This fight has been brewing for a long time and I've been a user on both sides. I sailed across the Atlantic in 1993 and 1996 and we used a Pactor modem and a service called Sailmail to send and receive email via marine HF radio (1 to 30Mhz). The service is still active and is an alternative to Winlink unless things have changed.

I'm a licensed ham these days (WT1J) and use HF for my hobby. I use voice and open source digital protocols. All for fun and learning.

I think the reality here is that Sailmail and Winlink are used by folks to check their email and they treat it like regular email, which means they conduct business over it. The system has become popular with yachties around the world - many of whom are wealthy retirees or remote workers.

In the 90s, using a Pactor modem and SSB was pretty much your only cost effective option to have any kind of email access.

These days you can buy an Iridium Go for less than a Pactor4 modem and the rates are reasonable for text and email. In fact Sailmail integrates with Iridium Go now.

I think the arguments made for banning Pactor modems on the HF bands are legitimate. Other than Pactor 1 which is open source, Pactor 2, 3 and 4 are proprietary and you can't decode them if you're listening in.

You are also not supposed to use the amateur bands to conduct business, and yet that is exactly what is happening much of the time someone is downloading/uploading email via a Pactor modem on the amateur bands.

From the FCC: "The amateur and amateur-satellite services are for qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest. These services present an opportunity for self-training, intercommunication, and technical investigations." Source: https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-divis...

So checking your stock portfolio from the Bahamas or communicating with your lawyer is not allowed. However this is near impossible to monitor because Pactor 2+ is proprietary and so no proof of this can be submitted.

What the hams are arguing for is in the spirit of the amateur bands: Make the protocols open source and unencrypted so that all communication on the amateur bands are essentially open source and we can all participate and help regulate each other - while learning from each other.

This feels reasonable to me. Kick the Pactors off and let them use Iridium or Inmarsat.

PS: I don't buy the 'interference' argument mentioned in the article. Pactor is low bandwidth and doesn't cause interference that I'm aware of. It's just occupying some bandwidth and can't be understood by others.