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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif "ARRL Volunteers Find, Fix "The Ditter""){kind=small} Previous: ARRL Volunteers Find, Fix "The Ditter" |  Next: The Smell of Solder--a Tribute to My Dad, W9IPT/W9NU |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 28, 2000--The FCC has declared that use of Kenwood's "Sky Command" remote station control system does not comply with Amateur Service rules. In an Order released today, the FCC also declined to grant a waiver of the rules to make Sky Command legal.
"We conclude that Sky Command does not comply with Section 97.201(b), and that a waiver of the rules is not warranted," the FCC said.
Sky Command, which lets the user control a fixed HF station via a pair of dual-band transceivers, has been on the market for almost three years. The ARRL has declined to permit Sky Command advertisements in QST, however, maintaining that the system was not legal to use as configured. Sky Command operates in full duplex, using a 70-cm frequency to transmit audio and control commands to a dualband transceiver at the remote station and a 2-meter frequency to transmit received audio via the remote station's Sky Command transceiver to the operator's transceiver. The VHF channel also contains a Morse code ID.
In its petition, Kenwood expressed confidence that the Sky Command System "fully complies with the remote control, telecommand, and auxiliary station provisions of Sections 97.109(c), 97.213, and 97.201." The manufacturer had asked the FCC to confirm in a declaratory ruling that the Sky Command System complies with those rules or, failing that, to grant a blanket waiver of the rules for amateurs using the system.
The League said that Kenwood's use of a 2-meter frequency would cause amateurs using the system to violate Section 97.201(b), which limits auxiliary operation to certain frequencies above 222.15 MHz. The FCC now has agreed.
The Commission turned away Kenwood's argument that because the 2-meter link was not used for telecommand, it should not be considered an auxiliary station. "We disagree," the FCC said in its Order. Section 97.213(a) of the Commission's Rules requires that if radio is used for the control link between the control point and the station, the control link must use an auxiliary station." The FCC said the VHF link was integral to Sky Command and that Kenwood's view represented "at best a tortured interpretation" of the rules.
The FCC declined to issue Kenwood a requested blanket waiver of the applicable rules because it said the manufacturer failed to meet the standards required to grant a waiver. To get a waiver, a petitioner would have to show (1) that the underlying purpose of the rules "would not be served or would be frustrated by application to the present case" and that granting the waiver would be in the public interest, or (2) that unique or unusual circumstances make application of the rule "inequitable, unduly burdensome or contrary to the public interest"--or that the applicant has no reasonable alternative.
"We find that Kenwood has met neither standard," the FCC said in its Order.
The ARRL filed comments on Kenwood's petition January 31. "The selection of appropriate frequencies for auxiliary operation is essential to efficient use of the limited frequencies that are shared by amateur stations," the League said, citing an already densely populated 2-meter band.
Others commenting in opposition to Kenwood's petition included Robert G. Wheaton, W5XW, the Bexar (Texas) Emergency Amateur Repeater System; and Kendall Amateur Radio Society. Going on record to support Kenwood's petition were Gordon West Radio School; Costa Mesa Emergency Service Amateur Communications; Kenwood Communications; James M. Hicks, KG4K; and Robert A. Kile, KG7D.
The League has called Kenwood's Sky Command System "a fine product" that would be of interest to many hams if designed for frequencies on which auxiliary operation is legally permitted. Carving out an exemption by waiving the rules for Kenwood's product, the League argued and the FCC agreed, would amount to "inappropriate favoritism for a single manufacturer's product."
When first introduced, Sky Command used a special version of Kenwood's TH-79 dualband H-T. The League has suggested that Kenwood could remedy its problem by using a similar transceiver, the TH-89, that operates in the 430 MHz and 1.2 GHz bands. "Auxiliary operation is permitted in both of these bands," the League said. "Kenwood markets the TH-89 in Japan but has chosen not to export it to the United States."
In the past, the League has opposed lowering the minimum frequency for auxiliary operation. In 1984, the FCC turned down a petition by the QCWA to remove frequency restrictions on auxiliary operation. In its comments on the Kenwood petition, the ARRL said the FCC's 1984 rationale for keeping the restriction in effect remains, and nothing has occurred to make 2 meters any more appropriate now--especially given the growth in the amateur population and the use of packet and APRS today.
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