On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:20:00 EST, Klystron wrote:

It is not as simple as that. What constitutes an emergency?

Gee, let's open that can of worms once again!

It's a two-prong test - it has to be a situation involving immediate
safety of life or property, AND no other means of communication are
available.

My job at the Commish' involved reviewing such cases before Violation
Notices were sent out, and in the vast majority of cases, both prongs
were not met. In fact, in one notable case, the radio tech of the law
enforcement agency upon whose frequency the "wanna-be" came up took
the transceiver that was used to the location and was able to bring up
several repeaters with "9-1-1" autopatch capability.
--

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon

e-mail: k2asp [at] arrl [dot] net