SB QST @ ARL $ARLB030
ARLB030 FCC amends packet rule

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ARRL Bulletin 30  ARLB030
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  April 5, 1994
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB030
ARLB030 FCC amends packet rule

FCC Amends Rules Concerning Message Forwarding Systems in the
Amateur Service

In an April 4 press release, the FCC announced that it has relaxed
the amateur service rules to enable contemporary message forwarding
systems to operate at hundreds of characters per second while
retaining safeguards to prevent misuse.

A message forwarding system is a group of amateur stations
participating in a voluntary, cooperative, interactive arrangement
where communications from the control operator of an originating
station are transmitted to one or more destination stations via
forwarding stations, which may or may not be automatically
controlled.

Currently, the control operator of each station is held individually
accountable for each message retransmitted, resulting in unnecessary
content review and delays.

The ARRL, in commenting on PR Docket 93-85, stated that the
obligation of the control operator of the first forwarding station
should be the establishment of the identity of the station
originating the message. Only when this is not done should these
control operators be held accountable for improper message content.

Also, there is currently no central supervisory authority in an ad
hoc amateur service digital network, making these unsupervised
systems easy targets for misuse by uncooperative operators and
nonhams.

Moreover, the Commission said that it could be difficult to
establish after the fact that a particular VHF station originated a
fleeting high-speed digital transmission.

For these reasons, the Commission said there must be on-going
oversight of the system and the control operators of the first
forwarding stations are in the best position to provide such
oversight.

Therefore, the Commission will hold accountable only the licensees
of the station originating a message and the licensee of the first
station forwarding a message in a high-speed message forwarding
system.

The licensee of the first forwarding station must either
authenticate the identity of the station from which it accepts
communications on behalf of the system, or accept accountability for
the content of the message.

The Commission also clarified that the station that receives a
communication directly from the originating station and introduces
it into the message forwarding system is the first forwarding
station.

The League and the Colorado Council of Amateur Radio Clubs suggested
that the Commission substitute the word ''simultaneously'' for
''instantaneously'' in the redefinition of a repeater. The Commission
concurred and adopted this modification.

The Commission believes that these rule changes will enable
contemporary high-speed message forwarding systems to operate as
their designers intended, while retaining the minimum safeguards
necessary to prevent misuse.

The effective date of the rules change has not yet been announced.
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