From: lapin@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Gregory Lapin)
Subject: Re: ellicited comment on illegals 
Followup-To: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:54:42 GMT

In article <l=k3mf@rpi.edu> mellob@rpi.edu writes:

Brett, I'll have to disagree with your "stay out of it" attitude.  Here's
why:

(referring to the post about an ad for a modified CB rig for sale)
>	First of all, there is no proof that this man "Joe" made these
>	modifications. Nor is there any proof that "Joe" transmitted on
>	these supposedly illegal channels. So in that case, it would be
>	a waste of time for the FCC and a waste of a stamp for you.
>	Thats the "technical" side of my comment.
It doesn't matter what Joe did.  It is illegal to sell a non-FCC type
accepted radio - and a CB modified for 100 watts is probably not.

>	Over here, we have the ethical side. Maybe the term "rat" is
>	strong but I think it would apply here. Is this guy bothering you
>	in actuality? Or is it just the fact that you know he's doing it
>	thats bugging you? In the latter case, I'd just have to say, live
>       with it. You're not a crusader and you can find better things to
>	do with your time than trying to make the lives of illegal tech's
>	miserable.
Consider this:  the illegally modified CB is likely to splatter all over
adjacent frequencies.  If the buyer of this CB uses it in your area, you
may not be able to hear anything on 10 meters.  Do you want to deal with it
after the fact or before?

>	From the Ham point of view, I respect the rules (for the most part)
>	the government sets down to retain some sort of order in the radio
>	spectrum. If somebosy else doesn't, then that is the FCC's 
>	responsiblity. There has been quite enough B.S. going around (mostly
>	in QST) about the "HAM COP" and Ham police and all that other
>	related flaming about Hard Guy Hams who "take matters into their own
>	hands." Imagine what would happen to that now-calming situation
>	if us(we?) Hams started interfering not only with our fellow hams as
>	before, but now interfering with other radio services!
The FCC is so understaffed that they probably would ignore you even if you
took the trouble to send the ad to them.  However, there's a chance they
would be able to do something.  The certainly would do nothing if they
didn't know about it.

Case in point: my club's repeater was interfered with for over 6 months by
a broken paging transmitter that was putting out a spur right on our input
frequency.  We found the source with DF equipment, documented that our
interference was coming from there, and the FCC still ignored us.  We had
to negotiate with the paging company for months to get them to fix it.
Finally, a conscientious tech from Motorola, who did repairs for the paging
company, took us seriously and fixed the problem.

I'm not a great fan of the "HAM COP," as portrayed in QST.  But there is a
need for something to keep the ham bands from becoming like the CB bands.
I am grateful to someone with the right attitude who keeps an eye on
things, like the OO's.

>	Bottom lines:
>	a) Not your job, mon.
>	b) MYOB
Bad attitude!  We have all been given licenses to operate on publicly
owned frequencies and it is our responsibility to protect those frequencies
in any way possible.

>	Brett Mellor, N1LAG                   mellob@rpi.edu
>	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
>	Troy, New York
Greg Lapin, KD9AZ
glapin@nwu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc