From: pdh@netcom.com (Phil Howard )
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.policy
Subject: Re: Truckers, Pizza, Policy
Date: 30 Jul 92 20:09:43 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

jerry@ncc.uky.edu (Jerry Nokes Jr.) writes:

>     What are the requirements for a transmission on Amateur Radio to be 
>considered "Business"?
>
>   Does calling dominoes pizza qualify?:  yes if you are ordering a pizza.
>
>   Does calling your buddy who works on machine xyz to ask him a question
>about machine xyz?:  only if you are paying him for it.  it is not borderline
>if you do not have a monetary exchange....ie BUSINESS.

This is not exactly correct.  There are many kinds of "business" in which
no actual monetary exchange takes place.  If you need examples, say so.


>   Now to the truckers.  If you had a big rig running around the streets,
>this guy has been on the road for several hours, he is tired, he is just trying
>to drop his load and get off the road, what would you do?
>I would give him the information.  Is he paying you to tell him?  are you 
>paying him to get there?   (in a sense you will get compensated by the fact that
>once he gets off the road the roadway will be a little safer for you, like in
>a heavy traffic area of downtown, where you can't see around those things.)

If you are unrelated to the trucker's business or the customers being served
by his deliver, I fully believe this is NOT a case of business ON YOUR PART.

It *MIGHT* be a case of business on HIS end, but you probably won't know
about it so don't worry about it unless it is blatant.  If the trucker
regularly needs assistance from people to find locations because his company
fails (due to cutbacks?) to supply him with it, and fails to supply him with
the cellular phone to call back and get it (or he chooses to use ham radio
instead of a cellphone even if he had to pay for it) then IT IS BUSINESS.

In this case "borderline" would be when it starts to become evident that
he might be regularly doing this.


>  Splitting hairs is not the "spirit".  Helping people, insuring safety,
>         educating, securing friendships:  that is the spirit.

Right.  If that is what the matter is when the trucker is asking for
directions, then by all means be helpful in that spirit.  If you are
not sure if it is a BUSINESS vs. SAFETY/etc situation, go ahead and
assume the safety.  If you use common sense, you will figure out when
there is a business abuse of ham radio.

I believe the "spirit" of the prohibition of business use is to keep
the ham radio spectrum from becoming an alternative to the frequencies
now assigned for real business use (land mobile and cellular telephone).
Nit picking every little "oh my, it MIGHT be BUSINESS" case is not going
to make any real difference one way or the other, so we really don't
need to worry about it.  I would not worry at all about the cases of
ordering pizza, even.  I would only worry that someone might be deciding
to REGULARLY use ham radio for what something like cellular telephone
is really supposed to be used for.  Such real abuses take up spectrum*time
from the real amateur service.
-- 
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| Phil Howard  ---  KA9WGN  ---  pdh@netcom.com   |   "The problem with |
| depending on government is that you cannot depend on it" - Tony Brown |
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