On Fri, Jun 14, 2024 at 3:30 AM Chris via 44net 44net@mailman.ampr.org wrote:
[snip] 2. In relation to point 1. How do we vet the person requesting access to use an organisation’s call sign? This is really only an issue for US based clubs as the call sign has a trustee listed on the ULS database, but it would seem, that person is not always able/willing/interested in creating an account on the portal to have the call sign verified. This certainly needs more thought.
The ideal situation would be for the trustee to create an account on the portal, verify the call sign, then hand it off to another member in the organisation, i.e. once setup they do not have to be the POC for the call sign - is this really asking too much of someone who has already agreed to be the trustee, which arguably comes with such responsibilities?
This will, of course, be case dependent. In some cases, yes, it really is asking too much. In other cases, no. Should the trustee be involved at all? I would say that yes, they should. Some sort of proactive means for them to acknowledge delegation seems reasonable. But there ought to be a minimally invasive way for them to be, probably one that doesn't involve the portal. Taking a step back and trying to examine it from a holistic standpoint, it's about striking a balance between validating the authority of using the call to prevent abuse, and the bureaucratic hassle involved for the users/trustees.
Merely being a trustee requires very little administrative burden. As I understand it, in the US, it can all be handled via mail through the US postal service; occasionally one sends the equivalent of a postcard to the FCC. That's it. This can obviously be done by nearly anyone, including by folks who are not technical, don't use computers, etc. As has been mentioned, e.g. by AE0JE, such people certainly exist.
And even where folks have the technical expertise to do this, they may have neither the time nor the desire. As I mentioned earlier, I'm pretty much the only one in my club pushing to make use of AMPRNet. No one else particularly cares---I hope they will once they see how some of the cool stuff one can do with it, but we're not there yet. Forcing our callsign trustee to create an account on the portal, presumably going through his own verification process (requiring tickets and so on) all just for him to say, "yes, Dan can use the club's callsign to request an allocation" sounds like a good way to make the project stall indefinitely.
Being the trustee for a callsign does not really confer any additional status on the person; among many clubs it's a minor chore taken on by whatever member who agrees to do it, but the responsibility can be passed around between different people over time. For instance, consider what happens if the trustee moves and leaves the club, or loses interest in radio, or (sadly) becomes an SK? The club doesn't necessarily cease to exist, and the callsign is still perfectly valid, but the trustee responsibility necessarily moves to someone else. This must be accounted for in some way in whatever policy emerges around this.
- Dan C.