I thought I had better acquaint myself with the regulatory framework for amateur radio operation over PSTN or Public Switched Telecommunications Systems, specifically in relation to remote ham radio ops.

AILS stands for Amateur Internet Linking Systems and is a broad term recognised by the ACMA. Below are links to documents pertinent to what I’m doing:

ACMA AILS Info…

The all encompassing “LCD” starting with section 9.

www.legislation.gov.au/Series/F2015L01113

All hams need to be conversant with certain regulations before they are entitled to their license. The Australian Federal Government’s Radiocommunications Licence Conditions (Amateur License) Determination 2015, also known as the LCD, is central to that requirement. Where appropriate, documents clarifying the ACMA’s interpretation of the regulations are made available, such as the AILS.

There are three main concerns which must be addressed in the LCD when developing an unattended station that is linked over a PSTN:

1 . Ensure that non-licensed operators cannot access amateur radio spectrum.

2 . That the equipment is located where it should be.

3 . That there are safeguards in place when operating an unattended station.

The first two concerns are not that difficult but still need to be treated with respect because they also have a bearing on the main issue – prevention of your remote transmitters locking up or being hacked. In my case, the PSTN interface is physically represented at the remote end with a Telstra 4G USB dongle swinging in the breeze and uses wireless to connect to the controlling PC. The PC is then connected via USB to an Icom IC-7100. At my home, we have an NBN connection. But the connection can be made from anywhere using various devices such as smartphones, tablets or PC’s at work.

Access by unauthorised users is dealt with by using AnyDesk or Chrome Remote Desktop to control the remote equipment. They both require specific accounts to access either end. The audio pipeline is separate and again requires specific configurations using Skype, TeamSpeak or Mumble/Murmur. All these applications have varying degrees of security and protocols that can be tightly configured.

The next issue is that ham radio licensees must identify where they are transmitting from. If I use my callsign VK2HEY by itself, that indicates to everyone that I am transmitting from a particular address registered with the ACMA. If I transmit with that callsign away from the registered address, I have to let everyone know by adding a suffix to my callsign such as “mobile” or “portable”.

My interpretation of the LCD in relation to remote ops is that I am portable, even though I can be sitting at my registered address or anywhere in the world for that matter. The transmitter though is at Woodstock. The only way to bypass using the portable suffix is to move the registered address to Woodstock or obtain another amateur license. For example, I have retained my Foundation callsign which I could use here at home, albeit at reduced power and allocate my Standard license to the remote station at Woodstock. But it seems unnecessary when the “Portable” suffix can be easily applied.

Where I might see a clash occur is not with the regulations but with other amateurs who regard “true” portable stations as exotic contacts. A high powered fixed portable operation may be frowned upon as being against the spirit of portable ops, like camping on a hill and transmitting low power. There are also other issues regarding contests, awards and all the other expanding range of activities that ham radio is known for. Remote-ops has a place among these. The requirement to add “portable” to the station callsign is not my problem but I must admit, is also confusing as I feel I have to launch into a long-winded justification to other contacts over why I am identifying as such. I would prefer to identify simply as “remote”. Unfortunately though, according to the regs, there is no such thing.

So having analysed the LCD carefully and determining that remote ops is legal and then considered what roadblocks I have in place to prevent mischief from unapproved users, the regs then insist that controls should be incorporated to prevent an unattended transmitter from locking on. Transmitters do lock on and it’s scary when I’m 250 km’s from the transmitter and I can’t do anything about it. I quite frankly am not concerned about the regulations when this happens! I’m more concerned about my batteries being killed. On one occasion, the remote desktop software has become unresponsive while transmitting, causing panic here at my operating position. Having such a failure occur even with the radio just idling is unnerving because power consumption and battery longevity is vital.

Fortunately the Icom IC-7100 not only has a transmit time-out-timer set for three minutes, but an idle timer as well set for 30 minutes. But the most likely component to fail is the Windows 10 based PC controlling the show. If the remote computer becomes unresponsive, I can only hope the Icom will timeout then power itself down 30 minutes later. I have then had to wait until I could allocate time to travel out to the remote station and reset it. I’ve recently implemented a Windows Task Scheduler job that reboots the computer at 2 am every morning. This has made the computer more reliable and when a mishap has occurred, the Task Scheduler has managed to override whatever the problem was and forcibly rebooted the machine, so that the remote becomes available the next day and I have not had to plan a trip out there.