True enough, the waiver requested by AHA falls outside the waiver program set up back in October. This is a different waiver.

Dave

From: Tom Frenaye [mailto:frenaye@pcnet.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:04 PM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:18611] Re: American Hospital Association waiver request

At 01:17 PM 2/22/2010, Sumner, Dave,  K1ZZ wrote:

The attached waiver request was shared with us this morning.

The language we are proposing for 97.113(a)(3) would seem to meet their needs. That said, it seems disingenuous of AHA to argue that participating in a drill that is required in order to maintain your employer’s accreditation is not “on behalf of” the employer.

I don't believe the waiver can be granted under the conditions the FCC has articulated for waiver requests. 
The FCC release (DA 09-2259) said:

Waiver requests should be submitted to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau by the government entity conducting the drill, and must provide the following information: (1) when and where the drill will take place; (2) identification of the amateur licensees expected to transmit amateur communications on behalf of their employers; (3) identification of the employers on whose behalf they will be transmitting; and (4) a brief description of the drill. We emphasize that the filing of a waiver request does not excuse compliance with the rules while that request is pending. The waiver must be requested prior to the drill, and employees may not transmit amateur communications on their employer’s behalf unless the waiver request has been granted.

1) The AHA is not a government entity, many hospitals are private, non-profit and for-profit.

2) The request does not come close to being specific - guess that's why they call it a blanket request.  No places identified, no licensees, no dates, no real description.

If they grant this request, the FCC will have effectively blown open the restrictions placed in the waiver and opened the process far beyond what we envisioned.

         -- Tom

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e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org   ARRL New England Division Director  http://www.arrl.org/
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444