[aprssig] Broadcasting?

[Curt, WE7U]

On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, Richard Amirault wrote:

> My understanding (limited as it may be) is that here in the USA a
> 'broadcast' intended for hams (that is .. a legal broadcast) must be of a
> subject matter that is of a general interest to hams to be considered not to
> be a 'broadcast'.  That is, you can make all the one way transmissions you
> want, provided you are talking to other hams and telling them 'stuff' of
> interest to them as hams.  That last part is a big grey area on what is
> specific interest to hams.
>
> During a SKYWARN alert,  the hams at the local National Weather station will
> usually prod someone to ask them for a weather report .. rather than just
> give it out.  The reasoning behind this? I don't know for sure, but I'd
> guess that the weather is of interest to most everyone, but it is NOT of
> special interest to hams .. again, just a guess.

So what about when someone comes up on the 2-meter repeater during
rush hour and does a 1-way transmission telling everyone that the
I5/I405 intersection is messed up with an accident?  That's not of
specific ham interest, but I sure as heck would want to know if it
was along my route that day.  Is this another one of those cases
where you want to slip it into the QSO with someone else so that you
fit into the rule structure and avoid that "broadcast" tag?  Seems
silly to have to do so.

Obligatory APRS:  Is the 1.6.0 Xastir upgrade going ok for
everybody?

--
Curt, WE7U.   APRS Client Comparisons: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
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