UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20554
Emergency Communications by )
Amateur Radio Service Operators ) Docket No. 12-91
ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTAL WRITTEN COMMENTS OF HAMS FOR ACTION
As you know, earlier today HAMS FOR ACTION informed the FCC that we are
willing to accept a truncated Reply Comments period in Docket 12-91. We proposed a
Reply Comments period which will span only two workdays: from Friday, May 18
through Monday, May 21.
Let’s make a deal.
If the Commission will agree to allocate two workdays to reap potentially robust
input from Reply Comments, then HAMS FOR ACTION will agree not to file a Petition For
Reconsideration as soon as the May 17 Written Comments deadline has passed.
If it becomes necessary, the HFA Petitionwill ask the FCC to correct its procedural
errors in this Docket. Responding to the Petition will undoubtedly delay completion of
the study by more than the two days the FCC will save by denying our modest request.
We won’t even talk about injunctions -- but we know what they are.
Hams For Action
May 11, 2012
Page Two
Incidentally:
Getting back to a possible Petition For Rehearing, we can count at least two
procedural errors at this point.
First, the FCC has deviated from standard procedures by abolishing completely the
Reply Comments period which is normally available to all commenting parties. Even
Notices of Inquiry -- which, exactly like the current proceeding, do not involve proposed
rules but may lay the groundwork for them -- feature a 14-day Reply Comments period.
Second, the FCC not only abolished the Reply Comments period, completely,
but it did so without explaining its reasoning to the public or even announcing its decision
to the public. Instead, the FCC simply failed to declare a Reply Comments deadline.
Until W. LEE McVEY W6EM of Alabama and NICKOLAUS LEGGETT N3NL of
Virginia started asking questions, HFA Members simply assumed that the missing Reply
Comments deadline was an administrative oversight. We shrugged off the omission,
mentally added 14 days to the May 17 Written Comments deadline and planned on a
comment period that would end on May 31.
In any event, the FCC’s “double deviation” from the procedural norm is the
current totality of our potential legal complaint. However, given time, we may be able to
identify even more procedural errors -- assuming the Commission decides that even our
request for a two-workday Reply Comments period is too much to ask.
Hams For Action
May 11, 2012
Page Three
Respectfully submitted,
Don Schellhardt, Esquire KI4PMG
3250 East Main Street, #48
Waterbury, CT 06705
djslaw@gmail.com(203) 982-5584
