Is ham radio a hobby, a utility…or both? A battle over spectrum heats up
… Should amateur radio—and its precious spectrum—be protected purely as a hobby, or is it a utility that delivers data traffic? Or is it both? And who gets to decide? While Kolarik’s petition touches on some of those questions, an ex parte letter [PDF] by professor Theodore Rappaport, who leads the NYU Wireless research center at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, makes particularly strong statements against services like Winlink. Rappaport’s letter calls Kolarik’s proposed rule change vital to “safeguard the national security of the United States,” and key to attracting young people to ham radio.
