[chirp_devel] Radio services wiki

[Dan Smith]

> how do I add a new article to the Wiki library? I tried and can't, I 
> guess I need permissions to do so.

I just added wiki edit permissions for you -- I was sure you already had it, sorry. To add a page, just address the page you want in the URL and it will create it on save.

> After sifting through all of our tickets more than once, I got the 
> feeling that a lot of users are either totally oblivious of where on the 
> spectrum they may legally operate, or are feeling too comfortable using 
> radios which aren't specifically approved for a service like e.g. GMRS. 
> I collected a few pointers for first-time radio users. I know (and 
> appreciate) that the Chirp community is pretty liberal about this, but I 
> think we should be telling people that there are some legal restrictions 
> to consider. And if it's just to cover our own back.

I really (really) don't want to get into the business of providing legal advice to CHIRP users, or getting in the way of what they use it for. While it might seem like covering ourselves, if someone points to that article as something they think seems authoritative and gave them permission to do something they shouldn't (even if properly worded), I don't want to be in that situation either. TBH, I think I'm opposed to most of this article because it re-states the laws, incompletely, and really isn't authoritative. We already have an FAQ page, I would be more in favor of adding something like this to it:

 Q: If CHIRP lets me program a radio for transmit on a given frequency, does that mean I can legally use it as such?

 A: No! CHIRP is a tool and will let you program pretty much anything into a radio that is physically supported.
    You are responsible for all of your own activities and must confirm with your local laws that you are operating
    within your rights. If you're unsure, the answer is probably "no".

Links to actual laws or other websites that attempt to summarize everything would be fine, but please, let's not index CHIRP pages into google with answers to misguided queries for legal advice.

--Dan