April 14, 2004
Mr. Glenn A. Baxter
RR 1 Box 776
Belgrade Lakes, ME 04918
Amateur Radio license K1MAN
Dear Mr. Baxter:
This letter explains in what ways your Amateur station has come into
compliance with Commission rules since our letter to you of January
29, 2002; and notifies you of two areas of operation that, if not
corrected, will lead to enforcement action against your license and/or
designation of your renewal application for a hearing.
By letter dated January 29, 2002, the Commission notified you that
your understanding of various Amateur Radio Service rules was
incorrect. We outlined your apparent misconceptions regarding station
control, publishing a transmitting schedule and how that related to
interference, threats made to licensee complainants, including threats
made with so-called "felony complaint affidavits", broadcasting and
broadcasting of tape recordings and telephone conversations.
The January 29 letter detailed complaints received by the Commission,
and explained that your method of station control, i.e., "a timer from
Radio Shack", did not achieve compliance with the Commission's Rules
when you were not present at the control point for your station and,
therefore, did not satisfy the Commission's Rules regarding automatic
control of a station. We explained to you that to comply with the
Commission's Rules you must be at the transmitter, or at the
transmitter control point, every moment your station is transmitting
when your station is locally or remotely controlled; and that if the
station is controlled by telecommand from the control point using a
radio link, the frequencies used for telecommand must comply with the
Section 97.201 requirements for an auxiliary station (may transmit
only on the 1.25 m and shorter wavelength bands, except 219-220,
222-222.150, 431-433 and 435-438 MHz segments).
By letter dated March 4, 2003, the Commission's Boston Office notified
you that Commission monitoring and numerous complaints filed with the
Commission indicated that the problems outlined in January 2002 had
not been corrected. The letter stated that your Amateur station was
apparently being used for broadcasting various programs having nothing
to do with Amateur Radio; and that transmissions from your station
were being used for deliberate interference and for communications in
which you apparently had a pecuniary interest. The Boston Office
letter stated that transmissions started and ended erratically, were
sometimes repetitive and abruptly ended with no identification as
required by Commission rules, and that such operation indicated that
the transmissions were not under proper control of a licensed
operator. The letter noted also that you continually broadcast notices
of so-called "felony complaint affidavits " that you claimed to have
filed with the United States Justice Department against other Amateur
Radio licensees whom you perceived to have interfered with your
broadcasts, or refused to relinquish their operating frequency to you.
The Boston Office's letter stated that transmissions from your Amateur
station included references to a degree program and directed listeners
to your website that advertised an "American Radio School Technician
Degree in Electronics" for "$299.95". On that web site you solicited
donations for radio equipment, advertised a credit card, and solicited
donations and advertised for "IARN" and "AARA". The letter from the
Boston office pointed out that such use of your station was in
apparent violation of Section 97.113(a)(3) of the Commission's rules,
which prohibits "Communications for hire or for material compensation,
direct or indirect...." and "Communications in which the station
licensee or control operator has a pecuniary interest..."
The letter from the Boston Office requested that you provide
substantial additional information about the operation of your
station, including submission of a log detailing the information on a
weekly basis until further notice. In January 2004, the Boston office
notified you that you could discontinue the log submissions, and
referred the case to this office.
We have reviewed the information you submitted, as well as numerous
complaints filed against your station. Additionally we have reviewed
tape recordings made by Commission personnel of your transmissions at
various times during 2003 and 2004 subsequent to the Boston Office
letter of March 3, 2003.
It is the finding of this office that you are, with some exceptions,
generally in compliance with the Commission's rules in the Amateur
Service related to broadcasting and information bulletins, and we
explain as follows. Broadcasting is prohibited in the Amateur Radio
Service, with some exceptions. Section 97.3(a)(10) defines
broadcasting as "transmissions intended for reception by the general
public, either direct or relayed." One-way transmissions are limited
in the Amateur service, but an exception is allowed in Section
97.111(b)(6) for "Transmissions necessary to disseminate information
bulletins."
Information bulletins are defined by Section 97.3(a)(26) as messages
"directed only to Amateur operators consisting solely of subject
matter of direct interest to the Amateur service." There are no
specific time limits placed upon information bulletins by Commission
rules. A review of your programs at random times since March 3, 2003
indicates that your transmissions were directed to Amateur Radio
operators, not to the general public, and that the individual
bulletins were related to the Amateur Radio Service. The only notable
exception was the offering of a reward for information leading to the
identity of parties making threatening telephone calls to you.
The station control problems outlined to you in warnings from the
Commission appear, with minor exceptions, to have been corrected.
During the monitoring period your station abruptly ended transmission
with no identification in one instance, and started transmissions in
mid-sentence in another instance.
There are, however, two areas in the operation of your Amateur station
that must be corrected in order to avoid enforcement action and/or a
designation of your renewal application for hearing to determine if
you are qualified to remain a licensee. These a 1) deliberate
interference resulting from your commencing operation on top of
ongoing communications, in violation of Section 97.101(a) and (d); and
2) use of your Amateur station for pecuniary interests, in violation
of Sections 97.113(a)(2)and (3).
Regarding deliberate interference, we receive continuing complaints,
and our monitoring verifies, that your transmissions start up on top
of existing communications of individual licensees as well as nets
such as the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network. Such
operation constitutes deliberate interference. Stations engaging in
ongoing communications are not obligated to stop transmitting when
K1MAN wants to start transmitting on a frequency, and complainants are
so advised by the Commission. You appear to believe that the
publication of a transmission schedule gives you the right to begin
transmitting on a certain frequency at a certain time, even if the
frequency is occupied. It does not.
All frequencies in the Amateur Radio Service are shared--no frequency
is assigned for the exclusive use of any station, and your Amateur
station has no greater rights to a frequency at any particular time
than any other Amateur station. Section 97.101(d) of the rules
prohibits an Amateur station from willfully or maliciously interfering
with any radio communication or signal. Moreover, publishing a
schedule is merely one of the several conditions necessary for the
control operator of a club station to accept compensation for
transmitting information bulletins, pursuant to Section 97.113(d) of
the Commission's rules. Your station K1MAN, however, is not a club
station.
Regarding use of an Amateur station for pecuniary interest, we note
that your Amateur Radio program transmissions regularly advertise your
web page at
www.K1man.com, and on those pages you advertise items for
sale by the American Amateur Radio Association (AARA), including T
shirts, hats and a "Technician Degree Diploma". You advertise the
sales commissions and "overrides" that your State Directors and
Section Managers can receive, and detail ways in which your Section
Managers can earn money by recruiting members, selling hats, name
badges or T shirts.
Section 97.113(a)(2) prohibits communications for hire or for material
compensation, direct or indirect, paid or promised. Section
97.113(a)(3) prohibits communications in which the station licensee or
control operator has a pecuniary interest.
We remind you that any attempts to threaten or intimidate Amateur
radio licensees operating on the Amateur bands will reflect adversely
upon your qualifications to remain a Commission licensee, and would be
the subject of a license revocation or renewal hearing. By letter
dated December 11, 2001, you were warned against the sending of your
so-called "felony complaint affidavits" to various Amateur Radio
licenses that you perceive to either cause interference to your
station or which do not relinquish to you the frequency on which they
are operating.
Complainants were advised by the Commission to forward any such
"affidavits" they received to the Commission, and that they could
otherwise be ignored. The United States Attorney for your jurisdiction
also warned you that the mailing of such "affidavits" is contrary to
law. Apparently you have discontinued those threats. We also remind
you that, in regard to the taping and broadcasting of telephone calls,
you must comply with applicable state laws.
In conclusion, failure to correct the deliberate interference caused
by K1MAN, and the continued use of K1MAN for pecuniary interests, will
lead to enforcement action against your license. Either would be
sufficient to designate your renewal application for an evidentiary
hearing to determine if you are qualified to remain a Commission
licensee.
An adverse finding in regard to threats to complainant licensees, or
violation of state law regarding recording and broadcasting telephone
conversations, would lead to enforcement action against your license
and would be sufficient to designate your renewal application for an
evidentiary hearing to determine if you are qualified to remain a
Commission licensee. You would have the burden of proof in such a
proceeding.
You should be aware that in 1990, the Commission revised its character
qualifications policy, expanding the types of non-FCC-related
misconduct that it would consider as bearing on licensee or applicant
character qualifications (Policy Regarding Character Qualifications in
Broadcast Licensing, Policy Statement and Order, 5 FCC RCD 3252 (1990)
(Character Policy Statement), recon. granted in part, denied in part,
6 FCC Rcd 3448 (1991), further recon. granted, 7 FCC Rcd 6564 (1992).
The Commission concluded that "a propensity to comply with the law
generally is relevant to the Commission's public interest analysis,
and that an applicant's or licensee's willingness to violate other
laws, and, in particular, to commit felonies, also bears on our
confidence that an applicant or licensee will conform to FCC rules and
policies. The 1990 Character Policy Statement applies to Amateur Radio
licensees just as it does to all other FCC licensees ( See, e.g.,
Herbert L. Schoenbohm, Decision, 13 FCC Rcd 15028 (1998), recon.
denied, 13 FCC Rcd 23774 (1998), aff'd in part, dismissed in part sub
nom. Schoenbohm v. FCC, 204 F.3d 243 (2000), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct.
405 (2000); Leslie D. Brewer, Order to Show Cause, Notice of Order of
Suspension, Notice of Opportunity for Hearing, and Notice of Apparent
Liability for a Forfeiture, 16 FCC Rcd 5671, licenses revoked, 16 FCC
Rcd 12878 (2001).
Accordingly, we will continue to review the operation of K1MAN in
light of the issues outlined above.
CC: FCC Northeastern Regional Director
FCC Boston Office District Director
Honorable Paula D. Silsby, United States Attorney, US Department of
Justice, District of Maine
Timothy D. Wing, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U. S. Department of Justice,
District of Maine
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NOTE: Issuance by the FCC of a Warning Notice indicates that the FCC
has what it believes to be reliable evidence of possible rules
infractions and not necessarily that the recipient has violated FCC
rules. The FCC has the authority, pursuant to §97.519(d)(2) of the
rules to readminister any examination element previously administered
by a volunteer examiner. These enforcement letters are representative
of recent Advisory Notices, Warning Notices, Notices of Violation and
other FCC communications to licensees and others involving possible
serious rules violations. Unless otherwise indicated, all letters were
signed by FCC Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement Riley
Hollingsworth. This listing is not a comprehensive record of FCC
Amateur enforcement actions. Follow-up correspondence will be
published as provided. Address all inquiries regarding this
correspondence to FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth,
.