 
|frequencies for such licensed operation without any hint of pecuniary interest 
|or commercial or government use.  Think of the Amateur Radio Spectrum as a 
|"national park" for preserving frequencies from commercial exploitation and
|for use by authoirzed individuals willing to live within the rules, and not 
|polute or exploit it.  Here are some paraphrasing of some of the rules and 
|how some ocean buoy experiments are possibly within the rules...
|
|RULES:
|
|  "Amateur Service: A radiocommunication service for the purpose of 
|   self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations 
|   carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorised persons 
|   interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without 
|   pecuniary interest." [RR S1.56]
|
|A one-time student Buoy Project can fit within that rule...
|
|RULE:
|
|  "VI. OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES. The following operational guidelines, based
|   on interpretations by IARU of the Radio Regulations and good amateur
|   practice, are intended to help in planning the missions, management, and
|   control of devices planned to operate in the amateur-radio service.
|
|   A. The purposes of an amateur radio station should be:
|
|      (1) To provide communication resources for the general amateur radio
|          community and/or
|      (2) To conduct technical investigations in all respects consistent with
|          the Radio Regulations. [See RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.]
|
|   Technical investigations carried out using frequencies allocated to the
|   amateur-radio service should be relevant to the development of "radio
|   technique," that is, have a reasonable possibility of application to the
|   development of amateur radio communication systems.  [See RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.]
|
|The Buoy project, on a limited basis, is exploring the propogation from a low
|power device to an amateur radio network.  As long as the motivation is the
|exploration of that capability or an individual's own technical curiousity, it 
|is probably within the rules.  HOWEVER, when the motivation for the buoy project 
|is driven solely for the purpose of obtaining the routine oceanographic data for 
|use by others (who are not licensed radio amateurs), then this would be a violation 
|of the use of the amateur radio frequencies.
|
|RULES:
|
|   B. Station Control.
|
|   All stations operating in the amateur service... must be controlled by "duly
|   authorised persons," that is, licensed amateur radio operators who must be
|   acting "solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." [See
|   RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.]
|
|   AMSAT-NA, for example, is an organisation which owns and builds amateur 
|   satellites to operate in the amateur-satellite service. But, because it is
|   an organisation and not an individually licensed radio amateur, it may not
|   control an amateur station. Licenses under which AMSAT-NA owned amateur
|   stations are operated are issued either in the name of an individually
|   licensed amateur radio operator or an amateur radio club... where a 
|   licensed amateur radio operator is named on the license as trustee
|   for the club station.
|
|   In every case, an individual licensed amateur radio operator, who is
|   neither employed nor paid by [the club or organization], is legally 
|   responsible for the operation of every amateur station or amateur-satellite 
|   station.  Commonly, the licensee is an unpaid member of the organisation...
|
|   Thus, the individual responsibility of the licensed amateur radio
|   operator, effectively imposed by the Radio Regulations, works as a kind of
|   legal safety check for the organisation and the amateur to protect both of
|   their interests as well as that of the amateur satellite service itself.
|
|OCEAN BUOY COMMENT:  The buoy must be a personal project with the goals of
|experimenting with the communications system and propogation and network
|experience and cannot be motivated by some external requirement for specific
|data, expecially when that data is of commercial or public value.
|
|
|RULES:
|   D. Plain Language.  The plain language requirement includes telemetry and 
|   data exchanged between users.
|
|   To meet the plain language requirement, technical descriptions of all
|   emissions, codes, and formats must be made publicly available.  No system
|   intended to conceal the meaning of a transmission may be used.
|
|RULES:
|   E. Open Access. All telecommunication facilities, except telecommand,
|   operating in amateur-radio service should be open for use by any duly licensed
|   amateur radio operators world-wide and for reception by students and educators.
|
|BOTTOM LINE:  In amateur radio, the medium is the message.  As soon as an
|application appears to be only using amateur radio for convenience, that in
|itself raises the red flag of skirting the FCC rules and is not allowed.  And
|not only is it a violation of the FCC rules, but more significantly it is a
|violation of the government's public trust in the self-policing of the licensed
|amateur radio spectrum.... and will usually be met by an outrcy and action from
|the ubiquitous amateur radio community.  One in every 500 people in the USA
|is a licesned radio amateur.  They do not take violations of their precious
|frequencies lightly...
|
|Bob Bruninga, WB4APR