The Washington herald., 1922-07-02
CONGRESS FRAMES
RULES TO PROTECT
AMATEURS RIGHTS
Regulations Adopted to
Eliminate Differences Be
tween Receiving Stations.
MUST OBSERVE LAW
department Of Commerce Has
15,495 Amateur Stations
Listed.

An amateur. according to dehni-
ktion. is one who practices an art
mot professionally, but for the love
OF II. The great majority Of this
type of radio amateur today profess
mo knowledge Of the fundamental
principles Of radio nor of the prac-
Btical problems concerning the opera
tion of q receiving set. The ma
jority of the 1,5oo. 900 persons in the
United States who own receiving
sets are amateurs.
There Is, however. a type Of radio
hmsteur not defined In dictionaries.
FThese radio amateurs number many
thousands less than the figure
quoted above, and include persons,
IN most cases ayoungNmen. who are
FAMILIAR with radio science and are
Particularly interested in new meth
bds and the development of new ap-
kparatus. Previous to the over
whelming public interest in radio OF
the past few months these amateurs
held sway in the ether.
Today the listener-in amateur and
the transmitting amateur are at
|pdds because of unnecessary inter-
Iferences in radio communication.
The purpose of this article is to
indicate how each class of amateur
may have its rights respected.
I5,495 stations Listed.
OF the various transmitting. sta
|Fions in operation. only those desig-
Inated as Commercial and Amateur
are Of interest here. Briefly an
|lAmateur transmitting station Is one
operated by a person familiar with
Nadio in a general way and inter-
kested in discovering new methods
and trying out new apparatus.
LThere are 15.495 such stations
Llicensed by the Department of Com
merce. The working wave is 200
hneters. The power 'input is limited
| TO one kilowatt. Several stations
nisted as special amateur may trans
| hnit on 355 meters, with other excep-
tions as to transmission.
A commercial station. in which
classification the radiophone broad
casting station Is included. is
licensed to operate on $50 meters
for general radiophone broadcast
6nE. The power used is optional
with the owner provided the De-
paTtment of Commerce decides there
will be no undue interference. There
hre 439 such stations in the United
Estates.
Numbers Indicate therefore. that
for every radiophOne brOadcasting
station of the commercial class
there are 35 amateur transmitting
stations. The fact that many of the
amateur stations. operate on damped
wave and transmit in code adds to
the annoying effect complained Of
by many OF the 100000 persons
who are listening-in on continuous
Nwave voice transmission. That the
IHmateur is justified in the operation
Iinf his spark set and the listenerin
ss entitled to fair consideration are
the basis of very definite rules out
lined by the Department of Com
merce for the regulation of the
either.
Must Designate Wave Length.
The unfortunate handicap Of the
listener-in is his helpless position
$50 far as transmission is concerned: :
he cannot ask by radio that
troublesome transmitter stand by
for a period.
Technically an amateur may be
at fault for interference caused by
|his set. He may not realize that his
transmission is not in accordance
with the following requirements OF
1.-The radio regulations. - every
station shall be required to desiG-
nate a certain definite wave length
as the normal sending and receiving
wave length of the station"
and "-if- the energy is radiat-
ed in two or more wave lengths. the
energy in no one of the lesser waves
shall exceed ten per centum of that
in the greatest Cas indicated by
sensitive wave meter").
Amateurs are not to be accused
Of causing undue interference will
fully when. unknown to them. the
above conditions are not complied
with. II frequently happens that a
transmitter gets out Of tune and
emits wave lengths below or above
the normal without the operators
knowledge. In such cases the dis
turbed listener-in is to blame for
not warning the amateur.
Law Is Fair to Amateur.
That the amateur. however, may
be to blame for using too much
power Is probable. He knows his
input voltage and the least radia-