Does ARRL General Class Limit the Use of Pactor

[crui1948]

I am reading the list of frequency allowed for the pactor protocol.
There are a lot of bands open for the ARRL Genereal Class.
So my understanding is to train only and go to the examination of the General Class - not the Extra Class
My question:
Is there a limitation?
May I use more bands - in particular those which are open for Pactor III bandwidth?
Thanks

[speciald@ocens.]

No, I don't think so. Get the general class license. Its just a matter of remembering the answers to published questions now that code is not required.

[SaltyMonkey]

No there is no limitation.

General class is what you do want (not just Technician) - more bands, bands that have boating HAM nets, mail etc.

Working on studying for the Advanced right now, but it doesn't add that much in bands - just a mental challenge.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by crui1948

I am reading the list of frequency allowed for the pactor protocol.
There are a lot of bands open for the ARRL Genereal Class.
So my understanding is to train only and go to the examination of the General Class - not the Extra Class
My question:
Is there a limitation?
May I use more bands - in particular those which are open for Pactor III bandwidth?
Thanks

At the risk of being pedantic, it's the FCC General class license.

ARRL is a user group which administers a lot of class tests on behalf of the FCC.
If you have the General license you may use all the freq's authorized for that class.

I believe there are band plans divvying up freq's in every band for different types of use: RTT, Packet, voice, code, amatuer TV, etc. Since much of the band plans is user agreed upon, via ARRL I believe, I am not sure they carry the force of law, but I don't think it's really worth pissing off all the other users by ignoring the band plan short of some emergency nor in attracting unnecessary attention from the FCC.

If you are asking about Pactor III freq's not included in the Amatuer Radio bands but included in marine MF & HF bands, then you need a Ship Station License for the vessel and I believe a Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit for yourself.

To sum up:

Find out what freq's Pactor uses.

If the Pactor III freq's you want to use are in the Amatuer bands you need the General Class.

If they are not, you will need the Ship Station and Radiotelephone Operator's licenses.

If the Pactor freq's are in both then you will need all 3 licenses or you will need to pick a more limited set of freq's to use.

FCC: Wireless Services: Ship Radio Stations: Licensing

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

No there is no limitation.

General class is what you do want (not just Technician) - more bands, bands that have boating HAM nets, mail etc.

Working on studying for the Advanced right now, but it doesn't add that much in bands - just a mental challenge.

I thought the Advanced and Novice classes had been eliminated, grandfathering existing licenses and only Tech, Gen & Extra remain.

[SaltyMonkey]

Sorry, brain lock - working on Extra (not advanced). Material learned. Working on mock tests for the next 3 weeks. Only doing it for the challenge and to complete the set.

PACTOR modems - as said by Adalie, narrow down your purpose. If you are only looking for out of the can email access, you don't necessarily need it and can subscribe to sailmail and use SSB with ship + Radiotelephone Operator license which just cost money.

If you are wanting to use it with other gateways outside of the typical Marine SSB bands, you will need a HAM license.

[crui1948]

I started my search with a list out of a book, where in 8 IARU bands (Winlink) only 4 allow the usage of Pactor III.
So my first question was, if the Extra Class will allow more bands. No - its not a question of the license, there are no more IARU bands.

Yes there are more Pactor III bands in marine frequencies.
Still I am interested to get a Pactor III centered list of frequencies on ITU / IARU bands to compare both.

Now I am interested to get a feedback if there is a difference in the overall availability of connection/air time between Winlink, Sailmail and Global Link Network.

[SaltyMonkey]

I dont know what you mean by "overall availability of connection/air time" since that can be variable among all services based on individual locale and time of day. One person may never have a problem - another person may find regular issues.

If you want perfection, get a sat phone.

[sck5]

There seems to be something missing from your calculation - there needs to be somebody at the other end listening to your pactor message. I have a general license and it works to connect with all sailmail acess frequencies and as many winlink frequencies as I have ever needed. Maybe there are some winlink frequencies that an extra could get that I can't but you wont need them if they even exist.