Bruce Perens, K7BP a well know open source advocate and proponent of Codec2 filed FCC comments to the on-going petition for rules chance to allow TDMA used by MotoTrbo.
Some back ground:
The KA9FLX repeater in Chicago, IL was the first Mototrbo Amateur Radio Repeater. It was put on the air in 2008.
In March 2011, some overly concerned fellow Amateurs brought a emission rule technicality to the forefront. Apparently the classified emission type doesn’t match those specifically allowed for ham radio.
At the time of the petition, there are more that a dozen Mototro repeaters in service on amateur frequencies. Since then, over 90 repeaters have been reported as up and running.
The processing time of requested FCC rule changes for all services is enormous. For example, the request to Eliminate the Spread Spectrum Automatic power control Requirement took 4 years to be approved.
For the past several years, all the ARRL initiated petitions for FCC rule changes have been very narrow requests.
In Bruce’s comments he points out that the regulatory framework continued by this NPRM would not handle software-defined radio well.
The point is that development is already rapid, and will only increase. The current regulatory framework will not keep up with this development.
This contrasts starkly with Amateur Radio's mission to advance the state of the art.
The present system that FCC must approve each significantly different modulation type to reach Amateur Radio only causes Amateur Radio to fall further and further behind in terms of developments.
Continuation of this piecemeal process of authorization would place severe regulatory hurdles and hinders the capability of Radio Amateurs to experiment and innovate.
I wrote Bruce to thank him for his comments. A major rule revision like he is proposing is long over due in my opinion.
Why the ARRL hasn’t gotten behind a major rule re-write like he is proposing is beyond me.
Apparently, their ideology on getting more amateur activity has focused on consolidating the license classes, instead of helping enable new technologies that might help foster more interest in the hobby.
