FCC wants to fine Idaho man $34K for interfering in radio transmissions during wildfire

[GlobalNorth]

He had to be part of the action. He did it. He admitted to it. They have evidence that he did it. It is clear that the FCC is going to fine him the price of a decent used automobile and perhaps issue a forfeiture order. It's a civil proceeding and he has little recourse. Frankly, he deserves his official public spanking.

Amateurs need to understand that if the government wants help in a crisis, they will grab you and say "Help us here and now - this is what we want". Until that happens, stay back and let them earn their pay.

 

[mmckenna]

Amateurs need to understand that if the government wants help in a crisis, they will grab you and say "Help us here and now - this is what we want". Until that happens, stay back and let them earn their pay.

Yeah, the FCC is -ABUNDANTLY- clear on this.
Some hams fail to understand the rules that apply to their radio service. Few take the time to read and understand Part 97. Some that do, go at it with the idea of finding a loophole to allow them to operate outside the ham bands.
They also fail to read/understand the other rule parts that apply, most notably, Part 2 and Part 15.

Part 2 has a section, that once again, is -ABUNDANTLY- clear on the subject:

§ 2.405 Operation during emergency.​

The licensee of any station (except amateur, standard broadcast, FM broadcast, noncommercial educational FM broadcast, or television broadcast) may, during a period of emergency in which normal communication facilities are disrupted as a result of hurricane, flood, earthquake, or similar disaster, utilize such station for emergency communication service in communicating in a manner other than that specified in the instrument of authorization: Provided:​

​

(a) That as soon as possible after the beginning of such emergency use, notice be sent to the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the Commission at Washington, D.C., stating the nature of the emergency and the use to which the station is being put, and​

(b) That the emergency use of the station shall be discontinued as soon as substantially normal communication facilities are again available, and​

(c) That the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the Commission at Washington, D.C., shall be notified immediately when such special use of the station is terminated: Provided further,​

(d) That in no event shall any station engage in emergency transmission on frequencies other than, or with power in excess of, that specified in the instrument of authorization or as otherwise expressly provided by the Commission, or by law: And provided further,​

(e) That any such emergency communication undertaken under this section shall terminate upon order of the Commission.​

Note:​

Part 73 of this chapter contains provisions governing emergency operation of standard, FM, noncommercial educational FM, and television broadcast stations. Part 97 of this chapter contains such provisions for amateur stations.​

​

ARRL needs to own part of this. Their nonsense with the "When All Else Fails" crap has encouraged some of this behavior.

 

[bharvey2]

There is one GMRS repeater in Central California that has an FCC issued experimental license to run DMR on their repeater and a few simplex frequencies. It's the only -legal- GMRS repeater running DMR.

Yes, he's in my area. I speak to him from time to time. He's in the radio business and goes about doing things the right way.

 

[mmckenna]

A member over on C.S. pointed this one out also:

§ 1.903 Authorization required.​

​

(a) General rule. Stations in the Wireless Radio Services must be used and operated only in accordance with the rules applicable to their particular service as set forth in this title and with a valid authorization granted by the Commission under the provisions of this part, except as specified in paragraph (b) of this section.​

(b) Restrictions. The holding of an authorization does not create any rights beyond the terms, conditions and period specified in the authorization. Authorizations may be granted upon proper application, provided that the Commission finds that the applicant is qualified in regard to citizenship, character, financial, technical and other criteria, and that the public interest, convenience and necessity will be served. See §§ 301, 308, and 309, 310 of this chapter.​

 

[bharvey2]

A member over on C.S. pointed this one out also:

§ 1.903 Authorization required.​

​

(a) General rule. Stations in the Wireless Radio Services must be used and operated only in accordance with the rules applicable to their particular service as set forth in this title and with a valid authorization granted by the Commission under the provisions of this part, except as specified in paragraph (b) of this section.​

(b) Restrictions. The holding of an authorization does not create any rights beyond the terms, conditions and period specified in the authorization. Authorizations may be granted upon proper application, provided that the Commission finds that the applicant is qualified in regard to citizenship, character, financial, technical and other criteria, and that the public interest, convenience and necessity will be served. See §§ 301, 308, and 309, 310 of this chapter.​

It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to figure out where you can and can't transmit. Unless you're licensed for a particular frequency or band, you need to stay in your lane. This information has even been spoon fed to people on this and other forums. I know we discussed it on another thread about a month ago. There is just no convincing some people. My grandfather used to comment that it was a wonder that some people can be so sure of themselves and wrong and the same time. Man, if that's not the truth.

 

[chrismol1]

I can't believe the balls on this guy to the point a Forest Service supervisor had to go down to the airport where he said he was at to tell him to shut up. Pure narcissism and ego. That's quite the ego Mr. "Comm Tech". It's one thing to make a few transmissions and get told to f*ck off but it sounds like he couldn't quit. Maybe he should buy his own fire truck or fire suppression airplane next time since he's the expert.

They say it was 8 transmissions, He did this over a few days! I bet that was only the last 8 they could prove after getting fed up and recording him on the last few days before driving down to his location. I wonder what he said, probably tried to give them info they already had and correcting them on what he thought was best

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

What dumb dumb. He admitted to it and was at the airstrip saying he was trying to help. Never admit guilt. 34K mistake and possible more other fines and loss of license and his name is all over the internet forever now. Just stay out of public safety's way. There is no reason to communicate with them during emergencies. Normal people just know better even if you have the ability to transmit. You just don't do it.

Eventually everything will be trunked and encrypted because these kinds of cases just give officials the ability to point fingers and say this is a safety hazard for emergency responders and that's all it takes. Law enforcement is doing this all the time now and once it happens and the safety buzz word happens then there is no turning back the clock. What a radio wacker.

 

[chrismol1]

I can't believe the balls on this guy to the point a Forest Service supervisor had to go down to the airport where he said he was at to tell him to shut up. Pure narcissism and ego. That's quite the ego Mr. "Comm Tech". It's one thing to make a few transmissions and get told to f*ck off but it sounds like he couldn't quit. Maybe he should buy his own fire truck or fire suppression airplane next time since he's the expert.

They say it was 8 transmissions, He did this over a few days! I bet that was only the last 8 they could prove after getting fed up and recording him on the last few days before driving down to his location. I wonder what he said, probably tried to give them info they already had and correcting them on what he thought was best

Not only could he not come up as some random firefighter with breaking information that the guys in the airplane couldn't see, had to come on the radio as "comm tech" as some sort of authority of the radio. I wonder if that was to connote some kind of authority to try to prove to them he was "one of them" and credible or something. WANKER

He sounds like the type of person like a contractor who installs lights and sirens in emergency vehicles, then installs it on his own personal vehicle and uses them or NOT just for kicks, for bull**** since he's the supreme authority of it all and "touched" everything he's "pretty much authorized if it wasn't for him nobody would have nothing" WANKER

 

[MTS2000des]

What I don't get is how so many hams are delusional and defending this guy, asserting that somehow having an amateur radio license is carte blanche access to all radio spectrum. Claiming their self-awarded "first responder" status is laughable and dangerous. Guys like this are all cool when they're rocking their bandolero of portables with "cop sounds" blaring, donning orange vests with badges, until IT goes down and gets real. Now you see how bad it can go. He's very fortunate that state prosecutors aren't nailing him to the cross for state crimes. Who know, they might- the statute of limitations is far from up and this is just in it's genesis.

Because it's high profile and got national (and Federal) attention, it might not end up with just some civil liability to the FCC. We shall see.

 

[Tech21]

Good, most HAM's only learn the hard way to not f**K around on frequencies you're not allowed to be on. If you aren't licensed for it, don't transmit on it and keep it receive only if you program things into your radio you are not licensed for or have written authorization to operate on that frequency. Doesn't matter if your sisters uncles cousins grandpa is the county Sheriff and were told by your mothers daughters cousins brother that you can.

If you are not an authorized end user or the system admin of a conventional, DMR or trunking system, it's best keep it out of your fleecebay stolen radio. Listening all day long on a scanner is perfectly fine, if you want to transmit, keep it within the HAM bands.

 

[Pete_uk]

WANKER

I like your language!

I also see the latest issue of QST has a very apt cover...

 

[vagrant]

When All Else Fails = Last Responder and definitely not first, second, third, fourth, etc.

Contacting other amateurs on licensed amateur frequencies, or anyone monitoring them, about danger is 100% okay. The FCC is making a clear statement to those that interfere on unlicensed frequencies with the action against this person. To not comprehend this and argue against the FCC about this incident is buffoonery.

Consequences can be painful.

 

[Duckford]

I can't believe the balls on this guy to the point a Forest Service supervisor had to go down to the airport where he said he was at to tell him to shut up. Pure narcissism and ego. That's quite the ego Mr. "Comm Tech". It's one thing to make a few transmissions and get told to f*ck off but it sounds like he couldn't quit. Maybe he should buy his own fire truck or fire suppression airplane next time since he's the expert.

They say it was 8 transmissions, He did this over a few days! I bet that was only the last 8 they could prove after getting fed up and recording him on the last few days before driving down to his location. I wonder what he said, probably tried to give them info they already had and correcting them on what he thought was best

I think that's the whole point. Not only did he chime in once and get chastised, but he kept doing it. A single quip, trying to be helpful, and getting told to stop might just even fly under the radar, when everyone is busy with a real emergency and the aftermath. But to keep punching the bear in the nose is asking for big trouble.

Lastly, even when he was fully honest with the FCC, he should have been groveling and apologizing as much as possible. If he was defiant and defensive of his actions, that truly condemns him, and might explain why the book was thrown at his head.

If he was better acting in this, violated once and stopped, and shameful instead of defiant, he would probably be treated a whole lot different.

 

[mmckenna]

If he was better acting in this, violated once and stopped, and shameful instead of defiant, he would probably be treated a whole lot different.

Truth.

Except the ARRL and other ignorant hams endorse and actively encourage this behavior. The solution will be the FCC to keep doing this, again and again, until the ARRL and ham radio operators learn their lesson.

Remember, this guy is a licensed ham, a VE, a Part 90 license holder, and a self proclaimed "radio tech", he -should- have known better. It's obvious he didn't, it's obvious he's never read the rules, and it's obvious that common sense was not in his "go bag".

 

[AJAT]

Except the ARRL and other ignorant hams endorse and actively encourage this behavior.

I am not a real active member of the ARRL, just read their technical articles in their magazine, but when did they encourage transmitting on a public safety frequency? All the emergency communication training I see focus on using ham bands for Emergemcy communications, although I never taken any of their Em-comm training. I just don’t believe the ARRL “activity encourages” this behavior. I could be wrong, I just never seen it. Their will always be the wackers out their.

 

[mmckenna]

I just don’t believe the ARRL “activity encourages” this behavior. I could be wrong, I just never seen it.

ARRL pushed their "When all else fails" thing pretty hard. They encouraged ham radio operators to step in as an emergency communications resource, which is a good thing. ARRL allows the continued misunderstanding of 97.405 without doing anything to stop it.
The ARRL VEC pool questions encourage misunderstanding of 97.405.

ARRL is generally accepted as the lead organization for amateur radio. There goal should be to encourage proper understanding of the FCC rules. They seem to avoid this one….

Their will always be the wackers out their.

Real whackers are a problem, and they need to be dealt with.
Encouraging whackerish behavior by advertising amateur radio badges doesn't help. Again, another area ARRL could actively work on.

 

[chrismol1]

besides the "when all else fails" There's a decent subset of whackers who take it literally, in emcomm and ham being a "public service" suddenly they become public servants in their mind and entitled to public safety comms and often combined with commercial radios who get all excited to program public safety frequencies in the things and because of their supposed "expert" knowledge of radio and that pushing of ham radio as some sort of emergency comms I don't know how to say it, narcissistically "promote" themselves as an authority of radio communication. The type that has all the interop or fire/police channels programmed "JUST IN CASE" itching at a chance to use them because they're "involved in emergency comms" We have a "FCC government" license, we're "government agents"

 

[celestis]

its not just the besides the "when all else fails" There's a decent subset of whackers who take it literally, in emcomm and ham being a "public service" suddenly they become public servants in their mind and entitled to public safety comms and often combined with commercial radios who get all excited to program public safety frequencies in the things and because of their supposed "expert" knowledge of radio and that pushing of ham radio as some sort of emergency comms I don't know how to say it, narcissistically "promote" themselves as an authority of radio communication. The type that has all the interop or fire/police channels programmed "JUST IN CASE" itching at a chance to use them because they're "involved in emergency comms"

Yep
One example: go to ULS and view the dismissed applications filed by some whacker calling himself Patrolist Communications… absolutely delusional

 

[AJAT]

I just don’t understand how anyone with any bit of common sense would think it is ok to program a public safety frequency and TRANSMIT on it. People always seem to amaze me.

Even if ARRL pushes the “when all else fails”, I don’t think all else failed, he could of used his cell phone.

Encouraging whackerish behavior by advertising amateur radio badges doesn't help. Again, another area ARRL could actively work on.

I agree with that. Those badges are ridiculous.

 

[iowajm780]

One ham told me he would transmit on a public safety frequency if he was being shot at. I guess being alive to face the consequences was worth it to him. He had a State Patrol conventional pair in his modified Kenwood HT that opened the extended receive and transmit frequencies. This is way before any CCR's were even a thought. How would you explain it to the cops why were you on their channel?. This when even cell phones were the size of a large brick. We obviously cannot have people, not just ham radio operators carry around radios that can access an agencies channels when needing a response of LE. Now the influx of all the Chinese crap radios and agencies that are still using good old analog, conventional would cause people to start the practice of using a service that they are not authorized to use. If someone were to setup a trunked system in their own radios is it a bigger civil/crime penalty since it's involves things related to hacking using system keys, etc. This issue is being put to rest using encryption, locked down TRS's, etc. It is no surprise to absolutely nobody that some ham radio folks think they can use any frequency for any kind of emergency and it would be legal to do so. Can a individual that does not have their amateur radio license transmit emergency traffic on ham radio bands. I trust a cellphone and a 911 call center with phase2 geolocation to find me especially if not being capable of verbal communication with a telecommunicator.