May always seems like a new start, and the Big Part 15 Mulching Machine has pretty well shredded this amazing adventure story.
It cheers me greatly to know that The Crow has recovered from the shock and announced plans to rebuild his Cluster Net.
Now we can have the good music at the Finale of the picture, except...
...dramatic pause...
We seem to have discovered that somewhere in the shadows lurks a snitch, a stalker, a whistle blower, a tattle tale, a trouble starter, a part 15 hater.
But that can all be left for the sequel in another thread for summer release.
Goodnight everybody! Thanks for coming!
Happy to read your latest comments. And glad to know you will reboot.
Ah, but Carl, it was not part 15 operation that generated the complaint. It was a self admitted illegal Fm station. That is the salient point.
Glad you raise this question, Artisan, because it is where I am going with it...
If we suspect a station of exceeding Part 15, is it our business?
Can we deputize ourselves to stalk them and check them out?
Is it ethical or acceptable to file a complaint with an enforcement agency?
I have real misgivings about people who become informants against neighbors or anyone else.
It only becomes acceptable in my book if you've witnessed a murder or someone's house is on fire.
I know all kinds of little violations that are done all the time by many people.
Should I be on the phone reporting them?
And a very important second point is that when someone reports us anonymously, it should be our absolute right to know who it is, because many times it will be a petty grudge, and using the law as a weapon to get even over a grudge should be a crime in itself.
we need to self ploice our selves like ham radio and hold our selves to a higher standard than the big boys because we are under more scrutiny.
what we should be doing as a first step is speaking with the individual before we call the authorities but if trying to correct the behavior with the individual does not work than yes i say report. but reporting should not be a first step in the process it should be a last step.
A few items to add....
Behind the back snitches are statistically likely to make false acusations, as happened with another Part 15er who was twice checked out per complaints and found to be legit. "Know your enemy".
It is widely understood that within ranks a police snitch against a fellow officer will probably die in a matter of minutes, and look higher....
Bradley Manning attempted to snitch on crimes against humanity, war crimes and other atrocities at the hands of high officials, but were those complaints followed by enforcement against wrong doers?
No. The messenger was stripped of everything including at one point his clothes and will never get his life back. Should such high reaching intolerance be the standard role model employed by us against our acusers?
The problem of "see something say something" is a raging dilemna of our time, and Part 15 is swept up in it.
A revised position statement from KDX Worldround Radio is that, while we are not leary of the FCC per se, we distrust small minded snoops who might put us under investigation either as a sport, vengeance or that same thrill of damaging others enjoyed by those psychologically deficient soldiers in the helicopter who shot ordinary people on the ground because it was fun (Colateral Damage Video).
Mr. Crow, you have nothing to apologize about.
Radi0chik, I don't know you, but I'm glad there
is someone else out there who likes this stuff.
Bruce, The Dog Radio Group
SLUG 88.3 GNAT 90.9 1020 kHz Dog Carrier Current
MICRO1690/1700 and other stations from way
back in the past
I have real problems with both Carl's and Bruce's statements.
If Crow 99.9 was knowingly an illegal FM station (and it sounds like it was, right from the horse's mouth), then others do have the right to question the operation and the FCC definitely has the legal right to investigate. My inclination would be to follow Robert's path, but I can see where others wouldn't.
If Part 15 (or whatever the rules are called in other countries) broadcasters don't respect the rules, then how can we garner any respect from others, whether it be hams, the FCC/Industry Canada or the general public? How can we truly be called community minded?
If you don't like the rules, attempt to change them, but I believe it is absolutely necessary to follow the ones that exist. Or get out of the game. One or the other. Because if you don't, you'll probably be put out of the game, and in the process put another blemish on Part 15 in general.
From its inception, Artisan Radio has attempted to live within the Canadian rules. I've had to work hard to develop strategies to bring in listeners, even though our broadcasting coverage was extremely limited. And one of those strategies was definitely NOT using 'slightly more power' than the rules allowed.
Early on, before we were really established on Bowen Island, Artisan Radio had to live with it's signal being blasted by a blatently illegal transmitter that covered up my puny signal (listening on a car radio) within a couple of hundred feet of my transmitter - until the outcry within the community shamed the operator into turning it off. So I have very little tolerance or sympathy (if they get caught) for those who deliberately decide to operate as pirates. And I delineate VERY strongly a legal, unlicensed operation (which is what Part 15 et al is) vs a pirate operation. No matter who the pirate operation supposedly doesn't hurt. And no matter how much power they are running.
When I operate, I want to operate openly, within the community - and that community includes the potential listeners, other users of the radio spectrum including hams and licensed stations (who I've found are generally far more open to LEGAL micro broadcasters than what is usually portrayed here), other media (such as newspapers, who I've found are VERY supportive) AND the regulatory bodies.
That is truly bringing radio back to the people.
I am here in response to Artisan Radio's strong statement.
But I do not know what to say, except this:
One reason the ALPB (Association for Low Power Broadcastsers) will contribute to the Part 15 mission is because it has strong minded clear thinking members such as Artisan Radio.
I am so proud to be affiliated with this organization, and I hope many more will sign in by contacting MRAM for instructions on connecting by TeamSpeak on Friday.
Senior moment - sorry. I got confused
about the case and the discussion about it.
I do like Mr. Crow, though, and I feel bad
that things went down an unforunate path
for him. I guess that my confusion sort of took
over. In a broader sense (loosely
connected to this case) - I have a friend I
have known all my life. He was just arrested
for doing a bad thing. It just happened TODAY.
He should not have done
what he did - but I still like him and I am still
his friend.
Or as my best friend said to ME once, "I'm
your friend. If you went to jail, I would still
come and visit you and be your friend.
I take great pains to make sure my set-up is
legal, too. I just sort of got my mind a
little jumbled up with this. Sorry. I'm getting older
faster and faster it seems.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, The Dog Radio Group
I was trying to pen a post, trying to rationalize the ease with which a person can get sucked into a situation where they step over the line. This "hobby" is very addictive and it would seem we are all tinkerers, each trying to reach that virtual carrot called coverage. Be it a "fat" antenna or an elaborate radial system or a super efficient transmitter or...
Sometimes it may be "I'm just testing this transmitter. I know it's a bit over the line but I'm only going to run it for a little while." Or, "I know the signal is going a little bit farther than it should but it's just around the neighborhood, no one will notice."
That's when that little voice is supposed to chime in and remind us that yes, this is fun but its not right and its a roll of the dice.
We must resign ourselves to the fact that unlicensed, low power broadcasting is a priviledge and to step over the line jepordizes the system for everyone. Not mention the inevitable paranoia and speculation about what really happens when the "raid" occurs.
I could not rationalize it, trying to sooth the wounds. If nothing else, it becomes a learning experience, one that dictates why we can't cross that line.
I'm just getting old.
However...
I wouldn't be able to rationalize crossing the
line either.
I do know that, maybe about 12 years ago and
even farther back than that, I did not understand
the U.S. Part 15 FM rules. I bought a kit from a
well known company that was a simple FM transmitter -
not synthesized - it was just a free running osc.
and amp. It was a very very popular kit and there
were many discussion groups about that particular
piece of gear. (Mostly on how to get it not to drift in
frequency - one guy went as far as building a crystal
oven and a controller to make the oven function
correctly.) Experimenters said the transmitter power output
was in the 5 to 8 milliwatt range. I think the general
feeling way back then was that if the transmitter was
in your house, with it's existing whip antenna, that it
would comply with Part 15.239. The manufacturer
also published a chart in the instruction manual
to show how far a Part 15.239 signal should travel -
in field strength vs. distance. This seemed - and I
mean SEEMED to imply that the transmitter kit was
Part 15 compliant because the company even put that
chart in the instructional manual. And to take it
even farther, companies that made kits started making
"Part 15" gain FM antennas to add to the transmitters, which
takes the RF field on some of these radio set-ups even
farther away from 15.239. (In spite of that, I ran the
transmitter in the house with a partially collapsed
antenna - just to be safe - but I was confused about
what was really legal for a long time.)
And there I was, in 1999 -
with an FM transmitter that was running about 5 milliwatts
or so, and low and behold - I thought it was legal.
And I guess other people thought that, also.
But it's not true. The field strength I was
running then might have been too high.
MUCH lower than that.
But back then some people heard that 5 milliwatt
(or so) figure. So they figured - oh well - 10 mW
is OK and then the figure went up to 25 mW - and
then there were the people who thought 100 mW
would be OK. (Because they had heard the rules
for AM Part 15 in the U.S.)
That was years ago - I guess that
general idea is still out there in
some places. Some people maybe
don't know the right answer, and then
there is the other group that DOES KNOW,
and they chose to cross the line anyway.
I know that there are plenty of Christmas
lighting set-up on people's houses and in their yards
during the winter holidays.
Some of these people are transmitting music
on the FM band. And after reading the posts
on some of the radio boards, I KNOW that many
many of these FM set-ups are WAY WAY over the line.
And it bothers me - QUITE A BIT - actually. (And these
guys don't get bagged because they are only on for
a few weeks during the winter near the end
of the year.)
Then there was the dude I met in 1977
(after he got busted by the FCC.) He
was running a 250 watt FM BCB transmitter
and antenna - RIGHT NEXT TO HIS BED in his
bedroom. We all couldn't beleive it. I
had never seen anyone get THAT BOLD.
Oh well. I've probably said too much.
It's way past my bedtime. 7:30 PM was
quite a while ago.
Bruce, The Dog Radio Group
I guess you all will get the general idea.
Bruce, The Dog Radio Group
I knew another guy in the 1980s
who was in college, and he lived
with a bunch of other people in
some kind of house/apartment
arrangement.
He slept at night, and during the day
sometimes, too - on the top of a
bunk bed in a room. On the first
bunk - on the bottom - was a
pirate radio transmitter that was
running most of the time. It was
not this guys station - he was just
living there and wasn't uncomfortable
sleeping practically on top of a pirate
transmitter. I didn't live near him,
I never heard the pirate station - -
it was just an amusing subject of
discussion among our group of
friends, which he was part of.
A long long time ago.
Bruce, The Dog Radio Group
P.S. I was just looking over the comments
at the top of this page. RadioBoy said in
about two lines what I was trying to get
across with about 1000 words.
I guess I should go back to writing
school, or take an evening course,
at it, or something like that.