SB QST @ ARL $ARLB094
ARLB094 Digital rules clarified

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QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 94  ARLB094
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  October 12, 1995
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB094
ARLB094 Digital rules clarified

The FCC, responding to a request from the ARRL, has clarified its
rules regarding Amateur Radio stations' use of digital codes.

The ARRL, in a letter to the Commission, said that some amateurs had
expressed concern about the propriety of using the CLOVER, G-TOR,
and PacTOR codes on the HF bands (below 30 MHz), because FCC rule
97.309(a) ''appears to authorize'' only Baudot, AMTOR, and ASCII
codes.  The League told the Commission that it had worked with the
developers of CLOVER, G-TOR, and PacTOR to document the technical
characteristics of those codes, and asked the FCC to remove any
doubt about their legality on the HF bands.

The FCC agreed, saying that the use of the three modes does not
conflict with its objective of preventing the use of codes or
ciphers intended to obscure the meaning of the communication.

As a result, the FCC added a paragraph (4) to Part 97.309(a) to
read:

(4) An amateur station transmitting a RTTY or data emission using a
digital code specified in this paragraph may use any technique whose
technical characteristics have been documented publicly, such as
CLOVER, G-TOR, or PacTOR, for the purpose of facilitating
communications.
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