[FedCom] FedCom

[KD7JYK DM09]

"Btw there's a P25 70cm repeater set up by another gov't tech in NJ a 
mile from Philly in Camden on 442.150, but that's off-topic because it's 
not used for Federal Comms."

Feds are the primary users of that range, not Hams, he could be offering 
it up for other purposes, and happen to be a Ham.  Could be using it on 
his own, as a Ham, or not, big gray area not knowing all of the 
details.  I'm a ham, worked for a company that put in commercial 
systems, and was allowed (by them) to piggyback on anything the company 
owned.  So, did I do it as a Ham, since I was, and some services 
overlapped, or as a user of a private system, sold/leased to commercial 
entities, using my own restricted radiotelephone license, or any one of 
theirs, not counting other licenses of my own, for other services?  I 
could flip-flop between them all depending on the desire, and usage.

I've heard Fed agencies, and Military on 70cm , usually radar (lower 
frequencies), and associated comms (higher frequencies), since my 
college days.  Even now, entire west coast networks get wiped out by Fed 
users in the 440 +/- range doing their thing, near a link frequency, 
which may trigger the network, and render it non-functional, sometimes 
for months on end, from Mexico to Washington.  One system I used to use 
regularly had that issue for a few years, all all the Hams could do was 
suck it, until the primary users moved on.

I have a vague recollection in the mid to late late 80's of CFR (Code Of 
Federal Regulations, relating to amateur operations) mentioning specific 
cities, and regions in certain states on the east coast where 70cm 
amateur radio use was not permitted due to state law enforcement 
agencies having primary allocations, similar to the northern border of 
the US security, and surveillance systems.  Think of it as, "440 
everywhere except within 100 miles of New York City, due to (insert 
Federal, or State agency here) primary usage".  Who that was, exactly, 
was never specified, as the FCC didn't control it.

Kurt