If you operate 20m phone at all, you probably avoid 14.313 MHz. I know I do. Now, two hams, Michael Guernsey, KZ8O and Brian Crow, K3VR, have been busted by the FCC for their activities on that frequency. The Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) citing KZ8O reads:
- Causing Intentional Interference to Licensed Communications
- The evidence in this case is sufficient to establish that Mr. Guernsey violated Section 333 of the Act and Section 97.101(d) of the Rules. Section 333 of the Act states that “[n]o person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications of any station licensed or authorized by or under the Act or operated by the United States Government.” The legislative history for Section 333 of the Act identifies willful and malicious interference as “intentional jamming, deliberate transmission on top of the transmissions of authorized users already using specific frequencies in order to obstruct their communications, repeated interruptions, and the use and transmission of whistles, tapes, records, or other types of noisemaking devices to interfere with the communications or radio signals of other stations.” Section 97.101(d) of the Rules states that “[n]o amateur operator shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communication or signal.”
- On March 7, 2014, agents from the Detroit Office located the source of interference to frequency 14.313 MHz to the address of record for Mr. Guernsey’s amateur station KZ8O. The agents heard Mr. Guernsey intentionally interfering with other amateur licensees by transmitting a prerecorded song and various animal noises. These transmissions were a deliberate act to monopolize the frequency and prevent other amateur radio operators from conducting legitimate communications. Based on the evidence before us, we find that Mr. Guernsey apparently willfully violated Section 333 of the Act and Section 97.101(d) of the Rules by intentionally interfering with other licensed amateur radio communications.
- Failure to Transmit a Call Sign Identification
- The evidence in this case also is sufficient to establish that Mr. Guernsey violated Section 97.119(a) of the Rules. Section 97.119(a) of the Rules states that “[e]ach amateur station . . . must transmit its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel at the end of each communication, and at least every 10 minutes during a communication, for the purpose of clearly making the source of the transmissions from the station known to those receiving the transmissions.” On March 7, 2014, agents from the Detroit Office monitored frequency 14.313 MHz for approximately 40 minutes and heard transmissions by Mr. Guernsey in which he failed to transmit his assigned call sign. Based on the evidence before us, we find that Mr. Guernsey apparently willfully violated Section 97.119(a) of the Rules by failing to transmit his assigned call sign.
The Notice of Apparent Liability for K3VR reads about the same.
The pace of Amateur Radio Service enforcement activities seems to have picked up in 2014. After only two enforcement actions in 2013, there have been six already in 2014.
Dear FCC,
Please keep it coming.
Bob K0NR
Good for you, FCC. Now, our friends to the north need to put a big stompin, boot on their 14.313 abuser.
Bill AE7KB
Bill-
The Canadian you seem to dislike may say things you disagree with and may say them in a way that offends you, but he hasn’t broken the rules. Among other reasons those two particular amateurs were hit with NALs is because they have been at the forefront of an effort to maliciously QRM that particular operator and anyone who communicates with him for nearly 15 years, even going so far as to claim publicly that the FCC told them they could maliciously interfere and that no operator who did would be disciplined (http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?169940-14-275MHz&p=1299373#post1299373).
Contrast that with what Laura Smith herself told one of K3VR’s dancing monkeys a year later: As our own FCC Special Counsel pointed out (http://forums.radioreference.com/amateur-radio-general-discussion/159371-congradulating-laura-smith-related-matters.html#post1288569.
KFM, offensive as you might believe he is, didn’t break the rules, per Laura, who also said that action WOULD be taken against those who maliciously interfered with him.
If you’re offended by KFM, you might want to see the disgusting things said about Laura because of that Email.
I guess nothing is being done about it because it is still going on. Doesen’t don’t much for the ham community.
Funny because I said the EXACT same thing Laura said on qrz.com a few years ago and got BANNED because of it. Well, it led to me getting banned. It got me into the argument that got me banned.
The reason I’m here is because I got on 14.313 yesterday after hearing Fat Mike still up to his old tricks. I guess he’s going to operate without paying and possibly operate without a license which is what I have suspected all along. Nothing short of jailing this fool is going to quiet him up.
Do what I do. Ask him if he’s going to pay up and is that going to be cash or credit. Seems to really “disturb” him.
Well, the ass in Canada is just a filthy pig, just as he baits and trolls K3VR and KZ8O and others. It goes both ways. How he talks on the air would make anyone puke. He is definitely someone to avoid. Period.
Tsk tsk. Y’all need to get your facts straight. The DoJ rejected the KZ8O forfeiture and the W6WBJ forfeiture and they asked to settle the K3VR forfeiture because they knew they couldn’t prove the FCC’s fake allegations.
The K3VR case went to mandatory mediation and it was dismissed with prejudice on July 9, 2018, which means it can’t be brought again. The FCC was forced to renew K3VR and any other terms were totally voluntary, as with all voluntary settlements that never go to trial.
Seven grand is chicken feed compared to the cost of trial and that was paid off by an insurance company. According to U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady’s office, the claims that the K3VR settlement resolves “are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.” That means the claims were BS and now they’re lying on the trash heap of history. If they weren’t BS, don’t you think the DoJ could have proven the case with 51% of the evidence? That’s all it takes is 51%, not “beyond a reasonable doubt” like a criminal case, and they couldn’t do it. That tells you all you need to know. Google search “FCC Lies” and that will tell you the rest!
Hate to force feed some of you the truth here, but the FCC failed to prove K3VR, W6WBJ, and KZ8O violated any rules whatsoever. Under our justice system, we’re all innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
dit dit
Jay in the Mojave
ORDER this action is hereby dismissed with prejudice, each party to bear their own costs. Signed by Magistrate Judge Maureen P. Kelly on 7/9/18. This text-only entry constitutes the Order of the Court or Notice on the matter. (Kelly, Maureen)
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/21390253/UNITED_STATES_OF_AMERICA_v_CROW
Why is 14.313MHz the target of these shenanigans? I just heard about this today for the first time on r/amateurradio. Does this happen all over the place?
Since this comment section may still be active, allow me for the Record to make a couple of observations about/corrections to Jay CAMINO’s repeatedly highly misleading comment about the Brian CROW K3VR NAL/FO & subsequent Federal Court Order in particular.
The DoJ did NOT ask to “settle”. After attempting to avoid legal service, Brian K3VR’s lawyer eventually did….
K3VR’s went to mediation, but thereafter the matter/mediation [result] returned to Federal Court — which retained jurisdiction throughout!
As the DoJ Press Release dated 3 July 2018 clearly states, the case was NOT dismissed:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdpa/pr/local-amateur-radio-operator-agrees-pay-700000-settle-federal-complaint-violations
And the legalese “with prejudice” simply means that the United States of America v. Brian CROW (No. 17-595) 3-part PENALTY to K3VR is FINAL & can NOT be re-litigated again, ~a la double jeopardy, BY the USA.
Jay CAMINO is curiously 180 degree wrong…. The best excuse that can possibly be offered is that he’s probably an HAMereekan who got his ‘phasing’ wrong, HI.
And what are we to make of his saying $7K is “chicken feed” on the one hand — when the case was supposedly “dismissed with prejudice” on the other? Never mind that it was supposedly subsequently “paid off by an insurance company”? Some chicken, some insurance policy!
Finally, I ‘hate to force feed’ Jay legalese trivia: the ‘allegations only/no determination of liability’ is standard boilerplate in such cases.