Council » Policies » 2002 Pirate & Illegal

2002 Pirate Operators and
Improperly Licensed Stations

The New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters Incorporated
(Revised to use updated terminology, April 2002)
All radio amateurs should read this statement issued by NZART Council on July 1, 1983:

Your responsibility as a radio amateur

As licensed radio amateurs, we organise ourselves through the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters Inc. to uphold the standards of the Amateur Service, including its present high standard of entry. We accept responsibility for helping people who want to become radio amateurs and for protecting their interests once they have become properly qualified.

We must seek to remove those improper and illegal practices that bring the Amateur Service into disrepute in licensing matters, make regulatory improvement difficult and make it extremely difficult to get support for the Amateur Service at international conferences and cheapen the worth of your qualification and licence.

Improper and illegal practices

We are not directly concerned with stations operating outside amateur bands.

In bands allocated to the Amateur Service, pirate operators and improperly licensed stations are operating. They are posing as amateur stations, but they fall short of our standards in these ways:

  1. The operator is unqualified.
  2. The callsign used has not been issued by an Administration recognised by the ITU, or
  3. An Administration may have issued the callsign without ensuring that a minimum standard of competence to operate in the Amateur Service has been demonstrated, and
  4. Operation is contrary to the ITU International Radio Regulations or the New Zealand Radiocommunications Regulations.

Maritime Mobile Stations

NZART helps properly qualified radio amateurs who go to sea, and the sea-going enthusiast who wants to become a genuine radio amateur.

Genuine /MM stations are encouraged to make their activities known through IARU societies and amateur radio publications.

Unfortunately, some /MM stations using the amateur bands are illegal. The prefixes used in the Pacific by yachtsmen suggest many improper licences. The International Callbook does not list many callsigns or callsign-sequences used, and enquiries by IARU societies in many countries (for example, Liberia) have shown that their licensing administrations are concerned about these pirated call signs.

Amateur equipment is cheaper than type-approved maritime equipment. This may be a reason for what seems to be a concerted effort in yachting circles to encourage the trend away from the maritime service to the Amateur Service.

Action

Except in a GENUINE EMERGENCY involving safety of life when any frequency may be used, as a radio amateur you should:

  1. Cease contact with pirate or improperly licensed stations operating in amateur bands,
  2. NOT accept third-party and other traffic requests,
  3. If in doubt about the legality of the station you work, seek these details:
    1. Name of the vessel
    2. Name of the operator, and
    3. Origin of the license.

Tell the New Zealand administration (The Ministry of Economic Development, Radio Spectrum Management) about the station and tell the station that you are doing so.

Get in touch with:

  1. Your local RSM Technical Officer, he is listed in the phone book;
  2. The NZART Administration Liaison Officer - the address is P.O. Box 40 525 UPPER HUTT, nzart@nzart.org.nz

Help NZART to stamp out illegal practices Help NZART to protect your interests.

Sales of transmitting equipment

You should.

  1. When selling transmitting equipment, sell only to licensed operators, and
  2. When buying, buy only from suppliers who agree to sell transmitting equipment only to genuine operators.

The New Zealand Administration

The New Zealand administration, the Ministry of Economic Development, Radio Spectrum Management, fully supports NZART Council in its desire to stamp out improper practices.

The administration has inspected vessels and impounded amateur-type equipment.

The administration will continue to take action against shore-based stations that take any part in improper practices

SPREAD THE WORD

Draw this statement on pirate operators and improperly licensed stations to the attention of any radio amateur who has traffic with them. For this purpose you may photocopy this statement.