Chris,

I think your assessment is largely correct if not right on the bulls eye. Something to be on guard against.

Jim Weaver, K8JE

Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL; http://www.arrl.org/

5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040

Tel.:  513-459-0142; E-mail:  k8je@arrl.org

ARRL:  The reason Amateur Radio Is!

MEMBERS: The reason ARRL Is!

-----Original Message-----
From: W3KD@aol.com [mailto:W3KD@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 9:27 AM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:12174] Re: The EC Allocation by Bandwidth Proposal

In a message dated 4/25/2005 10:40:29 PM Eastern Standard Time, K8JE@arrl.org writes:

All this suggests that any new band planning we expect FCC to adopt will need to be rather simple to enforce using only minimal staffing.

Jim, your summary of Riley's remarks is of great concern. It would appear that he has concluded that upon his retirement, there will not be anyone as dedicated to the cause as he is. As to "minimal staffing", clearly we are there. The FCC does do "split jobs" in some cases, and Riley is not spending all his time on Amateur Radio enforcement. He does land mobile enforcement also. So it is hard to imagine FCC devoting "less" resources to Amateur Radio enforcement than it does now, and there is, almost by definition, no method to make band plans self-enforcing; hence my stated concern of yesterday.

This has very little to do with the bandwidth regulation issue, I think. I view the enforcement situation as distinct, separate and much broader an issue, and something to which we should turn our attention in the very near term. Perhaps we should have Riley address the Board again, as he has done on several occasions, and strategize with him.

As Rod Stafford will attest, having been the ARRL's point person in the FCC's return to enforcement in the Amateur Service, we rely on deterrence almost exclusively. Riley has not been as "active" in doing actual enforcement as he has been visible and omnipresent. FCC in-your-face works wonders with very little resources expended. That was Richard Lee's strategy and Riley adopted it. Somehow, that concept has to continue going forward post-Riley-retirement. Otherwise, we will slump back into the dark times.

As Joel Harrison has said correctly many times, the real Godfather of Amateur Radio enforcement was Richard Lee, who is still at FCC and in need of a job. That option needs exploring.

73, Chris W3KD