Actually, Tom, AHA is not proceeding under the terms of the FCC's case-by-case waiver process. They are asking for their own waiver, unique to them, on their own terms. The FCC does have the authority to waiver rules for good cause shown, under certain criteria established by case law, so they can ask for whatever waiver they want, without being constrained by FCC's separate waiver process. But I for one do agree with you; their request is a bit vague, and therefore potentially objectionable on that basis. It is also arguable that the FCC has this established waiver process in place that is sufficient termporarily for AHA's purposes pending resolution of the rulemaking. But the AHA waiver is not in the same category as those filed under the FCC's current 97.113 waiver process. Whether or not we believe that the AHA waiver should have been filed within the scope of that procedure is another issue, but we can't really argue that point too hard, because the FCC's present requirements and conditions for 97.113(a)(3) waivers are not consistent with the Board's policy for modification of Section 97.113, so we don't want to hold the "government sponsored drills" limitation in the present waiver process as a "good" standard, even temporarily. I asked Scot Stone last evening when the AHA waiver would be on public notice, and he said either next week or the week after next. In the meantime, we have for several days had in an acknowledged request to Bryan Tremont, the AHA's communications lawyer, who Dave and I know reasonably well, to discuss this informally. Bryan has our FCC briefing paper on the Board's proposed 97.113 change. I am a bit concerned that he has not substantively responded to me yet. I continue to think he will, but if not, we will have to decide how to respond to the AHA's rather broad waiver request. The executive committee is of course considering the proper response to AHA when this hits public notice if we are not able to reach an acceptable understanding with AHA before that time. 73, Chris W3KD Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD@ARRL.ORG -----Original Message----- From: Tom Frenaye <frenaye@pcnet.com> To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Thu, Feb 25, 2010 11:04 pm 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 ===== 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