AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID N. FORCER, the FCC's "OFFICIAL OBSERVER"
As debate heats up between hams who experiment with high-quality SSB and
those who deplore the practice, Ham Radio Today magazine decided to seek
clarification from the nation's foremost amateur radio monitoring
authority, the Honorable D. N. Forcer.
Ham Radio Today: Thank you for spending a few minutes with us.
Forcer: It's my distinct pleasure.
HRT: Are you really the FCC's 'Official Observer'?
Forcer: I sure am. I am responsible for listening to everyday
communications, reporting on what I hear, and making recommendations to
the Enforcement branch.
HRT: And based on what you're hearing these days, how is amateur radio
doing?
Forcer: The results are mixed. On the one hand, there are lots of hams
becoming more aware of the quality of their signals and the courtesy
which they demonstrate on the air, but there are many, many others who
are in serious violation of the rules, so much so that we are entering
into a new, more aggressive enforcement phase that at any time in the
recent past.
HRT: Meaning fines, or revocation, or...?
Forcer: Or both, combined with public humiliation in QST. And yes, we're
sharing information with the IRS.
HRT: What kinds of violations are we talking about? Are they flagrant?
Forcer: You bet they're flagrant. We're talking about signals much wider
than they have to be--
HRT: -- aha! We have been saying that for a long time! All those
widebanders, right? Running 3 kHz-wide signals?
Forcer: Widebanders, yes, but most are running 1.8 to 2.8 kHz signals.
Somewhere in that range.
HRT: Wait a minute. 1.8 kHz signals are quite legal. You get full
intelligibility at the minimum bandwidth.
Forcer: What planet did you come from? 1.8 is way too wide. We've
conducted extensive tests in our laboratory that show that you can
actually understand 1.4 or 1.5 kHz signals if the station repeats each
word ten to twenty times, or simply slows his speech down to about five
words per minute. Most people can copy speech in an 1100 Hz bandwidth if
they have to, provided the transmitting station speaks slowly enough.
Remember, other than during emergencies, we're not talking crucial
information exchange here. Since the content of most conversations on
the ham bands is of dubious importance, we can cut down on the bandwidth
and make significant gains in spectral efficiency.
HRT: Efficiency, yes, but surely you can't mean to impose such a
handicap. Isn't this a little extreme?
Forcer: You know, all I've heard from the 2.5 kHz guys is how wide the 3
kHz guys are. And the 2.0 kHz guys complain about the 2.5'ers. Then
you've got the contesting hotshots bragging about the merits of 1.8 kHz.
What we are saying is, 'Yer all wrong!' and we're upping the ante a
little bit.
HRT: I'm not sure what to say. You are really thinking about issuing
pink slips for this?
Forcer: We already have! Last week we nabbed a guy in Alabama who
thought he was safe with his 2.1 kHz Collins stuff. We sure surprised
him. Know anyone who wants to buy a mint KWM-2?
HRT: You mentioned other violations...
Forcer: Yes. Our other attack is on using excessive power. You know the
rule? The one that says you can't use more power than necessary? Well,
we're prepared to stick to that one right down the line.
HRT: How so?
Forcer: It's very simple. If you're 30 over 9, we're coming after you.
If you run 100 watts no matter what, we're coming after you. If you are
a 'power hog', we're--
HRT: -- coming after you, we get the picture. You're against strong
signals?
Forcer: Of course! If you're putting in an above average signal at my
location, you're running more power than you have to. Most hams don't
realize that 10 watts or so usually puts you just above the noise level.
That's where we want to hear you. The rule says 'no more than absolutely
necessary'. Get it?
HRT: But most hams spend their careers trying to be louder. That's the
whole point.
Forcer: Then they better spend some of that time turning the drive
control down or we'll get 'em. Like I said, if you're 30 dB over S9,
you're wasting about 30 dB.
HRT: I don't know what to say...
Forcer: I'll tell you what you should say: You tell all yer little hammy
friends that too much power, like too much bandwidth, will land them in
jail and their pretty little rigs at the local swap meet.
HRT: Wow.
Forcer: You can think of this as a three-pronged approach.
HRT: What's the third prong?
Forcer: You got the widebanders, that's the frequency domain. And you
got the excessive violations in the power domain. What we haven't talked
about yet is the time domain. You know who I'm talking about: the guys
who yak-yak-yak constantly on the bands. Some of 'em sit on one
frequency all day long. I hear 'em in my sleep! And the contesters...
sheesh, don't get me started on them and their CQ machines. Every five
seconds, dah-di-dah-dit, dah-dah-di-dah. We think we can interpret the
rules to limit the operating time. We're developing a figure of merit
that involves bandwidth times time times signal-to-noise ratio that will
be the demise of a lotta hams.
HRT: The end of ragchewing as we know it?
Forcer: Son, you'd best take that 'rag' yer chewing and gag yourself
with it if you wanna keep your license. Speaking of which, we better cut
this interview short.
HRT: Thank you for talking to us.
Forcer: It's been my pleasure.
HRT: I think I need a drink.
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|