Ofcom Will Remove Mandatory Ham Callsign ID Interval, Allow Encryption For Some 57
product_bucket writes: The UK's radio regulator, Ofcom, today published changes in the licensing conditions that remove the mandatory 15-minute callsign ID interval on all allocated frequencies apart from 5MHz, where special conditions remain. In its place, a requirement for the station to be "clearly identifiable at all times" has been made, along with a requirement to transmit the station callsign "as frequently as is practicable" in a form consistent with the operating mode. The decision also permits the use of encryption (PDF) when the station is being used for, or on behalf of a user service such as St. John Ambulance. Unusually, no response to the consultation (PDF) has been made available, so there is at present no way to assess the extent to which the changes were based on actual responses.
bad idea (Score:2)
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Ham radio started falling apart when cell phones that could connect to PBXs for conference calls became popular... Looks like they're trying to make ham more like cell phone now.
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I really don't get this - repeating your callsign every 15 minutes isn't particularly onerous. If it really bothers you, just set up your transmitter to kick it out in CW every so often. The encryption does makes sense for St. John's Ambulance (an emergency medical charity if I'm reading it right). US hams have asked for encryption for use in ARES [arrl.org] (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) so personal information can be transmitted appropriately. Perhaps the UK's experience with this will move the FCC to act o
Re:bad idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Why does emergency communication need to be encrypted? If you place yourself in a situation where ham radio would really save the day, the last thing you would want is *less* compatibility with other stations and agencies.
All this will do is allow commercial users to encroach onto the ham bands unnoticed because illegal encrypted traffic is indistinguishable from legal encrypted traffic.
I think it's already questionable why local police departments would use encrypted P25. If the last few months of newsworthy police activity are any hint, we need more opportunities to observe law enforcement, not fewer.
Why the heck does an ambulance need to use ham radio frequencies? Why would they need it encrypted? This argument is simply nonsense. If its an emergency, sorry, loose some privacy in place of saving your life. Hams have enough trouble setting up a PL on a radio, can you imagine them trying to coordinate encryption over the air? In emergency situations, communications networks like ham radio work because they are SIMPLE. They can spring up spontaneously out of nowhere and don't require anything more than a radio, antenna, and battery. This is why ham radio has been helpful in times of emergencies when complex cellular and digital trunking systems fail. There is an elegance to the simplicity of analog.
And if the DOD needs to transmit encrypted information using a ham radio, then can't they just do it anyway?
Furthermore, digital communication does not "need" to be encrypted as some posters here have stated. The protocol needs to be documented and standardized. Encryption doesn't help. Error correction does though, and these are totally different things. WiFi, for example, does not *need* to be encrypted.
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I understand your concerns, and they are well thought out.
Encryption is needed for transmitting sensitive medical data, otherwise it's not allowable on ham bands.
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Are there really ambulances in England using the ham bands? For transmitting medical data?
I guess they use their bands differently than we do here in the US...
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Are there really ambulances in England using the ham bands? For transmitting medical data? I guess they use their bands differently than we do here in the US...
It's called "RAYNET" and it is very similar to ARES in the US. Support for emergency services like hospitals and government agencies. Hospitals, at least in this area, get a lot of support from ARES. Hospitals tend to deal with medical data.
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I think it's already questionable why local police departments would use encrypted P25.
I don't. Many departments use the radio for back to base fact checking amongst other things reading out the person's criminal history. I can't get this from my local police but the next jurisdiction over still use analogue narrowband AM to transmit stuff. It's not all that encouraging to hear a person's name, license plate, registration, insurance details, and the number of times he's been nabbed for being blasted over public airwaves.
Now there's some discussion to be had about whether a 2-way is really th
Re:bad idea (Score:5, Interesting)
I really don't get this - repeating your callsign every 15 minutes isn't particularly onerous. If it really bothers you, just set up your transmitter to kick it out in CW every so often. The encryption does makes sense for St. John's Ambulance (an emergency medical charity if I'm reading it right). US hams have asked for encryption for use in ARES [arrl.org] (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) so personal information can be transmitted appropriately. Perhaps the UK's experience with this will move the FCC to act on it. Or perhaps not, what the FCC needs right now is a giant enema - that's the only way I see it moving along.
Let's hope not. The ARRL has come out against a recent petition to allow encryption
The rejection article at arrl.org sums it up nicely:
In denying the petition, the FCC concluded, “Thus, while the proposal could advance one purpose of the Amateur Radio Service — value to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications — it would undermine other characteristics and purposes of the service. Therefore, we agree with the comments that say, in various ways, that amending the rules to allow encryption to obscure the meaning of messages transmitted during emergency services operations and related training exercises would not improve or enhance the operation of Amateur Service stations or otherwise be in the public interest.”
And that's really it. Fact is, ARS has handled info without encryption for a long itme now without issue, and the inclusion of encryption would change the nature of Ham radio forever, which might be nice for the emcomm people, but a disaster for the rest of us. We have remarkable access to radio, but it's because what we do is in the open, if we're doing encrypted work, a whole lot of that access, and who they allow to do that access will change. If you have to have encryption, go commercial.
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except a lot of people use encryption every day right now and FCC doesnt do anything about it. AMBE is basically encryption, and only way to decrypt it is to pay DVSI or ICOM
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except a lot of people use encryption every day right now and FCC doesnt do anything about it. AMBE is basically encryption, and only way to decrypt it is to pay DVSI or ICOM
That's not encryption. That would be like saying that any of the Ham radio codecs are encryption ,only difference is that most are free. It's a codec. designed that people can read or hear it.
Re:bad idea (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a 2m HT and a 10m mobile that needs repair. I last turned on the 2m radio on a road trip so I could listen to a simplex frequency in case anyone else asked for help. I barely received some other parties' rag-chewing, but that was the only time 146.520MHz lit-up. I haven't spoken with anyone in close to a decade; I only renewed my license because it was of negligible cost and effort to do so. I don't know what to do with ham radio even as a licensed operator, and I don't think that most other people do either.
If these changes allow ham radio in the UK to increase in usage, then maybe similar regulation changes in the US could help increase usage and make what was supposed to be something of an educational hobby actually provide something useful and educational again.
Re:bad idea (Score:5, Informative)
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As a new-ish ham, I hear a lot of "ham radio is dead" stuff, and it's just not true.
There are a number of older Hams who we call "Old Farts", for whom personally, Ham Radio is dying. Their buds are dying off, their high technology is no longer high technology. I don't mind people going into reminiscent mode, but all too many of the old farts are openly antagonistic toward anyone new, and any new technology.
I suspect that there were old farts during the transition from spark to alternator radio, From that to tube radio. I know old farts decried the mass switch from AM to Single Sideband.
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I think they really don't know what to do with ham radio. Some have tried to take it in a packet radio direction, but realistically that requires encryption.
Nothing in Ham radio requires encryption. What on earth is your rationale? Packet Radio has mostly turned into APRS anyhow. The only people I know who are espousing Packet are those who don't want to use NBEMS, because they think it's too difficult, with the added reason that thtey don't want to upgrade their license class.
Some have tried to use it for more general-purpose voice communication, but again, privacy concerns come up.
Are you one of those Hams that is trying to get the encryption ball rolling on Ham Radio? Fuggedaboudit. There is a lot more to Ham radio than whacker's dreams of green vest glory. And th
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I agree that whackers are a problem with modern ham radio, but they do help protect the bands (especially UHF and above) just because the ARRL can wave the disaster flag at the FCC every so often. I got into the hobby to play with radios and experiment, not be a "hero."
But I also think there's been a massive overreaction by the health care industry because of HIPAA, and DHS' attempt to co-opt the bands under the guise of disaster relief after the FCC screwed up the police bands with narrow banding. I've par
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But I also think there's been a massive overreaction by the health care industry because of HIPAA,
THIS!. It's difficult for me to get the status of a family member. After all - "Privacy!"
Then these hospitals, these guardians of privacy, thesde bastions of HIPPA, put a unguarded computer on the net, and give everyone's records away. Or just put it on Facebook.....
http://www.journal-news.com/ne... [journal-news.com]
http://www.journal-news.com/ne... [journal-news.com]
http://www.inquisitr.com/12847... [inquisitr.com]
http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/... [wsj.com]
http://www.inquisitr.com/12847... [inquisitr.com]
And onandonandonandon. The uncontestable fact that Hospital
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Nothing in Ham radio requires encryption.
Why yes, it would be wonderful for the same kind of people who play fart sounds on the local repeater to be able to send telecommand signals to amateur radio satellites. Just a great idea. By the way, that's one of the kinds of signals that is explicitly called out in the regulations as allowing encryption.
But the rules don't actually talk about encryption, they talk about obfuscating the meaning. There are a large number of people using what used to be called HSMM -- basically, 2.4G wifi -- and they hav
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Nothing in Ham radio requires encryption.
But the rules don't actually talk about encryption, they talk about obfuscating the meaning. There are a large number of people using what used to be called HSMM -- basically, 2.4G wifi -- and they have encryption enabled. Why is it necessary? To keep Joe Ignorant from using his unlicensed laptop from connecting to a licensed NAP.
Do you have their call signs? I'd love to know. Encryption is not legal. If I open a hinternet, I cannot encrypt it.
Packet Radio has mostly turned into APRS anyhow.
Also wrong.
give me the citations then. Shouldn't be too hard. I have emcomm folks wanting to take my aprs repeater for their use. Seems odd if they already have their own. There are a few packet repeaters, but it's definitely an off use of them. At least here, it's NBEMS or some Winlink (although the Winlink stuff often doesn't play well with others. I've had a lot of PSK31 contacts interfe
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Oh god we have one of these people at w
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Do you have their call signs? I'd love to know. Encryption is not legal. If I open a hinternet, I cannot encrypt it.
Are you in the US? If so, yes, you can. You are not encrypting it for the purposes of obfuscating the meaning.
"If these changes allow ham radio in the UK to increase in usage,
That says neither that it is needed nor that it was intended for that purpose.
give me the citations then.
Here. [winlink.org] While it includes an HF component, the local transport is almost exclusively via packet.
Tell me exactly why it is not possible to incorporate Amateur radio into hospital emergency communications plans without encryption?
Because the hospitals are eventually going to ask for it.
Has sent health and welfare.
"Health and welfare" is not medical information covered by HIPAA.
One of the first problems that happens, is a paid employee is no longer a volunteer. They can be of course, but their use is limited via amateur radio.
You've already lost that battle. You should keep up with the changes to the regulations.
but I should let you know I am a technical adviser to our local group. So I'm not completely ignorant of emergency amateur radio communications.
Well, I du
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Nothing in Ham radio requires encryption.
I would allow encryption on amateur satellite command uplinks and perhaps on repeater command functions, but not for general use.
Licensed operators kill it (Score:2)
I have a scanner and periodically listen to HAM and GRMS channels, and my opinion is that licensed operators have killed the platform. In my area conversation is about *absolutely f'ing nothing of interest to almost anyone*, some douche periodically transmits junk to annoy everyone else, and any time someone with an interesting use comes along someone who knows all about the rules scares them away - doubtlessly feeling like they've just done everyone a great service. And perhaps keeping the airwaves clear f
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Not sure where you live, but here in LA there is a fair amount of activity on 146.52, and plenty of activity on the local repeaters. Same goes for the 440 repeaters, there's always someone talking it up.
I would say if you find the amount of traffic disappointing, get up the nerve to call CQ, and make a point out of doing every time you are in the car at least a few times. Stir up the traffic! Tune in to your local repeaters and just ask if anyone is monitoring. There should at least be a control op on each
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Last time I had the radio on I was in the four-corners region, and it's VERY rural there. I'm not exactly surprised that no one was talking.
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Well... if you don't have much to talk about I guess you can't complain about not having many folks to talk to.
But seriously, I find it nice to talk on simplex on the way to and from work. It's a good time for a conversation that is confined to a fixed length of time. With the family, my son and I have Baofeng UV-5rs that are very fun.
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I transmit that I'm listening from time to time when I am listening. I don't CQ because I don't have anything that I particularly want to talk about while I'm driving with family in the car.
There are those who would claim that your listening announcement IS calling CQ. I hold the opinion that "it's nice that you're listening, if you wanted to talk to someone you'd say that."
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Not sure where you live, but here in LA there is a fair amount of activity on 146.52, and plenty of activity on the local repeaters.
I often Squawk APRS while driving, and it's interesting how many hams call me on .52 simplex while I travel through their area.
Side use for aprs. When Im traveling alone, my better half can use aprs.fi to see where I'm at at any given moment. Of course I can't go to the stripper bars any more...... And yes, 20 and 40 are a madhouse some times. And when there is a contest or QSO Party, you won't find a kiilohertz of empty band.
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Ham radio started falling apart when cell phones that could connect to PBXs for conference calls became popular... Looks like they're trying to make ham more like cell phone now.
Ham Radio is dying, and has been since the early 1900's. And always will be dying. Forever.
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Yes, it is a horrible idea to give those HAM guys more freedom. Every time we relax the rules for them, we get disasters of biblical proportions, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
Ofcom (Score:5, Informative)
If Ofcom really want to help ham radio operators they could do more to ban or restrict power network adapters and the multitude of other gadgets that leak QRM all over the airwaves.
Bring back the Radiocommunications Agency. Ofcom is a behemoth that has its fingers in too many pies to be an effective regulator.
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Same in the US. There are at least 3 power transformers within a few hundred feet of my QTH and they totally wreck every signal in those directions, especially when there is high humidity or rain. It's obvious they have failed but no amount of complaining has gotten them fixed for over 15 years.
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My bud had the same issue. Several shots from his .45 ACP, and guess what - the next day they replaced the transformer!
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My bud had the same issue. Several shots from his .45 ACP, and guess what - the next day they replaced the transformer!
You know you can just talk to the utility company. There are some who need prodding from the F.C.C, but if you approach it correctly, as in "I think there is arcing in your transformer" then point out the liability risk. Anyhow, most utilities are pretty helpful in trying to quiet things down.
Another view (Score:2)
Not sayin' just sayin'
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The issue, at least in the US, is that we're expected to be self-policing. The FCC, as an extension of the IRU, puts severe limits on speech over the airwaves. I'm sure the UK is similar. When encrypted information is transmitted there's no way to know if the information is in compliance. For example, imagine an ambulance service installing ham radios in all their vehicles then instructing their drivers to get amateur licenses. They could start using the local repeaters for business communication and no one
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BTW, in the US, amateurs have been setting up DMR repeaters. Most of these repeaters are capable of encrypted communications. It's just a setting in the software.
Many of the cheap HT's from China are also encryption enabled. But that self policing comes into play. I can direction find them if need be.
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They could do all that, but really, would they bother? Just to save the cost of a frequency license? That sounds rather far-fetched.
Re: Another view (Score:2)
And a repeater, tower (or rent), a maintenance contract, etc. it adds up when your primary goal is to "maximizize shareholder value"
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They could do all that, but really, would they bother? Just to save the cost of a frequency license? That sounds rather far-fetched.
And yet, this [topix.com] reports the abuse of ham radio by the Indianapolis, IN, USA police department. You can read about FCC actions [fcc.gov], for example, this one [fcc.gov], which is typical of the kinds of illegal use commercial operations make of ham radio.
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Oh, and because we're licensed by governments, we're already tested for our trustworthiness. Some are a little more trustworthy than others though...
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Oh, and because we're licensed by governments, we're already tested for our trustworthiness. Some are a little more trustworthy than others though...
Mighty low bar that. Though there have been a few refusal to renow or licenses set aside for some of the more egregious violators.
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