On 8/16/2010 6:34 AM, Radio KØHB wrote:
Looks like a useful application of the shared band. On what grounds
should we (secondary user ourselves) object?


I have not heard of it before the thread here either.. But I seriously
suspect the ARRL DOES know about it epically if there has been an FCC
filing.

Recently the ARRL responded to a bunch of Waiver requests filed with the
assistance of APCO (which is an orgination representing public safety
communications officers.. IE: ME in the days when I was working, though
I am rather pleased to say I never joined. Though this had nothing to do
with it at the time (they do a better job of representing bosses.
epically the ones that spell boss backwards, but that's another story
not radio related)

There is a Recon Robot.. Recently shown on the TV show Flashpoint that
operates in the 70 cm ham band. It's only 0.3x watts so to be honest
the poetntial for interference to my 70cm operation (I can push 50 watts
there) is minimal.. But my concern is if the robot is providing eyes and
ears to police in a hostage situtation.. And I listen to the frequency
it's using and hear nothing but noise (the 0.3x being below my noise
floor) what happens when I key my 50 watt transmitter. or "Joe" (Generic
name) keys his hundreds of watts transmitter and totally wipes out the
signal from that tiny-bot?

Same concern here. This is a safety product. Now if you want to use a
shared frequency for something where it's possible to key up and "Say
Again" I have no issues with that.

But when robots are talking to either other robots, or people. at low
power, and I'm sure these Collision avoidence jobs will be low power
cause they only need to talk to a receiver hundreds of yards away, not
hundreds of miles.

What happens when the neighborhood ham keys up and wipes the system out?

This is a 'critical' service and such services should NEVER be on a
shared frequency. NEVER.. Because if you put them there sooner or later
the secondary (or primary depending on the nature of the sharing) will,
not being able to hear the low power signal, KEY UP with much more
power and drown you out.

--
Nothing adds Excitement like something that is none of your business.