August 2015 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:24610] FW: [N4DAB] FW: Federal HAM Radio Legislation Has Unintended Consequences
by Doug Rehman 13 Aug '15

13 Aug '15

This was passed to the NFL SM who passed it to me. I like the EME array… Doug K4AC From: Stephen W. Szabo [mailto:sszabo1@cfl.rr.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 5:21 PM To: doug(a)k4ac.com Subject: FW: [N4DAB] FW: Federal HAM Radio Legislation Has Unintended Consequences Might want to pass this info up to HQ. Steve 73! Steve Szabo WB4OMM NFL Section Manager ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio™ 386-566-2085 <mailto:wb4omm@arrl.org> wb4omm(a)arrl.org From: N4DAB(a)yahoogroups.com <mailto:N4DAB@yahoogroups.com> [mailto:N4DAB@yahoogroups.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2015 4:59 PM To: N4DAB(a)yahoogroups.com <mailto:N4DAB@yahoogroups.com> Subject: [N4DAB] FW: Federal HAM Radio Legislation Has Unintended Consequences Gentlemen - below is an email from a Central Florida law firm that represents home owners associations throughout the State. I believe that they have misrepresented the provisions of the pending HR1301/ S1685 legislation dealing with private land use regulations. We are probably all aware that this legislation would, if it passes, require private land use restrictions to make the same reasonable accommodations for ham radio antennas/towers as PRB-1 requires local governments to make. It would not over ride the ability for HOA's, their architectural committees, etc., to be involved in the approval process - so that monster arrays such as depicted below could still be prohibited. I forward this email to you to encourage you to write your local congressman and senators in support of the pending legislation if you have not already done so, and to make you aware of the scare tactics that "the other side" is putting out there. Darrell, N4GOA <http://r20.rs6.net/on.jsp?ca=7c76ea5f-46d0-4619-ac03-e3a10a4b8f25&a=1103630…> <https://static.ctctcdn.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> Read how a proposed federal bill could limit Associations' control over architectural guidelines. <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hfv6erqeRcEuh3cwej_8sOxR0Kv42syK99gWcLburUFO…> <https://static.ctctcdn.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> <http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs176/1103630347666/img/239.png> Federal HAM Radio Legislation Has Unintended Consequences - Contact Congress Today to Oppose H.R. 1301 and S. 1685 <https://static.ctctcdn.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> <http://files.ctctcdn.com/29dae75f001/c9faf469-91d4-4e94-9f94-e8c3c840b4fb.j…> Dear Association Members & Managers: As you may be aware, Clayton & McCulloh consistently monitors proposed legislation not only in the Florida state legislature, but also on a federal level, in Congress. While this bill is still very much subject to change, we are concerned with the current proposed language of H.R. 1301, in the House of Representatives, and its companion bill in the Senate, S. 1685, regarding HAM radio towers and antennas. The current language of these bills preempts community associations' architectural guidelines and rules related to installation of HAM radio towers and antennas. If the legislation passes (and it is moving forward in a way that is threatening), community associations would not be able to require prior approval for 70' HAM radio towers and antennas, nor would community associations have the ability to create reasonable processes and aesthetic guidelines. In other words, similar types of restrictions on regulation of satellite dishes and certain types of aerial antennas by Associations could be applied to HAM radio if these bills are approved. HAM radio enthusiasts indicate this legislation is needed so they may respond to and assist in communication during disasters. The truth is HAM radio enthusiasts who aid the public interest often do so at the site of a local disaster with portable equipment. They are not required to have permanent equipment, such as towers and antennas, at their residence in order to assist in communications during a disaster; especially when such towers and antennas may pose a health and safety risk to their neighbors during the same disasters. <http://files.ctctcdn.com/29dae75f001/1ee486c8-e57c-45c7-adb0-b5631766f8b1.j…> The vast majority of community associations allow HAM radio operators to pursue their hobby if they follow community guidelines. This legislation, quite simply, is about taking that power to regulate their own associations away from the owners in their community and placing that power with the Federal Government. This HAM Radio legislation currently has 86 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives (H.R. 1301). If you don't want tall towers in your community, we recommend that you contact your Members of Congress today and ask them to oppose H.R. 1301 (in the House) and S. 1685 (in the Senate). Contact your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators today and ask them to oppose all legislation prohibiting community association review or approval of HAM radio towers and large, fixed antennas by clicking here. <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hfv6erqeRcEuh3cwej_8sOxR0Kv42syK99gWcLburUFO…> Thanks to the Government Affairs department at the Community Associations Institute for providing this convenient contact link. Thank you for your help in trying to make sure that our communities are protected from those who attempt to damage the self-governance model of America's community associations. Brian S. Hess, Partner Clayton & McCulloh, P. A. Melbourne Office: (321) 751-3449 Orlando Office: (407) 875-2655 Toll Free: (888) 793-1486 <mailto:bshess@clayton-mcculloh.com> bshess(a)clayton-mcculloh.com <https://static.ctctcdn.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> About our Law Firm Clayton & McCulloh currently represents hundreds of Associations throughout Central Florida. We are a full service Community Association Law Firm providing legal counsel to the community for nearly 30 years. You are receiving this email because you are either a Client, a Client's Association Manager, or you have signed up to be on our Mailing List. www.clayton-mcculloh.com <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hfv6erqeRcEuh3cwej_8sOxR0Kv42syK99gWcLburUFO…> Orlando Office: Maitland - (407) 875-2655 Melbourne Office: Suntree/Viera - (321) 751-3449 <https://static.ctctcdn.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif> __._,_.___ _____ Posted by: "Darrell L. Brock" <dbrock411(a)cfl.rr.com <mailto:dbrock411@cfl.rr.com> > _____ <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/N4DAB/conversations/messages/1292;_ylc=…> Reply via web post • <mailto:dbrock411@cfl.rr.com?subject=Re%3A%20FW%3A%20Federal%20HAM%20Radio%20Legislation%20Has%20Unintended%20Consequences> Reply to sender • <mailto:N4DAB@yahoogroups.com?subject=Re%3A%20FW%3A%20Federal%20HAM%20Radio%20Legislation%20Has%20Unintended%20Consequences> Reply to group • <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/N4DAB/conversations/newtopic;_ylc=X3oDM…> Start a New Topic • <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/N4DAB/conversations/topics/1292;_ylc=X3…> Messages in this topic (1) <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/N4DAB/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmbGlpcmIzBF9TAzk…> Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlbDFrMDdhBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkA…> • <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> Privacy • <mailto:N4DAB-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe> Unsubscribe • <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> Terms of Use . <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=86261261/grpspId=1705063108/msgI…> <http://y.analytics.yahoo.com/fpc.pl?ywarid=515FB27823A7407E&a=1000131032227…> __,_._,___

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[arrl-odv:24608] VHF Contest Revitalization Committee questions posted
by Kermit Carlson 12 Aug '15

12 Aug '15

Hello All - The VHF/UHF Contest Revitalization sub-Committee of thePSC has posted a set of questions about operation in the ARRL UHF Contest. The posting has been on the ARRL.ORG websiteVHF/UHF reflectors and social media. Within minutes of the posting we received several comments, which is noteworthy. Should any member want to insure that their commentsare in the hands of the Committee, which is comprised of W5ZN,K4AC, NN1N, N6VI and W9XA, please advise that the use of email to vhf-input(a)arrl.org is the recommended method to submit comments. This story appears on the ARRL website as;http://www.arrl.org/news/committee-asks-for-august-uhf-contest-suggestio… I am told that a follow-up story will appear in the ARRL News next week, Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions, andI do hope that you will not find your inbox clogged with the responsesto the Committee's inquiry. Thank You, 73, Kermit Carlson W9XA

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[arrl-odv:24607] Re: FW: 2M FM
by nwdvd 11 Aug '15

11 Aug '15

We have lots of commercial fishermen both domestic and international using ham radio and frequencies off our West Coast. It's doubtful any enforcement will take place here either. Sent from Jim's Samsung Galaxy Tab®4 -------- Original message -------- From: Christopher Imlay <w3kd.arrl(a)gmail.com> Date:08/11/2015 1:54 PM (GMT-08:00) To: Doug Rehman <doug(a)k4ac.com> Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv(a)arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:24606] Re: FW: 2M FM Doug, the problem as I see it is that the radios can be imported and pre-programmed for U.S. amateur operation and there is no point of sale control here for amateur equipment of course, so the importer and manufacturer isn't really violating any rules. If they are marketing them specifically to unlicensed individuals and we have some marketing materials that constitute a smoking gun, that might provide some basis for getting to the bulk retailer. But the statutory and regulatory violator is really the unlicensed hunt club members who are using these radios. And getting FCC to bust them is the real trick. We have had a very tough time over a lot of years trying to keep the truck stops from selling 10-meter mobile radios to truckers. If this problem occurs in Florida, we might be able to use the Florida statute that was intended for Broadcast pirates that allows local law enforcement jurisdiction over unlicensed radio operators. But those statutes only exist in Florida and New Jersey. 73, Chris W3KD On Tue, Aug 11, 2015 at 2:41 PM, Doug Rehman <doug(a)k4ac.com> wrote: So what would be the best course of action to pursue? Doug K4AC From: arrl-odv [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Doug Rehman Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 12:15 AM To: ''arrl-odv'' <arrl-odv(a)arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:24600] FW: 2M FM An interesting email from one of my Assistant Directors… Doug K4AC From: n2cei(a)downeastmicrowave.com [mailto:n2cei@downeastmicrowave.com] Sent: Monday, August 10, 2015 9:32 PM To: Doug <doug(a)k4ac.com> Subject: 2M FM Hey Doug, Got a problem Up here that appears to be escalating. I don't know if you have heard of any complaints about non licensed operators on 2M FM or not. We had a flurry of them around here last hunting season. The local hunters have given up on the CB sets and have found that 25-50 watt 2M mobile rigs work great ! They have been sort of confined to 146.52 and 55 for what ever reason. So-- two days ago, " JDC Number 1" asks for a radio check on our local repeater . I assumed since the radio was programed for the correct split and Encode/Decode, it was a local Ham that sold his rig to the highest bidder because I can't believe that a non ham would know how to find the correct information and if so, why would he? . BUT-- Today, A member of our club has a good friend that is in a local Hunt club. He was informed that the hunt clubs have found BaoFeng handhelds and buy them at the "20per shipment rate" for $25 or so. What the seller in China now promises is that they will program them for all of the area frequencies if you supply a Zip code. so-- what do you think the Hunters do! They just switch to channel 2 and see whats going on there. Thats why JDC #1 was upset when I told him that he required a license to operate that radio on the ham bands and he went on to tell me where I could stick it because "I spent good money for this rig and no one is gona tell me what to do with it!" So-- Who should I make aware of this problem and how do I help solve it. Steve _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG

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[arrl-odv:24600] FW: 2M FM
by Doug Rehman 11 Aug '15

11 Aug '15

An interesting email from one of my Assistant Directors… Doug K4AC From: n2cei(a)downeastmicrowave.com [mailto:n2cei@downeastmicrowave.com] Sent: Monday, August 10, 2015 9:32 PM To: Doug <doug(a)k4ac.com> Subject: 2M FM Hey Doug, Got a problem Up here that appears to be escalating. I don't know if you have heard of any complaints about non licensed operators on 2M FM or not. We had a flurry of them around here last hunting season. The local hunters have given up on the CB sets and have found that 25-50 watt 2M mobile rigs work great ! They have been sort of confined to 146.52 and 55 for what ever reason. So-- two days ago, " JDC Number 1" asks for a radio check on our local repeater . I assumed since the radio was programed for the correct split and Encode/Decode, it was a local Ham that sold his rig to the highest bidder because I can't believe that a non ham would know how to find the correct information and if so, why would he? . BUT-- Today, A member of our club has a good friend that is in a local Hunt club. He was informed that the hunt clubs have found BaoFeng handhelds and buy them at the "20per shipment rate" for $25 or so. What the seller in China now promises is that they will program them for all of the area frequencies if you supply a Zip code. so-- what do you think the Hunters do! They just switch to channel 2 and see whats going on there. Thats why JDC #1 was upset when I told him that he required a license to operate that radio on the ham bands and he went on to tell me where I could stick it because "I spent good money for this rig and no one is gona tell me what to do with it!" So-- Who should I make aware of this problem and how do I help solve it. Steve

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[arrl-odv:24599] New work phone for Northern Virginia telecommuters.
by Price, Brennan, N4QX 10 Aug '15

10 Aug '15

My new work telephone number is in the signature. Jon Siverling is at x324 (same first seven digits after the country code). 73 de Brennan N4QX Brennan T. Price, N4QX Chief Technology Officer American Radio Relay League PO Box 3470 Oakton VA 22124-9470 Tel +1 860 594-0247

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[arrl-odv:24597] Re: Approval of July Board Meeting Minutes
by dick＠pobox.com 10 Aug '15

10 Aug '15

10 AUG 2015 - 1209 CDT I approve the July 2015 board meeting minutes. - Dick Isely, W9GIG

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[arrl-odv:24576] Approval of July Board meeting minutes
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 10 Aug '15

10 Aug '15

Directors: The Board-established procedure for approval of Board meeting minutes is as follows: 1. The Secretary will circulate draft minutes to Board members as soon as possible after the meeting. 2. Once Board members have had the opportunity to review the draft and offer comment, a final draft will be circulated. 3. Ten days after distribution of the final draft, the Secretary will call for a vote by electronic mail to approve the minutes. 4. The minutes will be declared as approved upon the receipt of affirmative votes of eight or more directors within the ten days of the call for the vote. 5. The final draft minutes will continue to be made available to members following their circulation to Board members and prior to formal approval. The final draft minutes were circulated to you 10 days ago. Accordingly, it is now time to solicit your votes to approve the minutes. A copy is attached. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ Secretary

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[arrl-odv:24594] Re: Parity Act letters
by nwdvd 09 Aug '15

09 Aug '15

Excellent Sent from Jim's Samsung Galaxy Tab®4 -------- Original message -------- From: Brian Mileshosky <n5zgt(a)swcp.com> Date:08/08/2015 9:57 PM (GMT-08:00) To: ARRL <arrl-odv(a)arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:24592] Parity Act letters A ream's worth of Parity Act letters generated and signed at the New Mexico State Convention here in Albuquerque (see attached). Members are thrilled to do their part. 73, Brian N5ZGT Sent from iPhone _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv

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[arrl-odv:24592] Parity Act letters
by Brian Mileshosky 09 Aug '15

09 Aug '15

A ream's worth of Parity Act letters generated and signed at the New Mexico State Convention here in Albuquerque (see attached). Members are thrilled to do their part. 73, Brian N5ZGT Sent from iPhone

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[arrl-odv:24590] Put Everything on the Internet!
by Marty Woll 07 Aug '15

07 Aug '15

This article by W6AMS, an active Ham and well respected industry consultant, should give food for thought to lawmakers and regulators who see the Internet as the universal solution to communication problems. Thanks to Ventura County Radio Officer Rob Hansen W6RH for passing it on to me. 73, Marty N6VI Put Everything on the Internet! Cancel all other Services! 08.05.2015 by Andrew M. Seybold The title of this commentary should not be taken seriously unless you believe the Internet has infinite bandwidth, it is a robust network, and it will always be there for us when we want and need it. If that is not you, I would suggest that like me you continue to keep your phone on a pair of phone company wires for as long as it supports wires, keep your cable company providing your TV (or Direct TV for TV) and Internet services, and store a back-up copy of your most important information on a separate and removable hard drive, if possible, in a different location from your home or work computer. If you want to trust all of your communications, entertainment, and data as well as your programs such as <https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-office-365-for-business-…> Microsoft Office 365 or <http://www.google.com/docs/about/?gclid=CK3bydzWkMcCFQEaaQodiuoEyQ> Google Docs to the Internet, then go for it—but with an understanding of the following real-world facts. The first is <https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/feamster/where-is-internet-congestion-oc…> network congestion. Today it is showing up at ISP (Internet Service Provider) gateways as well as when the Internet is shared by an entire neighborhood such as with cable-based Internet. Tomorrow, it could just as easily be the <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_backbone> Internet backbone that starts slowing down due to being overloaded in certain parts of the United States or the world. Recently it was necessary, for example, to run another fiber cable in the <http://www.submarinecablemap.com/#/> Atlantic from the United States to Europe to bolster Internet capacity across the ocean. It was not too many years ago when Australia and New Zealand were facing running out of bandwidth, even before there was video streaming. That problem was not fixed, at least for a while. Below I have provided some information from a recent study on congestion on the Internet and you will see that today it is a real problem and tomorrow it could be even worse. Next is the issue of network outages that are occurring across the United States not only because of storms or earthquakes, but deliberate destruction of fiber cables. Read on. In the past year in <http://freebeacon.com/national-security/vandalism-in-arizona-shut-down-inte…> Arizona, <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9a4136cccf6f456e9462abb1dbd21c3e/fbi-looks-f…> Northern California, and elsewhere there have been scores of fiber cuts made purposely to disrupt service. Not surprising, most service providers only use one fiber cable and one route to carry multiple services. If that fiber cable is cut on purpose or perhaps accidentally by a backhoe or other machine, it could easily shut down your cable, Internet, cell phone, and other broadband services. It can and has disrupted emergency traffic to 9-1-1 centers (Public Safety Answering Points or PSAPs as they are referred to). Most of these cuts have resulted in service outages ranging from eight hours to more than two days. The length of the outage depends on where the fiber was cut or if a piece was cut out of it, and how quickly the actual location of the cut can be tracked down so it can be fixed. Recently Northern Arizona was without multiple services including completion of 9-1-1 calls, cell sites being down, and many customers without Internet, cable TV, or phone service. The outage lasted for eighteen hours before the cut (which was deliberate) was found and could be repaired. Likewise, the eleven or more recent fiber cuts in Northern California were all deliberate, and Northern California and Arizona are not the only places where fiber is being cut on purpose. The people who do this and put others in harm’s way because they cannot reach 9-1-1 rank right up there on my list of folks I would like to see locked up along with those who <http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/us/california-freeway-fire/> fly drones over wildfires preventing air tankers and helos from doing their jobs and the idiots who think it is funny to blind a <http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/16/us/lasers-flights-new-jersey/> commercial pilot with a laser as he is preparing to land a plane with several hundred passengers in it (but I digress). The bottom line is that these things are happening today, and in many cases the fiber that is cut is the only route to carry services from point A to point B, or at least one of the major highways to do so. We should all know that in addition to services simply not being available, the speed and capacity to each person can vary depending on the type of Internet service we have. This is not true with <http://www.att.com/shop/internet/internet-service.html> DSL service that is direct to each house, albeit much slower than other methods, and it is not an issue if you are lucky enough to have <http://www.ftthcouncil.org/p/cm/ld/fid=25> fiber. However, if you have cable Internet or wireless Internet service the number of users on your portion of the network and what they are doing can and will impact the data speeds and capacity you experience. Everyone who uses cable Internet knows, for example, that after school lets out and the kids get home and start using their own connections, our data speed drops, sometimes a lot and sometimes not so much. But with the advent of more and more people cancelling their cable TV or Direct TV service and relying on the Internet to provide their TV, Netflix, and other forms of video entertainment, data speeds will fluctuate even more. At present I live in a community with 122 houses, all of which are fed with a single cable connection for the entire neighborhood. I do not know how many of the 122 houses have cable but if 50% do (61) and if a portion of them stream an HD TV show or video at 8 p.m. on a given night, our data speeds take a real dive. Now a recent report called the Internet Health Test published by mLab cites congestion not only where the Internet is shared but also at some of the Internet Service Providers’ (ISP) gateways to the Internet. The report shows congestion on various ISPs’ networks in different cites with the worst congestion being across Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon in New York City: <http://andrewseybold.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Internet-congestion.png> Internet congestion Courtesy of mLAB in its new report in conjunction with Internet2 There are more devices devouring more data than ever before, and now there is this new mentality that everything we want and need in the way of communications, data, applications, and entertainment can simply be routed to us over the Internet and our local Internet service provider regardless of where we are or what we are doing. People are giving up their cable TV (but not their cable Internet), Direct TV, and wired telephone. They are storing all of their personal and business data in the “cloud” and many are even using applications that live in the cloud as well. In reality, these people have moved back in time to the days when the computers were mainframes and we all used dumb terminals to access our applications and data. The difference was that in those days we were only able to use our dumb terminals while sitting at our desks because our terminals were hard-wired to the mainframe. Today our “terminals” are much smarter, have lots of onboard storage, and can hold a lot of applications, data, pictures, music, and videos. Even our TVs are smart and many are attached to a DVR and the Internet. Many of us use phones that are Voice over IP (VoIP) and run over our data connection, and we have very high-speed Wi-Fi in our homes (forgetting that the maximum speed available for Wi-Fi is limited by the amount of Internet speed available). Below is a moment in time of the Internet backbone status and how much it was carrying at that time. It will be very interesting to see if this Internet, the one we are using today, will be able to sustain growth that is projected to double and triple in each successive year for the future. Further, many of those predictions were made before the U.S. population fell in love with the Internet of everything! Backbone <http://andrewseybold.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Backbone-1024x816.png> Courtesy Internet2 Network http://atlas.grnoc.iu.edu/atlas.cgi?map_id=301 Now add to this the fact that essentially all IPV4 IP or Internet Protocol addresses have been assigned (used up), and we will be switching to a mixture of IPV4 and IPV6 addresses to reach the next level. Considering every smartphone, tablet, and IoT (Internet of Things or Machine-to-Machine devices), there are more devices than there are people and it is easy to see that we have run out of IP addresses that were predicted to last us for another ten years or so. New Reality of Communications I am not making any dire predictions here, I am only being cautionary about my own activity and my ability to function for some period of time without the Internet by making sure my devices are capable of storing my work, my applications, and perhaps a few good books and a couple of movies just in case an Internet outage or overload condition lasts more than a few hours. What I have just described is the new reality of communications. If we are truly to trust all of our communications, entertainment, work product, and interaction with others to the “Internet,” we need to first be aware that the Internet from our device through to what we are connecting to is not, by any means a mission-critical network. Then we need to realize that a single person with a hacksaw or wire cutters can take away most of our services for a lengthy period of time. Understand that our ISP’s gateway(s) to the Internet may in fact be congested at some point in time or more often as there is more demand for HD video streaming, and that the Internet itself is not a pipe that has unlimited or elastic capacity. Every type of cable, be it fiber, coax, or copper, and every type of wireless be it commercial broadband, Wi-Fi, or what people are calling 5G, which is really a 4G backbone with thousands of micro and mini-cells, all need to be connected to the network. I am not at all sure the vision of 5G can actually be realized with the “unlimited” access being promised in an affordable manner, but that is yet to be seen. Conclusion So is one of the <http://motherboard.vice.com/read/republican-fcc-commissioner-you-dont-need-…> FCC Commissioners correct that we don’t need the Internet? I for one don’t think so. We all use the Internet every day of our lives and over the course of the past few years we have seen it go from a techie network to a consumer and business network, and it is certainly what makes our smart wireless devices “smart.” When we are at home we use the Internet to find things we want to know about as we do on the road. But this new trend that seems to be to gaining momentum is to trust the Internet for everything we do—our email, voice communications, text, pictures, and now streaming video from many TV stations and Netflix, and for our data and applications. In other words, our entire life is being moved to the Internet. Yet no one seems to be asking if the Internet is really the best communications pipe for us to trust with all of our personal, business, and entertainment lives. The Internet is hacked all of the time; all of my information concerning my clearance with the federal government is now in someone else’s hands. My credit cards have been compromised multiple times and now we are hearing that hackers can take over commercial airlines and cars driving down the freeway. I for one will not trust all of my services, personal data, and entertainment to one pipe that is not mission-critical in nature, and was never intended to be so. It was designed to provide communications between researchers at multiple universities and we have turned it into what many believe is the only way to communicate. The issue for me is when it stops being available because someone cut a fiber cable or because my ISP has too much demand for what it can provide, or if the Internet itself slows down because it is overloaded, what options do I have available to me? In my case, I have my data and applications stored locally and I have downloaded enough books, videos, and music to keep me entertained for several weeks. How about you? Andrew M. Seybold

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