Thursday, October 29, 2009

FCC Issues Public Notice On Acceptable Use Of Amateur Radio For Disaster Drills, Issues First Waiver Under New Program

Amateur Radio use in times of disaster or pending disaster has been one of the staples of the named radio service since ages ago. Earlier on in the past months, W0WLS was the focus of the attention of Laura Smith via a "private" e-mail sent to him by her asking for an answer in return from him on the matter. Many threads were started around the internet on this subject, and the FCC has issued the last word on the appropriate use of amateur radio in disaster drills.

Just as soon as the FCC put out the above linked to public notice, they also issued the first waiver under this new way of doing things.

Many people have questioned whether or not Government agencies who have employees who are holders of amateur radio licenses will take the time to do the extra paperwork, and perform the proper supervision tasks to ensure that their employees are comliant and now we have an answer.

The ARRL is advising Government agencies who wish their employees to use amateur radio for their drills to submit their waiver requests ahead of time and not at the last minute.

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