The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council supported a proposal from...
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council supported a proposal from the Public Safety and Wireless bureaus to allow amateur-radio operators working for government agencies to take part in preparedness exercises without an FCC waiver. Amateur radio rules otherwise prohibit communications…
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“in which the station licensee or control operator has a pecuniary interest, including communications on behalf of an employer.” That an amateur station licensee or station operator happens to be employed by a public safety agency or an organization under contract to a government agency “should not be a barrier to participation in the provisioning of emergency services both during actual emergencies and for preparedness training through drills and exercises,” the council said. Such tests are critical, the group said. “It is well understood within the larger emergency management and responder communities that drills and exercises are required ahead of actual incidents to train employees and supporting personnel/organizations with regard to the specific functions they are to perform during actual incidents, as well as to familiarize them with the equipment they will be using and other personnel they will be required to interface with during such events,” NPTSC said. “No Incident Commander wants to involve new equipment nor untrained personnel in an emerging incident because they know that such equipment/personnel will not be effectively used because they are outside of the ‘comfort zone’ of other responders involved in mitigating the emergency.” The American Radio Relay League, representing amateur operators, also endorsed the proposal. But ARRL said the FCC should be careful to craft rules providing “an exceptionally narrow and limited exception to the general rule prohibiting communications on behalf of one’s employer.” The group added, “The revised rule should be sufficiently specific to preclude any possible misunderstanding by Amateur Radio licensees (or on the part of their employers) about what communications are permitted and what are not."