[Ground-station] Paid personnel as operators or license grantees of Amateur Satellites

[Bruce Perens]

I asked ARRL what their position was, through my director a few days ago.
So far, they don't see a need to change the rules.

On Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 10:41 PM Paul Williamson <paul at mustbeart.com> wrote:

> This summary fails to mention that there is a list of four exceptions to
> the pecuniary interest rule in Part 97.113(3). This suggests that the FCC
> could grant a further exception for satellite operators if it saw fit to do
> so, without running afoul of the ITU.
>
> One of those exceptions was added in Docket 92-136, which also relaxed the
> rule prohibiting any "business" communication. My point is simply that
> rules can be changed, even rules we've come to view as immutable.
>
>   -Paul
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 5:22 PM, Bruce Perens via Ground-Station <
> ground-station at lists.openresearch.institute> wrote:
>
>> Paid Ground-Station Control Operators and Amateur Sattelites
>>
>> Paid personnel are not allowed to be control operator or license grantee
>> of Amateur Satellites. In the United States, this means that a paid
>> employee of the sponsoring organization of the satellite, for example a
>> professor at the university that has built the satellite, can not be a
>> control operator or the license grantee.
>>
>> I recently corresponded with our IARU Divison 2 representatives regarding
>> this issue. Thanks to Edson W. R. Pereira PY2SDR and Ray Soifer W2RS for
>> this information:
>>
>> The issue regarding paid operators is due to the definition of the
>> amateur radio service as defined by the ITU.
>>
>> ARTICLE 1 Terms and definitions
>>
>>    - No. 1.56 amateur service: A radiocommunication service for the
>>    purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations
>>    carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorized persons interested in
>>    radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.
>>    - No. 1.57 amateur-satellite service: A radiocommunication service
>>    using space stations on earth satellites for the same purposes as those of
>>    the amateur service.
>>    - No. 1.96 amateur station: A station in the amateur service.
>>
>> The same definition is used by the FCC:
>> https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service
>>
>> The key point here is the term “pecuniary interest” — in otther words,
>> “without financial compensation”. The definition is related to the
>> *operation* of an amateur radio station, as you have stated in your
>> message. Persons, including amateur radio operators, could be financially
>> compensated to design and build amateur satellites, but according to the
>> regulations, as they are presently written, the person cannot be
>> compensated to operate the station.
>>  If the station will operate under a US FCC amateur license, the control
>> operator may not be an employee of the sponsoring organization, whether or
>> not he is being directly compensated for operating the station.  The
>> license grantee is also deemed to be the operator of the space station
>> operating under his license.
>> For those reasons, FCC licenses most Cubesats as experimental, not
>> amateur.  Experimental licenses do permit operators to be compensated.
>> However, experimental stations may not communicate with amateur stations.
>>
>>
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>>
>
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