The subject of the exploitation of Amateur Radio for commercial purposes is increasing and even became a topic of discussion during the FCC forum at Dayton in response to a question from the floor. This is both a legal and ethical issue and one that is causing concern among our member ranks. General Counsel Imlay is continually confronted with this issue as is Dan Henderson and Dennis Dura. It has come to the point that we need the Board to address how far Amateur Radio should go in areas such as, for example, business restoration communications. Dave's editorial on this subject recently was a good intro to the subject, but there is a recent significant increase in issues as noted below, but this is far from the only one. After consultation with the Vice President's we have agreed that our scheduled Thursday evening topic will address this matter and will include a presentation from General Counsel Imlay and Dan Henderson. Chris will also be addressing this in his written report to the board. The exploitation of Amateur Radio for commercial purposes is now essentially in the hands of Amateurs themselves to draw the lines, however the VP's and I believe this deserves consideration by you for a policy determination and such has been requested by at least one active VC in Georgia. 73 Joel W5ZN _____ Note Yellow Highlighted Text http://www.push-to-talk.org/disaster.htm http://www.push-to-talk.org/Logo2.jpg <http://www.push-to-talk.org/company.html> Home <http://www.push-to-talk.org/index.htm> http://www.push-to-talk.org/dis4.jpghttp://www.push-to-talk.org/Dis1.jpghttp ://www.push-to-talk.org/dis2.jpg The PUSH TO TALK ORGANIZATION gets the message Disaster preparedness/ emergency planning is a multi-faceted beast to conquer: * Wireless carriers are notorious for domino type failures during even slight emergencies. Reduced dependency on them makes your operation hardened against communications loss. * The federal, state and local agencies can commandeer the wireless carriers during an emergency but NOT yours or ours. * Small or large; you need to "OWN a piece of the network"C. With PTT Digital you can do that. * One-size DOES fit all with digital communications since all departments can have the same type of radio (translation: economies of scale = low cost). * All facilities in a multi-campus operation can use the same radio type. * Have multiple radio channels at one or more of your facilities? Pool the resources and in case one fails the rest take up the load automatically...ask us HOW! * Facilities can inter-operate for self-preservation during a crisis by Radio Over IP (RoIP) communications on your own Local Area or Wide Area networks. * Assistance from one facility can be rapidly brought to another. * Common "hailing" or all-call channels can be maintained separate from others. * Radio systems designed to be in the same frequency band next to amateur radio "HAM" operators can cross-function and reach even more assistance. * Radios can do double-duty when called upon and operate BOTH bands requiring a simple HAM license to use both frequencies (see <http://www.arrl.org/> www.arrl.org for more). * Not a licensed HAM operator? There are LOTS of them out there that can operate the interlinks for you and there is NEVER a charge for the service. * External-networks are available for backup, redundancy and contingency planning; the Push To Talk Organization can be YOUR backup plan using the same radio. * You simply rent airtime on the wide-area network and never maintain or license it...just switch the radio to the "Wide Area" channel and talk. * If the Internet goes down each site operates independently for failure-proof local operation. Push To Talk Digital Radio Systems have engineered-in failure hardening elements designed to overcome the issues outlined above. Local professional 2-way radio technicians will meet with you to evaluate, design, install and maintain it to suit your exact needs. Never pay for features you don't need and won't help you in emergency situations: * SMS Texting is a one-to-one messaging format; useless in a crisis. * Digital 2-way radio is One-To-Many for instant alerting and notification. * E-Mail is not a fast or secure way to alert people of an issue. * Private 2-way radio networks can be voice-logged for administrative review, wireless carriers can NOT be logged or monitored which means ABUSE. * You can talk over your own network all you want at NO COST, there is no per-minute charge on YOUR OWN system. * Communicate from a PC, handheld, base or mobile radio that you control 100%. PTT radios are programmable to cross-connect into the local Amateur Radio "HAM" operators community for emergency preparedness, disaster recovery, etc. Communicating on the Amateur Radio channels requires a simple FCC license. Click Here. 7_c.gif <http://www.arrl.org/> American Radio Relay League for assistance with licensing. Terms of Use <http://www.push-to-talk.org/terms.htm> Copyright (c) The Push To Talk Organization 2008-2009 All Rights Reserved _____ Pillsbury <http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221991112x1201443254/aol?redir=htt p:%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B215225804%3B37274680%3Bf%3Fhttp:%2F%2Frec ipes.pillsbury.com%2F%3FESRC%3D683> R - Sign Up Now and get tasty recipes, meal ideas, coupons and more.