I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2743 

To provide for the continuance of volunteer communications capability within 

the United States and its territories. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 15, 2007 

Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To provide for the continuance of volunteer communications 

capability within the United States and its territories. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Affiliate Radio 

5 System Emergency Communication Act of 2007’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF THE MILITARY AFFILIATE RADIO 

2 SYSTEM (MARS) AND SHARED RESOURCES 

3 HIGH FREQUENCY RADIO PROGRAM 

4 (SHARES) EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS 

5 SYSTEMS. 

6 (a) AMENDMENT.—The first title XVIII of the 

7 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (as added by section 671 

8 of Public Law 109–295; 6 U.S.C. 571 et seq.), relating 

9 to emergency communications, is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating section 1808 as section 

11 1809; and 

12 (2) by inserting after section 1807 the following 

13 new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 1808. PROTECTION OF THE MILITARY AFFILIATE 

15 RADIO SYSTEM (MARS) AND SHARED RE16 SOURCES HIGH FREQUENCY RADIO PRO17 GRAM (SHARES) EMERGENCY COMMUNICA18 TIONS SYSTEMS. 

19 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to rec20 ognize the valuable contribution that the Military Affiliate 

21 Radio System (in this section referred to as ‘MARS’) 

22 makes in providing a worldwide backup emergency com23 munication system, either on their assigned channels or 

24 on the National Communication System Shared Resources 

25 High Frequency Radio Program (in this section referred 

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1 to as ‘SHARES’), by protecting these existing volunteer 

2 high frequency networks. 

3 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary— 

4 ‘‘(1) shall require that high frequency (short5 wave) transmitters, receivers, and related data and 

6 interface equipment that meet standards of service 

7 established for the Amateur Radio Service under 

8 part 97 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, by 

9 the Federal Communications Commission (in this 

10 section referred to as the ‘Commission’) in the fre11 quency range of 2–30 megahertz are also approved 

12 for routine training functions and emergency com13 munication service on any Federal Government 

14 MARS or SHARES channel within that frequency 

15 range; 

16 ‘‘(2) shall not require the discontinuance of the 

17 use of any communications equipment that has been 

18 approved by the Commission for operation within 

19 the Amateur Radio Service from operating in the 

20 radio service bands assigned to MARS or SHARES; 

21 ‘‘(3) may add new transmitters and receivers to 

22 the MARS and SHARES networks so long as the 

23 equipment— 

24 ‘‘(A) meets Commission standards for op25 eration in the Amateur Radio Service; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) is equipped with frequency stabiliza2 tion modules; 

3 ‘‘(4) shall not add any additional technical re4 quirements for MARS stations, and shall not permit 

5 any agency or instrumentality of the Department of 

6 Homeland Security to add any additional technical 

7 requirements for MARS stations; and 

8 ‘‘(5) shall encourage and utilize MARS per9 sonnel, facilities, capabilities, and radio equipment to 

10 connect to the Internet in their emergency commu11 nication planning.’’. 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con13 tents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 

14 2002 is amended by striking out the item pertaining to 

15 section 1808 and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 1808. Protection of the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) and 

Shared Resources High Frequency Radio Program (SHARES) 

Emergency Communications Systems. 

‘‘Sec. 1809. Definition.’’. 

Æ 

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