<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi Bruce,<div class="">Your email strikes me as an example of the old saying, “no good deed goes unpunished”.<br class=""><div class="">The last sentence which contains the phrase “the control operator may not be an employee of the sponsoring organization, whether or not he is being directly compensated for operating the station” disturbs me on several levels.</div><div class="">In the interest of full disclosure, it could have affected me in the past (but no longer). It certainly has the potential to affect getting future donations and support from companies who have many employees who are hams.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Certainly there must be more nuance than the simple statement MAY NOT BE AN EMPLOYEE OF THE SPONSORING ORGANIZATION.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For example, suppose Boeing Phantom Works which makes cubesats should want to donate one to the amateur service (anybody from Boeing listening?). Does this mean that a mechanic who works on their airplane assembly line can not be a control operator? Seems improbable huh.</div><div class="">What if you own Boeing stock (an obvious financial interest). Does that mean you can’t be a control operator? What if your retirement fund owns Boeing stock, but its total value is very small?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I know this is not of interest to most of the group, so I will refrain from going into real examples. But I would like to know if questions are being asked and answered with all the consequences considered.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">73,</div><div class="">Mike Parker, KT7D</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Apr 10, 2018, at 5:22 PM, Bruce Perens via Ground-Station <<a href="mailto:ground-station@lists.openresearch.institute" class="">ground-station@lists.openresearch.institute</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing:inherit;display:block;padding:0px 0px 1em;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Libre Franklin","Helvetica Neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing:inherit;font-size:1.625rem;margin:0px 0px 0.25em;clear:both;line-height:1.4;padding:0px;font-weight:300">Paid Ground-Station Control Operators and Amateur Sattelites</h1></header><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing:inherit;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"Libre Franklin","Helvetica Neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.5em;padding:0px" class="">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.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.5em;padding:0px" class="">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:</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.5em;padding:0px" class="">The issue regarding paid operators is due to the definition of the amateur radio service as defined by the ITU.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.5em;padding:0px" class="">ARTICLE 1 Terms and definitions</p><ul style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.5em;padding:0px;list-style:disc" class=""><li style="box-sizing:inherit" class="">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.</li><li style="box-sizing:inherit" class="">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.</li><li style="box-sizing:inherit" class="">No. 1.96 amateur station: A station in the amateur service.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.5em;padding:0px" class="">The same definition is used by the FCC: <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing:inherit;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(34,34,34);text-decoration:none" class="">https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/b<wbr style="box-sizing:inherit" class="">ureau-divisions/mobility-divis<wbr style="box-sizing:inherit" class="">ion/amateur-radio-service</a></p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.5em;padding:0px" class="">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.</p><div style="box-sizing:inherit" class=""> 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.</div><div style="box-sizing:inherit" class=""></div><div style="box-sizing:inherit" class="">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.</div></div><br class=""></div>
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