Bryan wrote:
>Our local newspaper has just carried a story about the police charging
>a local CB operator with criminal mischief because he was causing RFI to
>a neighbor's computer modem.
and:
>I do not condone in any way the CB'ers use of profanity, but most law
>enforcement people don't know the difference in a amateur radio operator
>and a un-licensed CB operator.
Sure they do. One big difference is the piece of paper issued by the US
Federal Government (FCC) called an Amateur Radio license. Hold up this piece
of paper and MOST local officials will back off. CBers have no FCC license to
produce when police confront them. So I'm not even a little worried about
this happening to hams regularly. It's not very likely to happen although I'm
sure it already has before.
Besides, aren't we hams always friendly and willing to help resolve any
TVI/RFI issues when they're brought to our attention by our neighbors? If so,
it should never come to the point of getting the police or courts involved.
However, Walt-K2WK had a case of a belligerent neighbor suing him over TVI.
The judge ruled that he had no jurisdiction and dismissed the case. So they
can sue, but they can't win! I'll bet it was an expensive victory though.
So now I ask...who regulates CBers? The FCC? Only on paper; not in real
life. The FCC has completely backed away from resolving RFI/TVI issues even
when FCC rules are known to be violated as in this case. At first I thought
this was a good thing; now I'm sure it was a terrible thing.
For a CBer to be causing widespread TVI, he is running illegal power, and
cussing up a storm to boot, but with what I hear on AM/FM broadcast radio & TV
that's no big deal anymore! It is happening in every major city everyday on
CB. I just listened to the mess this weekend in Omaha. Within 2 minutes
heard the "F" word and most others and no one was conversing, just threatening
each other repeatedly for hours on end. Based on the distorted signals, 2 or
3 of them were running high power amps. I'd hate to live next to one of these
jerks.
If the feds won't step in and act, and they won't, I applaud the local police
for taking action in this case! We hams through our clubs or ARES ought to
already be in regular contact with local authorities through public service so
I doubt we have anything to fear if we are already doing our duty as hams in
serving the public interest.
73,
de ed -- K0iL
k0il@qsl.net
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