Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Feb 23 2018 12:00 pm
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2104, for Friday, February 23, 2018
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2104, with a release date of
Friday, February 23, 2018, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. A planned DXPedition will honor Amelia Earhart.
CQ Magazine is looking for some Hall of Famers -- and we revisit the
distracted-driving controversy. All this and more, as Amateur Radio
Newsline Report 2104, comes your way right now.
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BILLBOARD CART
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HAMS AND DISTRACTED DRIVING, REVISITED
NEIL/ANCHOR: We begin this week's newscast by revisiting the
controversial issue of distracted driving laws and ham radio - a
particularly murky area, at times, when it comes to hams traveling
outside their home territories. Kent Peterson, KC0DGY, updates us
on the issue, as it relates to the U.S. and Canada.
KENT: An Amateur Radio Newsline Report several weeks ago noted that
U.S. hams wishing to operate mobile while behind the wheel in New
Brunswick, Canada, would be breaking the law. We heard from Dave
Goodwin, VE9CB, Atlantic Director of Radio Amateurs of Canada, who
contends this is not correct. Additional reporting by us has found
that while a reciprocal treaty for radio operators does indeed exist
between the U.S. and Canada, a tangle of local regulations has caused
much confusion, and appears to supersede this treaty.
Distracted driving regulations have been imposed by State and
Provincial governments in both the US and Canada. Individual amateurs
and groups have lobbied their own localities for exemptions for Amateur
Radio operation. Where such exemptions for radio exist, language in
many of these regulations only allow for mobile operation by amateur
radio operators provided they are licensed residents of that country.
Treaty Series 1952 Number 7, which governs amateur radio by Canadians
operating in the US, and US amateurs operating in Canada, allows for
reciprocal operation across borders. But the various states and
provinces have distracted-driving regulations that fail to take this
treaty into account.
Newsline obtained an email from Alan Killam, licensing officer in New
Brunswick, who points out their provincial regulation only covers
amateur radio operators licensed in Canada. It is important to clarify
that Newsline has not been able to find any instances of an American
Amateur being cited in the provincial distracted driving regulations.
Newsline did make repeated requests to the New Brunswick Attorney
General's office for clarification on their regulation, but our requests
went unanswered.
Conversely, distracted-driving regulations in Connecticut, Delaware,
Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Washington, and West
Virginia, state require an FCC license for legal mobile amateur radio
operation. Only the state of New Jersey generically specifies licensed
amateur radio operators may operate mobile. Thus, for Canadian amateur
radio licensees to operate mobile in the U.S. would require that that
those operators also hold a valid FCC license.
Amateurs in either country need to research the distracted driving
regulations in the state/province they plan to operate in, and be
prepared to defend a moving citation.
Reporting for Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson, KC0DGY.
**
SWEDISH AMATEURS TAKE NEW LOOK AT HAND-HELD MICROPHONE BAN
NEIL/ANCHOR: With distracted-driving regulations becoming more and more
commonplace, concerns about mobile operation of amateur radios have
become increasingly global. Add one more country to that list, as we
hear from Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.
JEREMY: In Sweden, the SSA, the country's national amateur radio
organization, recently asked the government to revisit legislation that
bans the use of mobile phones while driving. The radio group is hoping
to clarify the wording, which it fears may impact on hams operating
mobile in their vehicles, as well as on those in the transport industry.
The group is asking, in its letter to the Ministry of Food and Transport,
that the wording make it clear that the ban is not applicable to
hand-held microphones attached to radios mounted inside the vehicles.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.
