Please carefully consider the below. Many of you may not know the history, but one of the messes we have today with certain FCC Part 97 rules resulted directly from the perceived use of amateur radios related to demonstrations here in Washington fifty years ago during the Nixon Administration. In the press I would want to stay as far away from any of this as possible. Having years of experience dealing with the national press here in Washington, in analogous situations I found that the best way to stay out of the press is to say nothing. No matter what you say and what is reported you said, even if perfectly accurate, some portion of readers will only remember that “amateur radio” was somehow connected with the event(s) -- even if the quote is that no ham radio was involved. This is just a fact of life. (Alternatively, one could EXPLICITLY go off-the-record on the basis that amateur radio is not mentioned in any fashion as the source, and tell the reporter(s) whatever. I have often done this and never been tripped up, but the understanding has to be explicit at the beginning of each conversation and understood by the reporter. “FCC source” becomes “knowledgeable source”, “ham radio operator” becomes “non-governmental radio expert” etc. For example, the right person might analyze the photos and be able to identify the radios as typical of those used in the FRS, MURS, or GMRS services -- which is what I suspect they were, but I have not seen a photo clear enough to be positive. A reporter might need a short tutorial on all the small handheld radios that are available to citizens today and available at Walmart, Amazon, etc. that have nothing to do with amateur radio.) With regard to the second portion of your email, it would seem to me that amateurs associated with agencies already would be guided by those agencies on a case-by-case basis if they are or are to be involved, which is up to the volunteer hams themselves and the entities they assist. I’m not sure what kind of national guidance is needed or why ARRL would offer any. Of course, I assume that ARRL’s people are helping members who may ask for advice or assistance, but that should not be news, that is what ARRL should be doing every day. In any event, if someone isn’t already trained and integrated, now is not the time to become involved. After the fact, of course we should promote any favorable activities or news stories, if there are any. But this is not the type of situation where I would be eager to be out there trying to “make” news or offering one-size-fits-all public guidance of any sort to the amateur community. Nor would I run any sort of news story, or be quoted, in anything about anything in this connection, including on social media by anyone identifiable as an ARRL official or staffer. Just my $.02. Dave Siddall K3ZJ David R. 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From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org> on behalf of "Minster, David NA2AA (CEO)" <dminster@arrl.org> Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 10:31 AM To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:31625] IMPORTANT: Inauguration Week social unrest I know we are all busy preparing for the upcoming board meeting, but this cannot wait. We have been approached now 5 times by a reporter from CNN who is pushing the narrative that the protest turned violent at the Capitol building was well coordinated using radios, and wants to know if they were amateur radios. We’ve been in touch with the Maryland-DC Section Manager who has given Bob detailed feedback about how his team used their monitoring of simplex and repeater frequencies for situational awareness of the unrest. Nothing – absolutely nothing – was received on the frequencies monitored. Bob has provided the CNN reporter with precisely that information: hams were monitoring, situationally aware, and absolutely nothing heard on the amateur bands. The FBI has now issued warnings about expected protests and potential riots in DC as well as all 50 state capitals next week. Especially on Inauguration Day. Our EmComm served agencies are going to be on alert or on duty. I believe we have an obligation to give some kind of guidance to our members, especially given the potential widespread geographic impact of these protests. Would we encourage EmComm (ARES) members to coordinate with their local SEC’s or other leadership to know what local activity is being planned? Should we be giving guidelines with regard to what we view as being safe and acceptable situational awareness activities? Should we be encouraging members who are not ARES (or otherwise) trained to stay away from these areas? Given the high profile that handheld radios have received by the national press (including numerous images on the nightly news networks) over the past few days, I think we must take a proactive position – and keep amateur radio out of the dialog surrounding these protests or, worse, riots. Comments?
