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<p>I apologize in advance for the length of this email. Also, I
apreciate those that take the time to read it and would greatly
appreciate feedback on my proposed scenario and the opinions of
those on the list concerning it.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>This is a topic I'm acutely interested in as I am a member of
research faculty at Virginia Tech and run our (mostly Amateur
Radio) satellite ground station. For the record, so far
everything we've been up to is receive only operations.
Additionally, the current cubesats underway at VT all have
Experimental licensing (despite my vigorous, though failed,
attempts to convince the powers that be to go the Amateur route).
But for the rest of this email, lets ignore that fact, and assume
that we were doing things under the Amateur Satellite Service.<br>
</p>
<p>Also, one of my personal goals is to somehow, someday prove to
the University cubesat community that the concept of 'Amateur vs
Scientific' doesn't have to be mutually exclusive, and that
University built cubesats can be Amateur Radio related, provide a
service to Hams, educate students, <i>and</i> conduct science
that a non-ham PI might care about. I believe this is in keeping
with the spirit of Amateur Radio and pushing the limits of science
through experimentation (granted there are very specific details
to pay attention to with this, like how the experimentation should
advance the state of the art of radio.....not just collect a bunch
of science data about the sun or whatever).<br>
</p>
<p>Since I was an undergrad (summer 2011), doing a summer internship
(first time I got paid for research!) related to the prototype of
our current system (again RX only at the time), I've been
concerned about this. Let me pose a specific, though currently
hypothetical scenario, and I would love the opinions of those on
the list concerning this.<br>
</p>
<p>One of the exceptions Paul mentioned is an educational
exemption. Here is the legalese excerpt from 47 CFR Part 97 (hint
search for the term 'educational', there is only 1 instance of
this in the document, some emphasis added, but the words are
verbatim):</p>
<p>§97.113 Prohibited transmissions. <br>
(3) Communications in which the station licensee or control
operator has a *pecuniary interest*, including communications on
behalf of an employer,
with the following exceptions: <br>
(iii) A control operator may accept compensation as an incident of
a teaching position during periods of time when an amateur station
is used by that
teacher as a part of classroom instruction at an educational
institution. <br>
</p>
<p>OK, so that's the specific legalese concerning 'educational
exemptions.' We currently have a cubesat mission we are calling
the Virginia Cubesat Constellation (VCC). Three 1Us, each built
by a VA University (VT, UVA, ODU). The mission is funded through
an Undergraduate STEM initiative from NASA (so technically,
federally owned). The number 1 stated goal of the mission
(literally the purpose of the existence of the project) is to get
students 'hands on education in the design, construction, and
operation of spacecraft.' Operation of the cubesat involves radio
communication. These satellites are currently getting licensed
under the Experimental service, and will operate outside of the
Amateur Satellite Service (401 MHz satellite band). However,
originally, they were planning for 435 MHz band, and they were
planning a crosslink to measure pseudorange between the three
birds. Befoe the change, I was pushing heavily for Amateur
licensing, and for the team to open up use of the crosslink on
weekends for 'multi-hop' comms to the Amateur Community. So for
the proposed scenario, lets say they had gone this route and the
satellites were licensed in the Amateur Satellite Service.<br>
</p>
<p>Almost done.....a few remaining items for the proposed scenario.</p>
<p>1. Most of the students involved in the institutions are
receiving class credit for their involvement in the project (some
getting 'Senior Design Project' credit, some getting undergraduate
research credit, some getting credit in the courses that rolled
this project into their lab requirements, etc.).<br>
2. It is my goal to one day train up a corps of (amateur
licensed) student operators that run the day to day operations of
the VTGS, that I would oversee. Communications would be under the
Amateur Radio Service, hopefully using a 'Space Communications
Club' callsign that I would be the trustee of (so ultimately, I
bear the responsibility, with my license on the line).<br>
3. I am not a member of teaching faculty. However, I consider
all of my work with students as a form of teaching ('hands on,
minds on' principles of VT education), though I tend to think of
it more as training (harkens back to my USMC days, its like
training junior Marines on how to operate a SatCom terminal and
practical engineering principles behind ground station design and
implementation).</p>
<p>So in my opinion, my compensation would be incidental to a
teaching position (#3), during periods of time (during on orbit
operation, each pass) when an Amateur Station (#2, the club
station, aka the VTGS) is used by that teacher (or students under
the club call, so ultimately me), as part of classroom education
(#1, the students are receiving course credit). <br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>To me that all seems to be a legitimate use of the Amateur Radio
Service. My compensation for operation of the station meets the
exemption criteria in my opinion. More to the point, I'm not in
this game for the money, the money is incidental. I'm in this
game to teach people about SatCom, Space, Amateur Radio, etc. All
things that align directly with VT principles (Ut Prosim!) and the
Charter of the Hume Center and 'preparing the next generation of
National Security leaders....' (space communications are a key
part of our National Security, and using Amateur Radio to teach
the fundamentals just seems to make sense to me).</p>
<p>On a larger scale, many organizations seem to be aligned in their
goals, but the 'legalese' seems to get in the way. NASA has STEM
goals, Amateur Radio is highly STEM oriented, ONR, AFRL, ARO, etc.
all have STEM Goals, NSF has STEM goals, AMSAT has the words
'education' in their Charter, ARISS is educationally aligned.</p>
<p>It seems silly to me that I would be considered to be 'breaking
the law' if I ran an ARISS contact (involving AMSAT, NASA, VT,
etc.) using the VTGS, during working hours (I'm salary, so time of
day doesn't really matter). <br>
</p>
<p>If someone can point out to me any fallacies in my logic, I would
be very appreciative.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Very Sincerely and Respectfully,<br>
</p>
<p>Zach, KJ4QLP<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Research Associate
Aerospace Systems Lab
Ted & Karyn Hume Center for National Security & Technology
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Work Phone: 540-231-4174
Cell Phone: 540-808-6305</pre>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 4/11/2018 1:45 AM, Bruce Perens via
Ground-Station wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAK2MWOtmrscbe75cF5+pKsOmV0895y=Vh-NVV5a8iN1nLo4H1A@mail.gmail.com">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.<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">On Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 10:41 PM Paul Williamson
<<a href="mailto:paul@mustbeart.com" moz-do-not-send="true">paul@mustbeart.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">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.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>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.</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> -Paul</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 5:22 PM,
Bruce Perens via Ground-Station <span dir="ltr"><<a
href="mailto:ground-station@lists.openresearch.institute"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">ground-station@lists.openresearch.institute</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<h1
class="m_288953632736640678m_3190698006169485423entry-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>
<div
class="m_288953632736640678m_3190698006169485423entry-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">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">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">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">ARTICLE 1 Terms and definitions</p>
<ul style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px
1.5em;padding:0px;list-style:disc">
<li style="box-sizing:inherit">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">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">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">The same definition is used by
the FCC: <a
href="https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service"
rel="noopener noreferrer"
style="box-sizing:inherit;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(34,34,34);text-decoration:none"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service</a></p>
<p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px
1.5em;padding:0px">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"> 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">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>
</div>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">_______________________________________________<br>
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rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"
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</blockquote>
</div>
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</blockquote>
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