Ham Radio Helping to Pass the Emergency Preparedness Act

The ARRL has teamed up with Texas HAM PAC to allow ham operators to send a message to their US Congresspeople to encourage passage of  H.R.1094 (US House of Representatives) and S.459 (US Senate) which would make Homeowner Associations (HOAs) relax restrictions on antennas and towers in communities to allow for emergency communications. 

All across the US, HOAs have restrictions in place to prevent outside antennas and supporting structures from being set up as they concern themselves with preserving property values and keeping aesthetics uniform across the community. While there is no true gauge on whether antennas affect property values or aesthetic quality (as it is ultimately just a matter of opinion) HOAs ban antennas and in some communities, do not even allow antennas that are stealthy (flagpole antennas, wires in trees, and even antennas in attics INSIDE A HOME) and even go so far as to no allow antennas on homeowners' vehicles!

By using the form, it's a 1-minute activity to enter your callsign, confirm the info, and click the "Send" button. 

However, I would also encourage everyone to take it one additional step further by sending physical letters and emails that are personalized to your situation so that it carries more weight to your Congressional representatives in Washington.

I used the form to find my representatives, then I used Google to pull up their contact information for their Washington offices as well as their satellite office in my city (Knoxville). Fortunately for me, all three of my reps were in the same building in Knoxville. 

I used SKYWARN and the impact of Hurricane Helene in nearby North Carolina as examples of why HOAs should allow residents to install antennas—when done respectfully and safely. Weather-related emergencies are the most common type of communications crisis in this region, and trained spotters play a crucial role, especially as some National Weather Service offices face staffing shortages.

In fact, an HOA community could benefit from having an amateur radio station as a reliable means of communication during disasters. When hurricanes strike, entire towns can become isolated from the outside world—as we saw with Helene in the Carolina mountains, and previously with Hurricane Ian’s devastation on Pine Island in 2022, where my late father lived. His HOA community struggled to get supplies after Ian made landfall. He also lived through Hurricane Charley in 2004, which hit his neighborhood directly as it tore through Punta Gorda. In both cases, a ham radio station could have been a vital link to emergency resources and information.

I expressed these concerns to my representatives and felt this was important to convey.

In some instances, I employed AI to help clarify my thoughts and put them in a concise and sensible letter. I did not copy/paste verbatim, but rather grabbed key elements to insert into my letters and make them make sense. 

Since these letters were sent, I received correspondence from 2 of my representatives (so far). I feel this makes an important impact to getting this bill passed.

So please consider reaching out to your reps, especially if you're in an HOA and want to put up antennas to talk to emergency officials, or to the world!

How close are we to losing 440?

If you've been paying attention to some of the news items this week, legislation is now introduced (by Pete King of New York) that would force amateur radio operators to give up the popular 70cm (440MHz) band by selling the spectrum off to commercial interests that would offset lost revenue from reallocating first responders' frequencies in order to streamline communications. This comes in light of a review by the 9/11 Commission which recommended a more integrated network of communicating with the different agencies to prevent the communications issues that arose during the attacks on September 11, 2001.

The frequencies given to the first responders is the freed up spectrum from the conversion of TV from analog to digital.

Bill HR 607 has now been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which handles telecommunications legislation. It's one of the beginning steps that is taken to get an act passed through into law. A long ways to go, but when it comes to raising money through a bake sale method, Congress finds ways to move it through in expedited fashion.

There are a couple of obstacles that could get in the way, in the form of two members of Congress who are hams. One is Greg Walden, W7EQI, who made headlines in December when he tweeted in morse code on Twitter that he was going to chair the House Communications Subcommittee. This may be the biggest ally ham radio has, and he's in a powerful position to force the bill back in to revision.

The other congressional ham operator is Representative Mike Ross, WD5DVR of Arkansas. He is a Democrat (Walden is Republican) so the potential for getting support of the opposition of this Bill in its present form on both sides of the aisle is greater.

Another potential ally is Congressman Billy Long of Missouri, who co-sponsored the Bill. He's gone on record in USA Today stating he's willing to come to an amicable solution to ensure that neither the first responders or hams are affected by this spectrum selloff, so we need to hold him to that promise.

The ARRL has a video on the bill.

I can understand the need to raise "bail money" considering the debt we're getting ourselves into, but doing so at the cost of one the best resources for emergency communications is a grave misstep. Besides, there's some spectrum down in the 220 band that was sold off awhile back and look how that turned out. Why not give that to the first responders? Or give it back to the amateur operators who would use it more than it's being used now.