At the direction of Congress, the FCC opened up Proceeding 12-91: COMMISSION SEEKS COMMENT ON EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS BY AMATEUR RADIO AND IMPEDIMENTS TO AMATEUR RADIO COMMUNICATIONS.
I decided to file my comments with the Commission, which can be read in full here. I’ll also provide the short version here:
1. The contributions of amateur radio operators during disasters and emergencies is substantial and well documented.
2. The key attributes that make the Amateur Radio Service so valuable in an emergency or disaster situation include the large number of trained operators available, the tendency for many amateur radio operators to prepare their stations for emergency operating conditions, the high degree of flexibility due to the wide range of spectrum and emission types available, and the ability of amateur radio operators to adapt to adverse operating conditions,
3. Restrictions from homeowners associations banning all external antennas is a serious and pervasive impediment to amateur radio emergency communications.
4. Limitations on emission type in Part 97 should be relaxed or eliminated.
5. There is the potential to improve the use of the Amateur Radio Service within the overall planning and organization of the federal government.
There are many different issues that could be highlighted but I decided to focus on these…with an emphasis on restrictive covenants.
What do you think? File your comments with the FCC here.
73, Bob K0NR
The ARRL just posted their comments: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7021918167