What ever happened to WA9RTP?

[Ed in Tx]

According to what little I found, WA9RTP was an amateur radio club station call sign assigned to a club at that TV station. There are lots of radio clubs and club call signs today.

FCC rules might have thrown cold water on their notion to use amateur radio for news reporting, as amateur radio must not include any commercial monetary or pecuniary interests (other than non-profit, like fund raisers to support the radio club or public service activities, stuff like that).

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

According to what little I found, WA9RTP was an amateur radio club station call sign assigned to a club at that TV station. There are lots of radio clubs and club call signs today.

FCC rules might have thrown cold water on their notion to use amateur radio for news reporting, as amateur radio must not include any commercial monetary or pecuniary interests (other than non-profit, like fund raisers to support the radio club or public service activities, stuff like that).

I don't think the amateur station's audio was ever transmitted over the TV station. The station may have simply used weather reports from local amateurs, received over WA9RTP and relayed in the news announcer's own words during the TV station's newscast. This was in 1967, so there would have been no way to actually retransmit the live reports from hams at WA9RTP (short of recording them on magnetic tape) unless the TV station somehow either tapped across the speaker terminals of the station's receiver or the announcer held a microphone in front of the speaker while the weather reports were coming in. The latter is known as the direct acoustic method, which is a very poor and unprofessional way rebroadcasting or recording anything.

You are correct in that FCC rules (part 97) prohibit rebroadcasting over amateur stations of commercial radio or television audio. However, I remember that there is a provision for this in the rules; it is allowed under certain circumstances, but the catch is that there must be no reference made by the broadcaster, directly or indirectly, to the rebroadcast.

However, the experiment must not have lasted very long, as WA9RTP's license may have expired in 1972 or '73 and was never renewed. Amateur licenses (except Novice) were valid for only five years in those days and were renewable, on condition that the operator could prove at least a certain number of hours of activity in the last three years.

I don't know anything about WFLD-TV, except what I have read about it on Google and in the Popular Electronics article I referred to in my original post (the old story "I only know what I read in the papers"), since I have never lived in or been to Chicago, Illinois in my life.

Part 97 regulations clearly state that amateur radio must not be used for newsgathering and/or other commercial purposes, so your observation that the FCC may have taken a very dim view of WFLD-TV's use of it as a newsgathering tool could well be right on the mark. The Commission may have revoked the license for WA9RTP on grounds of violations of this rule; this is only a guess on my part. Another possibility is that, when the television station was sold (the first time) from Field Communications, the new owners may not have seen the worth of having an amateur station in the studio, for live weather reports or for any other purpose.

In any event, the experiment did not work out and was discontinued after either one year or after WA9RTP's license expired, unless, as I mentioned, the FCC revoked the amateur station's license on grounds of violations of Part 97 regulations. At this late date (49 years later), however, we may never know.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I don't think the amateur station's audio was ever transmitted over the TV station...

Wouldn't necessarily need to be rebroadcast to violate the rule. If they planned to routinely use hams to gather news, that would be the equivalent of a small business setting up on the 2M or 70CM ham bands for business use. A big no no.

They can use ham operators to gather up to the minute weather or emergency info, which would be shared with other stations over a local repeater or via the National Weather Service, at least that's the way they do it here in DFW. That would be public service.

Anyway I could run it by my friend who is a "VLC" volunteer legal council for ARRL, but I already know what his answer would be. 73!

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

FCC rules might have thrown cold water on their notion to use amateur radio for news reporting, as amateur radio must not include any commercial monetary or pecuniary interests (other than non-profit, like fund raisers to support the radio club or public service activities, stuff like that).

But in an emergency situation, certainly hams may assist broadcast services in providing information germane to public safety.

http://www.arrl.org/news-gatherings-and-amateur-radio

A major snowstorm in the Chicago area, knocking out power, transportation and some communications would certainly be a life threatening situation.

jr

edit add: more detail of the situation here:

http://www.southgatearc.org/news/201...9#.V3VPxpBHaK2

.