Does the FCC really hope to collect the fine?
Ham Radio Operator Handed $17,000 Notice of Forfeiture
- Thread starter drbeede
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bill4long
Member
The FCC will end up filing a lien against him. It's a civil assessment, like an infraction at state level. The guy can pay up now, or run it through the federal civil court, which is expensive at the federal level, and will have to hire a lawyer, unless he tries to represent himself. His strategy will depend on his assets and mental disposition. At very least he can stall for a couple of years. He might even win if the FCC's case isn't solid. If he doesn't have the assets, then no, the FCC will never collect. But evidence seems to suggest he's got the assets. And depending on the level of assets, the FCC may agree to take less than the original assessment. If he dies before a disposition, the lien will still exist against his estate. We'll have to wait what happens.
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Why wouldn't they? They're the federal government with all kinds of resources at their disposal. If the story was accurate, he deserves it.
Thanks for the replies... I just didn't think they really were serious about this... I guess we will see. It's the first time in a long time that i have ever heard of such a judgement.
bill4long
Member
The fact is, the FCC is very lenient with the shenanigans on ham radio. They usually send out several warnings to a chronic rules violator. When someone starts making physical threats, that will quickly accelerate the process. This particular guy is a rare bird, relatively speaking.
techman210
Member
I’m wondering how many non-corporation scofflaws that the FCC’s enforcement bureau has nailed has actually have paid ANYTHING. Anyone have any verifiable data?
A $50K penalty will cost that much in government bureaucracy just to get a judgement and collection. It’s just not worth their time and money.
A certain California violator had plenty of assets to go after when he exited federal lockup. I haven’t heard that he’s paid a dime.
These NAL’s would carry more weight if the penalties were applied aggressively to the person responsible. But I don’t think they are.
A $50K penalty will cost that much in government bureaucracy just to get a judgement and collection. It’s just not worth their time and money.
A certain California violator had plenty of assets to go after when he exited federal lockup. I haven’t heard that he’s paid a dime.
These NAL’s would carry more weight if the penalties were applied aggressively to the person responsible. But I don’t think they are.
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There's a certain amount of "you can't get blood from a turnip" involved when collecting fines. OTOH, the Federal government has lots of experience extracting fines from IRS violators and such, so I think they work fairly diligently to collect.
I used to know a guy who ran a "gentleman's club". He ran afoul of the IRS over not reporting certain income. By the time the IRS was done with the back taxes, penalties, and fines, the guy had lost his business, his home, his life savings, his cars, his guns, etc., etc. He ended up with nothing in the way of assets.
I used to know a guy who ran a "gentleman's club". He ran afoul of the IRS over not reporting certain income. By the time the IRS was done with the back taxes, penalties, and fines, the guy had lost his business, his home, his life savings, his cars, his guns, etc., etc. He ended up with nothing in the way of assets.
bill4long
Member
A bit of a different situation. FCC forfeitures are purely in the civil domain, with all that entails. Nobody is going to prison, and all sorts of relief is available to defendents, such as various forms of bankruptcy. On the other hand, not taking care of you tax situation properly, is a whole different universe of potential problems, including criminal charges. For example, something that is common, it's easy for business owners to get far behind on their taxes when they are in financial trouble, esp when it comes to employee withholding. Very bad news. If evasion can be demonstrated, it can easily involve criminal offenses, and all that entails, including prison time. It's a whole different world than civil fines.
There have been rare situations where criminal charges here filed against an amateur radio operators, but the charges were not directly related to a violation of Part 97. They involved other federal statutes involving malicious intentional interference to public safety and threats of violence. In such criminal cases, the DOJ gets involves.
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Hospice care = End of Life. Some people like to go out with a bang especially if you are already know your at the end of your life. Not much to lose at this point. RIP
I wish the FCC would do that where I am at. Here in central NC we have a guy that constantly goes on all the repeaters locally here, after the repeater owners told him to get off & stay off our repeater he threatened to "shoot him in the F'n head" and all this crap. We have complained to the FCC several times, we know who he is and all his details, he is one of those "free-banders" that has a valid tech license but refuses to follow rules & hates the government. I even have recordings of him making his threats and such. We record our repeater just for this purpose since it is one of the most popular repeaters in Central NC. Even after recordings of this guy cussing and threatening we can't get anyone at the FCC to do anything about him. He's been banned from several repeaters but still goes on them and doesn't care. What can we do other than make everyone else suffer and shut the repeaters down.... So whoever at the FCC nailed this guy above I wish they would see our complaint too! 
Not everyone in Hospice care end up dying. That happened to a Ham friend's wife in my area last week, she was in Hospice, thought it was over, and ended up recovering to the point she was discharged home and is doing great now. Sometimes Hospice is temporary if the person has a miraculous recovery.
w2xq
Mentor
The rest of the story... s 10 minute search... in his 70s.
Judging from his patents, he could have a Ph.D but I didn't find a record of his education.
lawandcrime.com
patents.justia.com
www.freepatentsonline.com
www.globalauctionguide.com
www.globalauctionguide.com
And see Gordon West's article "Service Survey Wrapup" in October 1990 73 magazine, p.38 ff, with a narrative and two photos. A PDF is available on the net.
HTH a bit.
Judging from his patents, he could have a Ph.D but I didn't find a record of his education.
Cops: Man Threatened Town Workers with Crossbow over Dismantled Plane | Law & Crime
Harold Guretzky, of Oceanside, NY, has been arrested Tuesday for allegedly doing just that, The New York Post reports.
lawandcrime.com
Harold Guretzky Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search
USPTO patent applications submitted by and patents granted to Harold Guretzky
patents.justia.com
Stub matched antenna and method of feeding same - GURETZKY; HAROLD
An antenna having a unique method of feed is comprised of a vertical radiator and a driven element. The driven element is defined by an integral, substantially straight part. RF energy is fed into or
www.freepatentsonline.com
HAM Radio Auction Ending 4/30, Pleasant Valley, NY | Global Auction Guide
HAM Radio Auction Ending 4/30 by Absolute Auctions & Realty, Inc. is coming to Pleasant Valley NY. Find the auction date and venue, auction items for sale, and learn how to bid.
www.globalauctionguide.com
HAM Radio Auction Ending 4/30, Pleasant Valley, NY | Global Auction Guide
HAM Radio Auction Ending 4/30 by Absolute Auctions & Realty, Inc. is coming to Pleasant Valley NY. Find the auction date and venue, auction items for sale, and learn how to bid.
www.globalauctionguide.com
Wallace v. Guretzky: OPINION AND ORDER: The Bankruptcy court's order dated October 27, 2008 is affirmed. The clerk of the Court is directed to close this case. SO ORDERED. Ordered by Judge Sandra J. Feuerstein on 9/29/2009.
Wallace v. Guretzky: OPINION AND ORDER: The Bankruptcy court's order dated October 27, 2008 is affirmed. The clerk of the Court is directed to close this case. SO ORDERED. Ordered by Judge Sandra J. Feuerstein on 9/29/2009.
www.docketbird.com
And see Gordon West's article "Service Survey Wrapup" in October 1990 73 magazine, p.38 ff, with a narrative and two photos. A PDF is available on the net.
HTH a bit.
I wish the FCC would do that where I am at. Here in central NC we have a guy that constantly goes on all the repeaters locally here, after the repeater owners told him to get off & stay off our repeater he threatened to "shoot him in the F'n head" and all this crap. We have complained to the FCC several times, we know who he is and all his details, he is one of those "free-banders" that has a valid tech license but refuses to follow rules & hates the government. I even have recordings of him making his threats and such. We record our repeater just for this purpose since it is one of the most popular repeaters in Central NC. Even after recordings of this guy cussing and threatening we can't get anyone at the FCC to do anything about him. He's been banned from several repeaters but still goes on them and doesn't care. What can we do other than make everyone else suffer and shut the repeaters down.... So whoever at the FCC nailed this guy above I wish they would see our complaint too!
The death threats, especially recorded & documented ones, should be sent to the local cops. They are not an FCC problem, until they are directed to one of their officials.
It was reported to local officials. But for some reason the Plaintiff was told that Ham Radio isn’t considered a mode of direct threat. They are refusing to issue a Warrant even tho he wants to press charges. So he took out a restraining order and tried to have him served. Turns out the guy is using a fake name and address, so he tried to report that to the FCC as well cuz that’s using a false name and location for a license. We are trying everything we can but nobody wants to do anything about it. The guy comes onto the repeater and cusses and swears at people, threatens people, says stuff without identifying his call sign even tho we know his voice, he says smart-Alec comments back at people out of the blue burying into our conversations without identifying, he sets his mic on Lock mode and plays music over the repeater for sometimes hours at a time. The guy is a real nuisance and among other colorful words that I can’t use on here...
Sounds like time for a Fox Hunt. What happens after he is located, well....
LOL great minds think alike.... We reversed him one day and narrowed it down to like a 5-block radius but there’s a lot of houses within that radius & he’s blasting his power to where I don’t think we can narrow it down anymore without some government-level trackers or super high-quality directional antennas, LOL
How about just using a very inefficient antenna or removing the antenna entirely?
You're close. Attenuation is required to reduce the signal. Using a directional antenna is also key. If your radio does not have built-in attenuation, or if it is not enough one can always dial slightly off frequency to increase the attenuation of the signal.
Still, once I get close to a signal source I typically dial up the third harmonic. This is where a dual band directional antenna is key. I prefer the Elk Log Periodic. Turning in a complete circle allows you to see the nulls as well as clearly observing the front and back. By having the antenna face the opposite direction of the signal at times, one adds more attenuation in order to narrow in on the source.
slicerwizard
Member
Pfft. A simple TDOA antenna can easily deal with that. There are also SDR RDF solutions available.
bill4long
Member
When you get in the neighborhood, you unplug the coax from your mobile and put a paper clip in it, and start going up and down the streets. When you get real close, take out the paper clip. I've done this many time and it works like a charm.
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