Related Stories
pdvWireless Needs $100M to $150M More Funding for 900 MHz Relocation
A Scottish Utility Pilots IoT Technology
These values echo the Engineers’ Creed, which calls all engineers to:
• Give the utmost of performance;
• Participate in none but honest enterprise;
• Live and work according to the laws of man and the highest standards of professional conduct;
• Place service before profit, the honor and standing of the profession before personal advantage, and the public welfare above all other considerations.
Many of the students I've had the pleasure of working with became interested in the hobby of amateur radio, also called "ham radio," the same hobby that led me to pursue a career in electrical engineering.
I have always believed that the ham radio hobby has been a vital part of the cultivation of engineering talent around the world. Past great hams, who were licensed as teenagers, include Frederick Terman, the Stanford dean who founded Silicon Valley; Arthur Collins, the man who created Collins Radio Co. (later Rockwell Collins); and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) recently reported the number of American ham radio operators has seen anemic 1% annual growth during the past decade or more, with fewer numbers of young hams entering the hobby. Concurrent with this poor attraction of youth, ARRL has placed a large emphasis on emergency communications and has tacitly approved, and at times outright endorsed, the widespread use of effectively encrypted data on the HF bands that travel around the world via the ionosphere.
The FCC has always been clear throughout its Part 97 rules that all ham radio transmitted signals must be unobscured and "out in the open,” so other hams and the public may listen in. Especially in emergencies, the FCC has been clear that others need to hear what is happening so they can alert authorities. The social contract of ham radio, in exchange for the valuable use of public spectrum, is that all may participate and learn, with the understanding that business use, privacy and bypass of other commercial means are prohibited.
To rectify this ongoing problem of effective encryption in amateur radio and to open the airwaves so that computer enthusiasts may intercept and experiment and learn from all transmissions, the FCC recently published rulemaking proposal RM-11831, which would reiterate the need to keep all data communications open for all to intercept while keeping email relay stations in their own allocated many subbands.
Many who are improperly using HF radio for free private email are spreading false information about the proposal and its impacts. The proposal would not end emailing in amateur radio; it would just open up the messages so all can hear and intercept. The rancor and misinformation about RM-11831 is a clear indication of the degradation of the hobby and the urgency for amateur radio to return to its engineering roots and open transmissions, both of which are vital prerequisites to attract young hams who can participate in the hobby and grow up with values that mirror the Engineers’ Creed.
To preserve the basic tenets of amateur radio, I see an urgent need for the engineering community to write to the FCC in droves, file comments in favor of RM-11831, and support the concept of all ham radio data being open for reception by the public and would-be hobbyists. Open transmissions don’t harm emergency communications or relay stations; they should be able to be decoded by all hams and the public. The FCC is taking comments until April 25.
Thus far, the vocal minority has been virtually unopposed in trying to turn the amateur radio hobby into a secure email system for boaters and RVers, rather than a hobby that is open, transparent and steeped in the values that lead youth to pursue careers in engineering. Engineers need to pay it forward and support open source and available decoding for transparency in ham radio. Write to the FCC and Congress to keep the airwaves open for all.
Would you like to comment on this story? Find our comments system below.
Theodore Rappaport, Ph.D., has more than 100 U.S. or international patents issued or pending and has authored, co-authored and co-edited over 200 papers and 20 books in the wireless field. He is the David Lee/Ernst Weber professor of electrical and computer engineering at the New York University (NYU) Tandon School of Engineering. He is a pioneer in RF propagation, wireless systems simulation and 5G networks.
Post a comment
Comments
I was sailing as a marine radio officer.
I am 75 years of age in the business of marine communications navigation sets.
I have always been a ham with my handmade rig.
Thanks for your article.
The one thing I do not agree with is during emergencies there is information that should not be open to the public. This information can cause panic.
We have had emergencies in our country, and listeners on the ham bands have caused problems during the emergencies.
Just another comment. There are numerous countries in the world that do not recognize amateur radio, and they assign the frequencies to users in their country's military police and fishing fleets. This causes chaos in our areas, and it seems the ITU and the IARU are powerless in controlling this.
Physics and math both dictate that ANYTHING we might do to make a communication more efficient and thus contribute to the radio art as hams are supposed to do WILL make it harder to monitor — even if that's not the intention. So if Ted succeeds in replacing the current and correct intent-to-obscure rule with a monitorability requirement that supersedes all else he will fail at his stated goal, AND technical experimentation and advancement in ham radio will come to a screeching halt.
Ted really ought to know better than to use disingenuous terms like "effectively encrypted." I've tried to clarify these points privately with Ted but he repeatedly evades my questions. He seems to be on some sort of vendetta against Pactor and Winlink that I don't fully understand since they ARE documented messages, ARE logged for public review and off-air monitoring capabilities DO exist. It's very sad.
Monitoring a third party unconnected ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) session is possible but requires the proper equipment software knowledge of what one is doing AND a quality received signal. This is conceptually no different than listening in on a voice RTTY or packet conversation. All digital modes in amateur service permit monitoring with the proper equipment software knowledge and quality signal. NO mode digital or otherwise ensures it can be copied either all or in part by EVERY third party monitor because of poor propagation equipment, local noise or lack of knowledge, and the proponents of RM-11831 understand this but choose to ignore it in promoting their agenda. I would encourage those interested in this rule and amateur digital technology to dig into the details themselves and talk to those hams and engineers who understand and have been long time users of amateur radio digital modes. The U.S. FCC has been slow to adopt worldwide practices and new technology in digital ham radio, and RM-11831 will insure we will lag further behind other amateurs from more progressive countries like Germany, Canada and Mexico that already use and support modern digital technology.
Gerald Rick Muething, KN6KB
Mr. Rapport conveniently neglects to mention the lead-in statements of the US Code of Regulations Part 97 Amateur Radio Service 97.1 Basis and Purpose.
The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles: a recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.
Now he cites the slow growth of licensed amateur radio operators with fewer numbers of young hams entering the hobby, suggesting that the ARRL's large emphasis on emergency communications to be in part a reason for the slow growth. As an ARRL member and given Part 97 of the FCC rules, I have been sorely disappointed by the ARRL's seriously poor emphasis on emergency communications.
True that especially in emergencies the FCC has been clear that others need to hear what is happening so they can alert authorities. Where Mr. Rappaport is on a mission to change the rules regarding DIGITAL messaging, I submit with strong confidence that emergency communications are passed by phone voice. To imply that an emergency message would be passed in an email message is, in my opinion, ludicrous.
Mr. Rappaport as witnessed by his appearance in the pages of MissionCritical Communications is apparently standing on a soapbox to sell his position to anyone who will listen.
In other forums he specifically attacks the legitimate use of PACTOR as a digital modulation mode and Winlink a radio email utility because they are not directly readable over the air; rather they require a modem to read. Why he attacks these specifically and not several others that require proprietary modems; e.g. HAL Communication's Clover he never mentions.
He submits the red herrings of threat to national security, really, with the capabilities of NSA to decrypt messages to illicit use of the ham bands by boaters and RVers? He further suggests that the vocal minority has been virtually unopposed re this illicit use to turn the amateur radio hobby into a secure email system. His comments above suggest he has not been following or is ignoring the ham community's vocal opposition to unlicensed use of the amateur radio bands, regardless whether phone or digital unlicensed operation is an enforcement issue.
Discussions can be found on Facebook as well as other forums plus the FCC comments pages. I would also direct the interested reader to Winlink.org for a presentation of what Winlink is and its purported message encryption.
I have no idea why Mr. Rappaport is on a campaign against Winlink Pactor and the further advancement of digital modes within the amateur radio bands. Several times a year I live in the world of disaster relief where we partner with and need the support of the amateur radio community. Winlink as well as other digital modes that Mr. Rappaport doesn't target are invaluable in managing and passing disaster-related traffic.
Also open source only get real. Read up on it. https://forums.qrz.com/index.php/threads/new-digital-petition-at-the-fcc-rm-11831.652589. See the 142 so far pages for your self. And Judge. 73 Jerry, N9LYA
The technologists and engineers of the Post War-generation and today embrace amateur radio as one shared radio electronics laboratory. The hobby provides individual growth incentives in the form of spectrum privileges that are earned via an established testing process.
What amateur radio is not is a replacement for private business radio services. It is a hobby for FCC-licensed individuals. While business interests potentially have needs for secure encrypted communications, such as for competitive reasons, no such need exists within the amateur radio service. In the spirit of education and furthering the art and science of communications, proposals to allow encryption within the amateur radio service should be discouraged.
We amateur ham ops are not competing with other FCC-regulated services. We are learning from each other through the free unimpeded exchange of information ideas and experimentation findings. Often this is done via on-air communications as part of the service's granted privileges. Should someone or a group desire a secure, encrypted wireless email system those resources are commercially available elsewhere.
Dominic (Nick) Tusa, K5EF
The arguments against the proposal that I have seen are different than those mentioned here but have a similar effect.
As an amateur operator, I support the effort to ensure all encoded traffic happens with open and readily available systems. Given the effort I am seeing on those other forums to defeat this measure it would be very appropriate for all interested parties to wade in officially.
There is one primary reason for the compression symbol rate. That antiquated symbol rate limit has done more to stifle 97.1, a, b, c and d than any other limitation. The second most restrictive can be found in 97.307, f . It is really difficult to build a better mouse trap when the specifications of the mouse trap are already cast in the Federal Register.
It is time to institute a regulation by bandwidth whereby the occupied spectrum is the only limiting factor.
Trying to implement the restrictions that Rappaport desires would really set the amateur radio service back about 50 years. It seems there is a new digital mode every week on the Part 97 spectrum. Each of those would need to be documented, tested and debugged off air somehow before allowed for amateur use if Rappaport had his way. The 90 radio service has been forced to make more efficient use of its spectrum. It is time to at least allow 97 users to do the same.
If the amateur radio service is to continue and extend the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art as stated in 97.1b, RM-11831 must be relegated to the dust bin of bad ideas.
Instead the FCC needs to revamp 97 by instituting a regulation by bandwidth and leave the symbol rate in the halls of museums as it did with the requirement for Morse Code.
