[aprssig] N1547C tracker

[John K9IJ]

At 02:53 PM 10/20/2005, you wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Robert Bruninga [mailto:bruninga at usna.edu]
> > Posted At: Thursday, October 20, 2005 2:31 PM
> > Subject: RE: [aprssig] N1547C tracker
> >
> > Ah, so now Con-Ed, BG&E and Virginia Power are licensed?
> > They turn my ham station on and off all the time...  I better
> > go check their license and be sure they are authorized to do
> > this.. this is scarry...;-) Bob
>
>As usual, you missed the point.  Does anyone at Con-Ed, BG&E, or
>Virginia Power _specifically_ power on your station?  No.  The key here
>is _control_, not whether the power is applied and removed by an entity
>without regard to your station's operation.  I explained how I believed
>that the case of N1547C _is_ legal because the pilot is _not
>specifically_ turning on the tracker (it is wired, according to K7GPS,
>to the aircraft ignition switch).  I did say that should someone
>_specifically_ turn _on_ the tracker then they become the control
>operator because they now _directly_ control whether the station
>transmits even if each individual transmission is done
>_programmatically_ by the tracker.

You're splitting hairs here about as fine as possible.

If the only way to turn on/off the tracker is to turn off the master switch
in the aircraft, then making a call to the pilot in the air (not legal anyway)
on a cell phone and telling him that he must turn off the tracker would
require that he turn off the master switch to the airplane. That's not going
to work very well.

And splitting hairs the other way. If the tracker is only turned on by the
pilot physically turning on the master switch in the cockpit, then that person
IS specifically turning on the tracker, no matter that other powered equipment
in the aircraft is also being powered on.

This  operation is blatantly illegal... period... and I hope nobody 
'officially' brings
it to the attention of Riley.



-

John Rice  K9IJ
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