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 Previous: In Brief |  Next: Extra Class Certificate added to The ARRL Awards Program |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 21, 2001--Never say that FCC Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth lacks creative flair in applying enforcement sanctions. Acting in two ongoing cases, Hollingsworth this month notified two Technician licensees that they must stay off all repeaters on the 144, 222, or 440-MHz bands for the next three years.
Hollingsworth invoked §97.27 of the FCC's Amateur Service rules to modify the licenses of Ted R. Sorensen III, KC6PQW, of Agoura Hills, California, and Joseph Mattern, KG4NGG, of Orlando, Florida. Both licensees have been the subject of repeater-related enforcement inquiries.
Sorensen's restriction was among other actions recently taken in conjunction with the Los Angeles-area W6NUT repeater. In February, the FCC asked Sorensen and Gregory S. Cook, ex-KC6USO, of Chico, California, to respond to allegations that they conspired in making late-night one-way transmissions on W6NUT that originated from Sorensen's station.
In March the FCC accepted Cook's voluntarily surrendered license. For his part, Sorensen, who did not dispute the allegations, wrote the FCC offering to accept a year's banishment from the W6NUT 147.435 repeater "as fair punishment."
Instead, the Commission imposed a ban on the use of all repeaters on the three most popular repeater bands for the next three years.
"Your radio operation on those dates was in serious contradiction to the basis and purpose of Amateur Radio as set forth in Section 97.1 of the Commission's rules," Hollingsworth wrote Sorensen on June 5. He said the operation also violated prohibitions against one-way transmissions, broadcasting and the transmission of music and failed to comply with station identification rules.
Hollingsworth reminded Sorensen that further violations of Amateur Radio rules could result in additional enforcement action, up to and including license revocation.
Mattern, who formerly held the vanity call sign WW4WJD as a Tech Plus, was called for retesting last September after the FCC received allegations that the licensee had been using amateur repeaters in his area to solicit traffic reports for his employer, a company that markets the reports. In a reply to the FCC, Mattern characterized his traffic-reporting activities as "a hobby" that earned him very little money. He also agreed to abide by the wishes of repeater control operators who had asked him to stay off their machines.
Mattern failed all elements of last year's retest, but he passed the Technician exam earlier this year, and was granted KG4NGG on May 3. Within two weeks, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau--in reaction to numerous additional complaints from Central Florida amateurs--set aside the KG4NGG license grant until the Enforcement Bureau could investigate. Mattern's application was granted on June 8 with the repeater restriction imposed.
The restrictions on Sorensen's and Mattern's licenses are set to expire on June 10, 2004.
The Enforcement Bureau meanwhile continues to evaluate the response of W6NUT repeater trustee Kathryn Tucker, AA6TK, to Hollingsworth's February inquiry into the repeater's operation. The repeater, which has attracted a following of what some observers call "nontraditional" amateur users, also was said to have been radio home of Richard Burton, ex-WB6JAC, sentenced earlier this year to prison for unlicensed operation.
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