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"Good
Amateur Practice" Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 9, 2002--FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth has
endorsed a list of several points that he feels help to define the concept of
"good amateur practice." Section 97.101(a) of the Amateur Radio Service rules
refers to "good engineering and good amateur practice"--considered to refer to
maintaining the highest standards of engineering and on-the-air comportment.
But the rule lacks specifics.
 Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, at home in his well-equipped shack, which
includes a mixture of both modern and vintage gear. |
"Good amateur practice is a hard thing to define," Hollingsworth
conceded. "I'd have to say it's operating with the realization that frequencies
are shared, that there's going to be occasional interference and that's no
reason to become hateful and paranoid."
Hollingsworth says amateurs have to realize that more people than ever
are listening in, especially since September 11, 2001, and
that amateurs always need to remember that "our rights end where another
person's begin."
A Michigan Amateur Radio club has been credited with distributing a
list of "Riley-isms" culled from Hollingsworth's various talks at conventions
and hamfests and club meetings around the US. Hollingsworth--who verified that
he had been cited accurately--says his various comments represent an effort to flesh
out what "good amateur practice" consists of for considerate the Amateur Radio
operator.
According to Hollingsworth, good amateur practice means:
-
giving a little ground--even if you have
a right not
to--in order to help preserve Amateur Radio and not cause it to get a bad name
or hasten the day when it becomes obsolete.
-
respecting band plans, because they make
it possible for every mode to have a chance.
-
not transmitting a 6-kHz bandwidth signal
when there are lots of people on the band.
-
not acting like an idiot just because you
were stepped on.
-
being aware that we all love Amateur
Radio, and there's no need to damage or disgrace it just to save face.
-
keeping
personal conflicts off the air. Settle your arguments on the telephone, the
Internet or in person. Just keep them off the air.
-
cutting a net or a contester a break,
even if you don't have to and even if you have no interest whatsoever in nets
or contesting.
-
operating so that if a neighbor, niece or
nephew or news reporter hears you, that person will be impressed with Amateur
Radio.
-
realizing that every right carries
responsibilities, and just because you may have a right to do certain things
doesn't mean it's right to do them in every circumstance.
-
you don't "own" or get preference to use
any frequency even though you've been on the same spot every morning for years
shooting the breeze with Harry.
-
not operating so that whoever hears you
becomes sorry they ever got into Amateur Radio in the first place.
Hollingsworth notes that the list "doesn't
touch on a lot of other technical issues, such as using 1500 W when your signal
report received is 40 over 9." Good amateur practice, he said, "just
means a lot of things that can't always be quantified."--thanks to Riley Hollingsworth
Page last modified: 05:17 AM, 15 Oct 2002 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2002, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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