OK, I’ll admit it. The headline was clickbait. It did get you to click, though, didn’t it? :)
Just this morning, Official Observers (OOs) were notified that what had been called the Official Observer Program would morph into the Volunteer Monitoring Program. The text of the email that the ARRL sent out is attached below.
I haven’t read the email in detail, but on the face of it, it seems reasonable enough, except for the sentence, “These “patterned” reports developed over time from individual VMs will be reviewed by ARRL Headquarters staff and forwarded by ARRL staff to FCC for action.” We keep hearing that the ARRL doesn’t have enough staff. How are they going to manage this program on top of the current programs and a more centralized ARES program?
The Creation of a New Volunteer Monitoring Program
To all SMs, OOs and OOCs:
ARRL, and especially its Ad Hoc Committee charged with revitalizing the Official Observer (OO) Program for the future, wants you to know the details of the new Volunteer Monitoring (VM) Program right away. At its July 2018 meeting just concluded, the ARRL Board of Directors approved a plan submitted by our Committee for the establishment of a new VM Program. This will be quite different from the OO Program that was created back in 1982. Based on extensive negotiations with the FCC, the new VM Program will improve the level of enforcement in the Amateur Service for years to come. It will help to fill the gap created two years ago when FCC closed many of its own field offices and retired much of its staff. That had the unfortunate effect of reducing its ability to respond to Amateur Radio enforcement problems.
The philosophy of the new program is simple. The success that Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, had with Amateur enforcement over a ten-year period was due to rapid, visible response to significant, repeated enforcement issues. It is urgent that the new ARRL VM Program provide a means of doing the advance work for the FCC, especially in areas where there now are no nearby FCC field offices. Volunteer Monitors (VMs) will develop “patterned” reports of predicted times, days, bands, frequencies, transmitter locations or azimuths (if known) and types of operation of rule violators who act on a repeated basis. These “patterned” reports developed over time from individual VMs will be reviewed by ARRL Headquarters staff and forwarded by ARRL staff to FCC for action. This will allow FCC staff to very specifically empower its remaining field office personnel to gather evidence (which FCC has decided it must do for itself in every case) to cause enforcement actions to take place. We are assured that each patterned report will result in some contact by FCC with the subject of the complaint. Coordination of cases and evidence gathering will be the responsibility of the staff at ARRL headquarters and the FCC will retain the responsibility for the final decision on which cases they will take enforcement action.
So, working closely with FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, we have revised the concept for the Program going forward. At FCC’s recommendation, the OO program will be terminated soon and the VM program initiated simultaneously. There will be a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the FCC which is in the process of negotiation now. We will recruit a new roster of VMs, which will be much smaller than the current cadre of OOs. We want existing OOs to apply to become VMs, and we want SMs to recommend to us good candidates, known to them, for the VM Program. Not all who apply will be chosen to serve as VMs. The need to keep the total number of VMs small is to ensure that the program is manageable and efficient. VMs will be selected in part on geographic location, so that there are always VMs where needed and where the FCC isn’t present regularly. As they have done in the past, under the new Volunteer Monitor Program, ARRL Section Managers will continue to recommend qualified potential candidates from their Sections. We do not know the exact number of Volunteer Monitor positions necessary for the new program at this time. The final determination will be based on desirable geographic distribution. We expect there to be approximately 200 to 250 Volunteer Monitors in the new program, replacing the more than 700 in the OO program now.
We are in the process of revising the Training Manual for new VMs and we will establish a vetting process that will include telephone interviews of applicants for the VM program. All VMs will do their work anonymously. There will be identification numbers assigned to each VM and the VM roster will be known to ARRL only. There will be regular training sessions and ARRL staff will be in regular contact with the VMs to help coordinate their volunteer work on air so that multiple VMs are not working on the same case at the same time. We do not anticipate the need for a VM Coordinator since the program will be centralized, administered by ARRL staff. The training program, which is anticipated to be vigorous, will help identify the types of cases and specific information required in order to present significant violations to the FCC for ultimate action.
We plan to do training on a regular, ongoing basis, and FCC’s Enforcement Bureau staff will be working with us on regular webinars. VMs will serve for limited terms and apply regularly for reappointment. Participation in the training sessions will be one of the major criteria used to evaluate the performance of a Volunteer Monitor over time.
The task of observing and identifying significant and repetitive violations of Part 97 rules and regulations and reporting them in a structured way to FCC via ARRL staff is not the only function of a VM. The work will also include, for those so inclined, direction finding to determine the location of the rule violator. Carried over from the OO program will be the preparation of FSD-213 Advisory Notices and FSD-15 Good Operator Reports to be sent as appropriate, via ARRL Headquarters. These peer-to-peer notices of the existing Amateur Auxiliary are a core component of the goal of keeping our amateur frequencies operating within the Part 97 rules. In addition the Local Interference Committees, which are another part of the current Amateur Auxiliary, will also continue to be used at the local and section levels.
It is important to note that until the new Volunteer Monitoring program is started in the next few months, current Official Observers and Official Observer Coordinators should continue to perform their important work. The ARRL wants to express its deep appreciation to all who are serving or have served as OOs or OOCs over the years for everything they have done to ensure proper amateur radio operations within established regulations and to encourage good operating practices. This work has been, and is, invaluable in providing effective monitoring of the Amateur frequencies and helping ham radio operators obey the rules. The goal of the OO program since its inception in 1982 was to encourage and promote compliance. While we have not always had the level of enforcement assistance we would ideally like from the FCC, overall, Amateur Radio is an exceptionally rule-compliant radio service, and that fact is largely due to the work, over the past 36 years of the OOs and OOCs.
As previously noted, the final details of the new Memorandum of Understanding with the FCC on this issue are still being ironed out. We are also still working out the details of the screening process for candidates as well as how the day to day operation of the new program will be administered. More information will be made available as we approach the initialization of the program sometime after the ARRL and the FCC have completed the MOU.
Underpinning all of this is the understanding that, for more than 36 years, the ARRL Official Observer program has aided thousands of amateurs in maintaining their transmitting equipment and keeping their operating procedures in compliance with FCC regulations.
ARRL and the FCC expect the new Volunteer Monitoring program will continue this high standard and will provide the amateur radio community with a heightened level of service.
We thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to modernize the Official Observer program, making it better equipped to meet the needs of the FCC and its Enforcement Bureau, our served agency. The new Volunteer Monitoring program is designed to better meet the needs enumerated by the FCC in the changing arena of amateur radio enforcement and compliance. As we finalize the new program and begin its implementation, we will work to keep you – the current field leadership and appointees – informed of the changes. This is a unique opportunity presented by the FCC to strengthen the atmosphere of compliance on our bands. We hope that when we begin solicitation of new volunteers for the Volunteer Monitor program that current OOs and OOCs will consider the criteria for the new program and decide to apply.
If you have any questions about these changes, please contact ARRL Regulatory Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND at ARRL Headquarters at 860-594-0236 or [email protected]
Respectfully,
Members of the ARRL Ad Hoc Committee on Revitalizing the Amateur Auxiliary Program:
Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH
Dan Henderson N1ND
Steve Ewald, WV1X
Chris Imlay, W3KD
Kermit Carlson, W9XA
Tom Abernethy, W3TOM
Bob Vallio, W6RGG
Other blog posts about the Official Observer program:
Joshua | DC7IA | KK4RVI says
“It did get you to click, though, didn’t it? :)”
Nope, I read all your posts in my RSS reader. ;)
Dave New, N8SBE says
A prime example of our current federal administration of “letting the NGO’s take up the slack”. For example, as welfare funding has been lowered nationwide, various member-funded religious and rescue organizations were cited as being expected to take up the slack. I find it annoying that somehow, we (the ARRL and its members) are expected to take up the slack when funding is cut to the FCC for enforcement action. As the DHS recently pointed out, protection of the population is a government task, and needs to be funded as needed. Protection of our airwaves (not just amateur, but all the ones the FCC and NTIA administration) is a government task, and should be funded appropriately.
As far as the ARRL VM program goes, I’m not crazy about keeping the VM identities secret. Didn’t we just go through a big battle over secrecy at the board level? Where is the accepted social contract of being able to face your accuser? I’ve never received an OO notice, so I guess I don’t know if it was ‘masked’ or not. Is this how the old OO program worked?
NK7Z says
You accuser will be the FCC, not the VM, or the ARRL. The VM Program appears to just be there to indicate a possible problem.
If I read the article correctly, it indicated the FCC would be the entity that actually pointed a finger, tested, verified, and had the final say… Lets not read more into this than there is.
Dan KB6NU says
I agree with what you say, but the VM program is going to be the “originator” of any complaints (or actions or whatever you want to call them). That in itself could be quite a task.
Dave Heil K8MN says
This strikes me as another abrogation by the FCC of its official duties. Our activities are to now be judged by nameless, faceless people who are not in the employ of the FCC.
Dan KB6NU says
I don’t think that’s the case. The Volunteer Monitors (VMs) are only going to submit reports to the FCC, via the ARRL, which are then going to do their own investigations. The VMS are only pointing the FCC in the right direction.
Dave says
You should probably reread the item, it clearly states that is not the case.
Dan KB6NU says
I’m not sure what you mean by “that is not the case.” If you mean that they’re not abolishing the OO program, I agree. They’re renaming it and changing it. As I said in the first paragraph, the title is “click bait.”
Francis Battisick says
Francis Battisick ka2ufp…Former OO Official Observer LAID OFF Rather FIRED …. SENT BLOW ME OFF NOTICE …. NO Investigating NEVER Done …. WHY BE BULLIED, HARASSED, INFLUENCED, INSULTED …. PHONE CONTACTED ARRL WITH OO INFORMATION AND SENT NUMEROUS RECORDINGS OF INDIVIDUAL with THAT NEVER IDs and arrl never investigated or forwarded information to FCC …. NO FOLLOW UP WAS DONE …. MANY BULLY, HARASSMENT E MAIL AND ON AIR THREATS …. PLENTY U TUBE AUDIO SUPPORT …. RECEIVED 29 E – MAILS FROM INDIVIDUAL AND POST WAS MADE ON ARRL FB site NOV 2016 AND followed my station for ARGUEMENT …. ARRL DESTROYED MY HOBBY FROM LACK OF RESPECT AND SUPPORT …. Told by ceo to Discuss HARASSMENT at Next Step on MY Own …. MY name isnt G its GREG … SC ooc said CALL LOCAL PD …. OUT OF RESPECT THINGS SHOULD BE KEPT PRIVATE …. former VE NEVER received a Thank You …. ARRL STOP SENDING MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL APPLICATIONS …. Blue shirt, Hands Palms Up, Organization Only Busy at Photo Shoots and asking Hams for a IRA Contribution …. $49 TO PURCHASE BLUE SHIRTS AND CAMERA FILM …. YOU SHOULD BE SHAME OF YOURSELVES ….. Hey arrl this X CUSTOMER DEMANDS A REFUND …. My Receipt is Listed Here ….
Francis Battisick says
…HARASSED with 34 e-mails after OO card sent to daniel couture w3jkc, along with DAILY intentional, and deliberate interference to my communication…hear a daily recording of my voice with callsign 7.200…