[BC] Studio? We don't need no stinkin' studio!

[Ray Vaughan]

A lot of what you're talking about changed a few years ago.


"?97.113 Prohibited transmissions.

(a) No amateur station shall transmit:
(3) Communications in which the station licensee 
or control operator has a pecuniary interest, 
including communications on behalf of an 
employer. Amateur operators may, however, notify 
other amateur operators of the availability for 
sale or trade of apparatus normally used in an 
amateur station, provided that such activity is 
not conducted on a regular basis; "  The old 
rules prohibited ANY business, interest or not, on amateur radio.

Yes, you can order a Pizza.  You usually can't 
make money by buying a pizza, so there's no 
pecuniary interest.   But you can't take orders 
for pizzas on an autopatch if you work at at a 
pizza place since you're making money doing 
it.    Here's how the ARRL explains it: "2) Phone 
patches or autopatches involving the pecuniary 
interest of the originator, or on behalf of the 
originator's employer, must not be conducted at 
any time. The content of any patch should be such 
that it is clear to any listener that such 
communications are not involved. Particular 
caution must be observed in calling any business 
telephone. Calls to place an order for a 
commercial product may be made such as the 
proverbial call to the pizza restaurant to order 
food, but not calls to one's office to receive or 
to leave business messages since communications 
on behalf of ones employer are not permitted. 
Calls made in the interests of highway safety, 
however, such as for the removal of injured 
persons from the scene of an accident or for the 
removal of a disabled vehicle from a hazardous 
location, are permitted."  They also say:  "4) 
Phone patches and autopatches should never be 
made solely to avoid telephone toll charges. 
Phone patches and autopatches should never be 
made when normal telephone service could just as 
easily be used."  If I'm holding my 2m radio and 
the alternative is finding a pay phone, I'm using 
the radio. http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/phone-patch.html

I haven't heard the auto patch on my system used 
in a couple years. Even our biggest cheapskate 
finally bought a cell phone.   But if any ham 
wanted to order a pizza on the patch, I would let 
it go and be glad they're using the 
repeater.   The sad thing is, the cell phone also 
replaced the conversations on the repeaters.   To 
tie back to broadcast engineering, I use what I 
learned in broadcasting, and some of my 
equipment, to transmit our monthly club meeting 
on our club repeater.   Small Shure mixer, QKT 
audio coupler, and a reverse auto patch call and 
we're on the air for a couple hours.  Great for 
the hams that can't physically make it to the 
meetings or are too far to justify the gas.

Ray, KD4BBM


At 01:01 AM 9/9/2006, you wrote:
>Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2006 21:45:14 -0400
>From: Cowboy <curt at spam-o-matic.net>
>Subject: Re: [BC] Studio? We don't need no stinkin' studio!
>To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
>Message-ID: <200609082145.14497.curt at spam-o-matic.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>On Friday 08 September 2006 12:54 pm, Black, Mike wrote:
> >
> > >>    But these two &^%$ retentive hams said that hams can never
> > >>be used to pass commercial traffic, including hospitals. One
> > >>thing I've learned after 53 years on this planet. It doesn't
> > >>do any good to talk to people like this.
> >
> > I think they have not read the rulings or Commission documents.
> > Commercial traffic from hospitals during an emergency? I can not imagine
> > hospitals needing to make billing inquiries during a disaster using ham
> > radio. However, if the other lines of communication are down, and you
> > are trying to get contact staff, get supplies, or other information like
> > that, it should be a no brainer.
>
>  Amateur stations may not carry any communication for which recourse to
>  the public telecommunications network would be the norm, except during
>  a real emergency, when all bets are off.
>
>  Ordering a pizza via amateur radio because the kitchen is normally closed
>  is probably questionable at best, illegal if you are carrying a cell phone,
>  or there is a nearby pay phone.
>  If the kitchen staff is gone, the telco is 
> out, and you are ordering 300 pizzas
>  because there is no other option, that's clearly OK.