FCC Enforcement Bureau Warns Two Hams For Failure to Identify Properly:

The FCC Enforcement Bureau has released Warning Notice letters it sentin July to two radio amateurs, advising them that it had monitoredtransmissions during which the licensees had failed to identifyproperly. The Bureau posted http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/Welcome.html thecorrespondence earlier this month on its Amateur Radio ServiceEnforcement Actions web page. The two notices from FCC EnforcementBureau Special Counsel Laura L. Smith, both dated July 21, containessentially the same wording.

In a Warning Notice http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/files/Davis14_08_19_5520.html to Gary E. Davis, W1IT, of Inman, South Carolina, Smith told Davis thathe was monitored on July 15 and 16 at the FCC's High FrequencyDirection Finding Center (HFDFC) in Maryland, failing to properlyidentify while operating on 7.185 MHz. "[Y]ou were heard by aCommission employee operating your Amateur Radio station for 20 minuteswithout identifying in a timely manner," Smith wrote. "The Commissionemployee used direction-finding equipment and confirmed thetransmissions were coming from your location."

Smith pointed out that Section 97.119(a) of the Amateur Service Rulesrequires each amateur station to "transmit its assigned call sign onits transmitting channel at the end of each communication, and at leastevery 10 minutes during a communication."

In a nearly identically worded Warning Notice http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/files/Kraje14_08_19_5521.html to John J. Krajewski, KB3MZQ, of Newark, Delaware, Smith said the HFDFCalso had monitored transmissions by him on July 15 and 16, also on7.185 MHz, during which he failed to identify properly.

Smith said the FCC had "recorded the offending transmissions" in bothinstances and offered to make copies available to Davis and Krajewski.She further advised Davis and Krajewski that recurring "operation ofthis type" after receipt of the warning letters, could subject them to"severe penalties, including license revocation, monetary forfeiture(fines), or a modification proceeding to restrict the frequencies uponwhich you may operate."

In 2006, in response to a Petition for Rule Making, the FCC declined tomodify its Amateur Service station identification rules. The petitionreceived some 100 comments. In dismissing the petition the followingyear, the FCC concluded that the changes requested were "neithernecessary nor supported by the Amateur Radio community," and that thefailure-to-identify problem "would be better addressed by enforcementof the present rule, rather than a rule change."

Source:

The ARRL Letter