President Haynie Testifies on Behalf of Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, testifies June 11 before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. [Derek Riker, KB3JLF, Photos] ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, chats before the subcommittee hearing with HR 713 sponsor Rep Michael Bilirakis (R-FL). Looking on is Bilirakis' chief of staff, Rebecca Hyder. Pres Haynie, seated at the end of the witness table, was one of 11 individuals scheduled to testify before the subcommittee on "The Spectrum Needs of Our Nation's First Responders." Rep Michael Bilirakis (left) looks on as subcommittee member Greg Walden, WB7OCE, speaks. Walden expressed support for retaining Amateur Radio spectrum.

NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 11, 2003--ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, testified June 11 on Capitol Hill on behalf of the Spectrum Protection Act of 2003, HR 713. The ARRL initiative would require the FCC to provide "equivalent replacement spectrum" to Amateur Radio if the FCC reallocates primary amateur frequencies, reduces any secondary amateur allocations, or makes additional allocations within such bands that would substantially reduce their utility to amateurs. Haynie was the last of 11 scheduled witnesses to speak during the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet hearing, "The Spectrum Needs of Our Nation's First Responders."

"We are indeed a first responder," Haynie said on behalf of the nation's some 680,000 Amateur Radio operators. Ham radio is more than "just having fun playing on the radio," he told the panel, a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee chaired by Rep Billy Tauzin (R-LA). "It also produces capable, trained volunteer communicators in systems of emergency telecommunications that are impervious to disasters of all sorts," Haynie said. "These volunteers are ready to respond--and do respond immediately--when all other systems of communications fail, including public safety communications whey they're overloaded, destroyed or lack interoperability."

Among other examples, Haynie pointed how Amateur Radio operators answered the call on September 11, 2001, in New York City, at the Pentagon and at the Western Pennsylvania crash site of the fourth hijacked airliner. Hams also assisted federal authorities in the debris search following the February 1 shuttle Columbia disaster, Haynie pointed out, and aided in the response to tornadoes in the Midwest and South earlier this year.

Haynie told the subcommittee that hams have lost more than 100 MHz of VHF and UHF spectrum over the past 15 years and that another nearly 360 MHz of VHF and UHF spectrum "has been substantially compromised." Haynie said hams have shared spectrum successfully with government users on VHF and UHF and have been able to "make do with less," but "that concept has reached a breaking point with our service," he added. The 2.4 GHz area, once left largely to amateurs, in recent years has become "polluted" with wireless activity, Haynie told the panel.

Click here to listen to the testimony of ARRL Pres Jim Haynie, W5JBP, before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. [6:08] Click here to hear an interchange between Rep Bilirakis and Pres Haynie during the question-and-answer session of the committee hearing. [5:39]

"Interoperability" was the watchword of the day at the subcommittee hearing, which got under way at 11 AM EDT and continued well into the afternoon. What was to be a short lunch break was extended after some members and participants became trapped in a stuck elevator in the Rayburn House Office Building and were delayed in getting back to the hearing room. Several witnesses testified that a lack of interoperability among public safety responders at disaster scenes--including the World Trade Center--prevented warning those in danger and resulted in a tragic loss of life.

Haynie was not alone in offering supportive words about Amateur Radio. HR 713 sponsor Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), quoted a paragraph from the submitted testimony of Norman Jacknis of the Westchester County, New York, Department of Information Technology. "In the first hours following the attack of September 11, 2001, the only way we could coordinate the sharing of firefighting, medical examiner, health, and information technology resources with New York City officials was through the highly trained, volunteer Amateur Radio (ham) operators," Jacknis said. "This irreplaceable resource must be protected from incursion by other interests."

Bilirakis later cited a letter from James B. Massey, N3OHM, of the Lighthouse Amateur Radio Club in Palm Harbor, Florida. "The Amateur Radio bands should be considered a national resource like the militia during the American Revolution, which was called upon in a time of emergency," the letter declared. Bilirakis asked that the letter be made a part of the official hearing record. In 2000, after the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act legislation was first introduced, Massey had arranged for Bilirakis to meet with hams in ARRL's West Central Florida Section.

One of the two amateur licensees in Congress, Rep Greg Walden, WB7OCE (R-OR)--a subcommittee member--cited the value of spectrum to Amateur Radio operators who, he said, were "promised" spectrum on which they could operate and experiment and provide emergency communication at no cost. "And yet the erosion that has occurred in the spectrum that was made available [to amateurs] is astonishing, and it needs to stop," he said. "Time and again, if you find an emergency, you find a ham radio operator."

FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Edmond Thomas also cited the contribution of Amateur Radio operators to public safety. "The ham radio community has offered invaluable service to first responders during emergency situations," the OET chief said. He also noted the recent FCC Report and Order giving amateurs additional secondary spectrum at 5 MHz and elevating amateurs from secondary to primary status at 2400 to 2402 MHz.

Haynie subsequently took advantage of an opportunity during the hearing to publicly thank the FCC for the 5-MHz grant.

Earlier this year, subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) agreed with a request from Bilirakis to include an opportunity for a member of the Amateur Radio community to testify. Upton, who told Bilirakis that he shares his interest in protecting Amateur Radio, subsequently invited Haynie to testify on Amateur Radio's behalf.

A Senate version of the Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act, S 537, was introduced earlier this year by Sen Michael Crapo (R-ID). The Senate bill is being considered by the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, but no hearing on the measure has been set. The text of HR 713 and S 537 is available via the Thomas Web site.

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