In a message dated 7/16/2002 3:50:22 PM Central Daylight Time, wn3vaw@fyi.net
writes:
> surely the net can slide SOMEWHERE up or down a few
> and avoid the screwballs... right?
>
> 73, ron wn3vaw
>
Hi, Ron.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Can't help but recall what Pete Allen said when I was moaning about
hams who really bothered me. Earlier I had told him I had worked as a
pastoral counselor with inpatient psychiatry patients for about sixteen years
before I retired a bunch of years ago, so in his neat way he picked up on
something I understood.
"Raymond, the reason all the loonies are not in the loony bin is that
there just isn't enough room for all of us. . . "
As I read your note, couldn't help but think, "from the point of view
of the folks we want to get away from, they may think we are the screwballs."
Don't know how we can ever avoid them all. There's just too many of us.
Here's a similar situation my trying to get away from problems.
Traveling from Virginia to Oklahoma City a few years ago, an 18 wheeler
smashed us into a barrier because the driver decided he wanted to be where we
were. His rear wheel literally ground off the mirror on the right door next
to my wife. She thought the truck was going to tear off her legs as well. I
chased him for about ten miles but he took off the Interstate and headed
toward NC.
To save ourselves from such "screwballs," we decided to take the
southern state roads from Sevierville to Memphis and avoid all the 18
wheelers on I-40 westward into OKC. You may have guessed it. About half way
to Memphis, as we were stopped in a line of four or five cars where the first
one was turning left off the two lane at the edge of a small town, a
different 18 wheeler topped the hill behind us, couldn't stop, and I knew we
were dead. The driver obviously knew he couldn't stop without creaming us, so
he veered totally onto the steep shoulder, turned his rig about 15 degrees
from vertical, missed our back bumper about only a couple of feet, and kept
his speed at 65 in the 45 mph zone. I don't know how the truck kept from
turning over. And we had had two very, very near misses in only two days.
My point: we will never get away from someone who wants to be where we
are and will do everything to make us get out of their way. They do not see
themselves as the problem, they consider us the problem. They are
self-centered and belligerent.
Just keep ourselves vigilant, do the best we can, and perhaps someday
he may decide to leave. Perhaps the Feds will persuade him to change. As
someone suggested, keep a log of the violations, and report, report, report.
Eventually with enough verification FCC will do something, but they must have
verification of the violations. It takes time, and often the process works.
If the net goes elsewhere, can anyone give a solid gold guarantee that
another "problem" will not pop up there? "Problems" are everywhere on our ham
bands. Think about it.
73, Raymond W5VPU
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