David Sumner, K1Z2 —dourmner@artLorg ARRL Chief Executive Officer Toothless Tigers? Sb Suddenly there isa lot of movement with respect to FCC enforcement — not all of it in the right direction. Every communty has a few bad actors. Because thore is an dolays undermine the credbilty and effectiveness of the “entrance oxant we bke to think thal Amateur Rac ought to be ‘Commission's enforcement program. The ARAL leadership an exception. Selective urWerstios ik t think the eae thing, expresses cur corcems al every opportunily, mos recently on But recent events on some campuses have shawn otherwise, ‘Maren 18,19, and 20 nmaetings with Enforcement Bureau staff People vino dont know how to behave ean and do cet i, far oh Capitol Ha although in a population of more than 700,000 licensees, the ‘th hata background, tis understandable that we received ‘numberof problem chien is rather low. the nowe of the planned restructuring of the Enforcement Mary probioms can bo aderossed trough various forms of poor Bureau field sta, discussed in “Happenings! this morgh, with pressure. Soma ean only be dealt with frat Way; benavior tat more than a itis steptcism. Given everyting that's on thelr lolates the norms of our eommmunty may be annoying or ven Plato — of which Amateur Radio i usta small part — reducing Aogusting, bu not necessary Megat However, malicious intr. the numberof fd agents rom 63 to 38 and the number of fied Torence ~ any transmission made Tore purpose of disrupting cffees from24 to 8 hardly sounds ik progross. somoone else's communication — clearly crossos the Ino. In exiteme, persistent cases we must look to the Federal Communications Commission fo enforce is rules Infact, We (One element ofthe plan isthe estabshmant of a “Tiger Tear” field agents based in Columbia, Mayland and availabe for ‘ployment as needed. Presumably they would be sent info an ira nal on farea To work on a serious problem at igh Iniensty for a set neo ina whip, the FCC dovs take enforcomort action against period. andithon would mora on. That might be affectivoin some one of te amatour fconseos ot someone operating without a eases bur notin all Jammers may be seriously risquided but license. We publicize those cases, in pat as a deterrent they're not necessary stupi; they knove that they operate Knatving hat someone elg'e aberrart behavior le to sub. Lnproalctably they are lees likey to be caught I may Take staria fine shou clscourage similar behavior. ‘mors for affected amateurs to document patter of operation but oven then. how likly isi that the FCC wal sond in tho Unfortunatoly, the opposite Is also tuo: persistent malicious Fie Ve os een aes ae iloferunce couplod wih ho porcoplon tat range bang Taare sole n respon to amateur compli Its trance Cedi te prcortn a malig bind ora ator rs wa cee see Fa a Aisne ou standard navic abut aus ritrones 6 ia svees in the same fi aa, Catching ef bo seu {o ignore as best you can and never acknoniedgo wen Specter ace fe ere eee becuing, thereby ravarding the jamvnar, some otherwise good a people find that fo be easier sald than dane. Out of frustration Rmay be 2 tong te betore they pe {hey ty 0 volalato and succeed only making malore worse Another point of concer about the plan sa relerence to “tan- ‘arcizing investigation and sanction processes. Based on past ist Ode Fofeecomne a Berets experience, a “one size fs all approach to Amateur Radio huge and growing responsibilty, and med resources that cannot Keep pace. TO (ieee 8 ope aie ins A aparece Icredt, the Commiesios management recognizes at tear imei to denerine Dest ou net simply keep doing wnat fs been doing and expec things to To be fair, at Joast on ts face the planned restructuring — (otbatlor We couldnt ageoe more. The satus quo nots dosctbed as “Enforcement Feld Modemzalion Phase I" le factory. Here's why. fot all bad news. Is advocates, spectcally the FCC Managing Dieetor and Erfarcement Bureas Che, Say that il make carina aes ase foes Fad requorey spactur erforcemert he primar fous of he cases; tha percapon al ning a al bang de ld fics anda alield agots vl have ear engine inaccurate. But there are a fw high pro v8 ing backgrounds, Offces suchas in Now York Cy, wate the ‘boon ging on for along ine, somotmesfor years, witout vis ‘ld agents are now spread too thn, Wil gst mace resources, Ble soforennapl sein Toara ave sitar ater i in sap Emer wi bo pr postiones so agetscan be lovin and of sending Notice of Vislaion was taken but the behavior has wilnethaveto cvevans grat stances. Tho existing manag ‘continued far months with no evidence of futher action. In st Teast one recent case, the Commission issued a Notice of perk ernie mney ined bs top eewy are coubl bene fom. ‘Apparent Labilly for Forfoture (NAL), proposing a hat tine — some sroamining. but wth no apparent folowup ater @ monte, ‘As the saying goes, the proct of the pusing isin the eating It ‘The most intating delays are in cases where a licensee's Ta Sera ree sage a te aio cee. Tene appeaon wasn the Comms’ gn ones forenoon Bureau Acton’ ie tonal ppcaton vas flodpiertsexpaton he eonsoote eed ear pert poueilinl aon taken on herermal Trace eq recoes protection against arbitrary government action that all licensees: Should appreciate. Honevar mone ogfogius cles, the cftung aa £. Eva ccoured 9 years 0 and thes not bean reso Such anne, KL 22 May 2015 9 Copyright o ARRL