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 Previous: Surfin': Weird Gear from the Past |  Next: FCC Issues $21,000 Notice of Apparent Liability to Maine Amateur |
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NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 14, 2005--FCC Special Counsel for Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth told the Dayton Hamvention FCC Forum May 21 "all you need to know to enhance your radio service--in one simple lesson." Drawing upon his nearly seven years' experience as the FCC's point man for Amateur Radio enforcement, Hollingsworth told his audience "what I personally think you need to do to make the Amateur Radio Service thrive and to enjoy the incredible opportunity" to have fun and engage in public service activities.
"The point is, it isn't about enforcement," Hollingsworth said, adding that he'd like to pass along a few lessons regarding behavior that extend into the realm of Amateur Radio. "Number one: The world is ugly enough as it is. You don't have to add to the ugliness. Use the VFO!" He said that if the FCC had wanted everyone on the same frequency, it would have assigned everyone the same channel in the first place. "I can't change mentality; I can't change personality. Just use the VFO and go somewhere else."
Hollingsworth said he wished he got a better sense that more amateur licensees were happy to use their privileges and appreciate them. "It doesn't matter whether you're on 2 meters in California--in which case, God help you--or 2 meters in Florida or HF, you're being heard all over the world because of the technology and because of the tourists coming to America from all over the world."
For those on the air and not enjoying Amateur Radio,
Hollingsworth reiterated: "Use the VFO! Don't waste your time trying to talk
sense into an operator who's bitter or angry or who hates everything."
Enforcement can't put such operators under adult supervision, Hollingsworth
added. Enthusiasm and happiness on ham radio are contagious, he asserted, and
amateur licensees themselves are responsible for creating and maintaining a
hospitable operating environment.
 FCC Special Counsel for Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth (right) shares the podium with FCC Wireless Telecommunications Staffer Bill Cross, W3TN, at the Dayton Hamvention 2005 FCC Forum. |
"Overall, amateur compliance, I think, is very, very good--I'm really happy with it," although, he said, "we still have a good distance to go" in certain areas. His "problem children," Hollingsworth said, by and large continue to be Advanced and Extra class licensees, not Technicians.
Hollingsworth said complaints have been continuing to decline over the past year. "For a solid year now, we've had a steady decline," he said. "I think that's a good sign." He also predicted the trend would continue.
The most high-profile recent enforcement case--involving former amateur licensee Jack Gerritsen in the Los Angeles Area--"is not technically an amateur case," Hollingsworth explained, although it does involve complaints of interference to amateur repeaters. While Gerritsen has bonded out of jail pending trial on "very rigorous" conditions that include house arrest and electronic monitoring, plus no access to radios, Hollingsworth said, "I don't think we'll be hearing from him again."
Hollingsworth pointed out, however, that the FCC is looking to determine who supplied Gerritsen with Amateur Radio equipment and "encouraged him."
Among the good things going on in ham radio, Hollingsworth
elicited a round of applause by singling out Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, teacher Sean
Barnes, N3JQ, whose classes have helped 60 youngsters to obtain Amateur Radio licensees
over the past three years. "I'd love to track what they contribute to society
and to science and technology over the next few years," Hollingsworth said.
 Hollingsworth continued answering questions from the audience after the FCC Forum ended. |
His final admonishment: Good amateur practice means "not operating so that whoever hears you becomes sorry they ever got interested in Amateur Radio in the first place." But for those who "insist on getting the air acting stupid, hiding behind the microphone, just go to Toys R Us and get your equipment," he joked. "And then you can say, 'I saved a ton of money by switching my equipment to Toys R Us.'"
He urged hams to look to the future and "get involved in the good things in Amateur Radio" and spread the word among to acquaint the public and even legislators, lawmakers and government officials.
"It's not about enforcement. It's about your obligation," he said. Enforcement can't cure all Amateur Radio's ills. "It's all about you and what you're doing with [Amateur Radio]," he concluded. "Look beyond enforcement."
Hollingsworth told the gathering that it was important
that he get his message across now, because he didn't expect to be around much
longer to preach it. "I'll be dead and for one good reason: Hamfest hotdogs," which,
he teased, get recycled from one event to the next.
| Previous: Surfin': Weird Gear from the Past | Next: FCC Issues $21,000 Notice of Apparent Liability to Maine Amateur |
