Barry Kanne W4TGA Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator – Public Health Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) Georgia Section 1/18/2010 Use of employees who are also licensed amateur radio operators in drills & exercises Background – In October of 2009 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Public Notice #DA-09-2259 entitled, “Amateur Service Communications During Government Disaster Drills.” This notice restated the long-standing FCC rule [47 C.F.R. § (97.113(a)(3)] related to use of amateur radio service frequencies during drills involving government agencies and private entities such as hospitals, ambulance organizations, the American Red Cross, and others. The FCC took this opportunity to remind the amateur radio community that the commissions rules specifically prohibit amateur stations from transmitting communications “in which the station licensee or control operator has a pecuniary interest, including communications on behalf of an employer.” The notice went on to explain that “in an actual emergency, the commission’s rules provide that an amateur station may us any means of radio-communication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and the immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.” Application for waiver – The FCC notice outlined a method of requesting a waiver of this rule for very limited purposes related to government-sponsored emergency preparedness and disaster drills. It also listed the required information needed for the FCC to consider such a waiver. The application should be made as early as possible, but no later than 2–4 weeks before the planned exercise date. The waiver application should include: 1. When and where the drill will take place, 2. Identification (call sign) of all 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. While this is very straightforward and can generally be accomplished in the planning time leading to a drill or exercise, there is one caveat. The waiver for the drill or exercise must be requested by a government agency. This means that stand-alone hospital or regional hospital drills not involving a government agency will probably not qualify for the waiver. In that case, you may consider doing one of the following things in preparation for the drill: 1. Enlist the local ham radio community or ARES group to provide ham operators who are NOT also employed by the hospital or other non-government agencies participating in the drill. This may require holding the drill or exercise at night or on a weekend (however, it is good to remember that emergencies do not limit themselves to a 9-5 M-F schedule) 2. Get a government agency to sponsor the drill or exercise. They may be part of the plan anyhow. For example, by bringing in the local EMA or Department of Public Health, they can take on the role of sponsorship and may apply for the waiver on behalf of all other participants. There are many ideas about this topic being floated in the FCC and the amateur community in general, but the rules are still the rules. The concern is preventing the “appearance” of inappropriate behavior on the part of amateur radio licensees who happen to be employed by an agency participating in the drill or exercise. It is their individual license which is in jeopardy should they be judged to have violated the FCC rules mentioned above. The following information was received in a recent e-mail from Mr. William Cross, Mobility Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the FCC: “Waiver requests should be sent to: Federal Communications Commission Wireless Telecommunications Bureau 445 12th Street S.W. Washington, DC 20554 Attn: Scot Stone A request on letterhead is acceptable.  A standard form is not available to use as the nature of the events is so variable. The request may be signed by anyone authorized to request such a waiver.  Processing time varies depending on the number of pending requests, but generally 2 weeks to a month will be sufficient.  Our advice is to file the waiver as soon as, but only after, you know with certainty who the licensees are that will be transmitting messages on behalf of their employer, as well as the time of the event.  Note that a waiver is needed only for those licensees transmitting messages on behalf of their employer during the state or local government public safety agency's disaster test or drill.  This may, after analysis by the government agency, turn out to be very few licensees or, by rearranging functions of participants, a waiver may not be needed.  As noted in the Public Notice, "...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.” Follow-up – Just to be sure I understood the situation correctly, I sent Mr. Cross a further e-mail on January 15th, 2010: “Just to be sure I don't miss-state the policy: The waiver, requested by the governmental agency sponsoring the exercise, covers all organizations (as listed in the application) whose personnel are participating in the exercise.  This might include "employed amateur operators" who are participating in the exercise, but may be employed by, for example, the American Red Cross or Mercy Hospital Corporation.  These organizations, while not governmental agencies in themselves, are participating in, not sponsoring, the exercise that is being conducted primarily by the governmental agency who has applied for the waiver.  It would be the responsibility of the sponsoring governmental agency, when applying for the waiver, to include those non-governmental employed amateurs in the listing for the waiver. Is this correct?” Barry Kanne, W4TGA And he responded that afternoon: “You have it correct.  The reason it was done this way is so that we do not get a lot of requests from different organizations for the same test, drill, or event.” William Cross Mobility Division WTB As new developments occur, I will try to keep you informed. Best regards, Barry Kanne W4TGA