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MI ham who interferes with public safety communications loses license

Posted: 23 May 2018 01:31 PM PDT
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On reddit the other day was this item, N8CAM loses his license and $3K for
using cloned radio on Michigan state radio system. According to the FCC,
N8CAM, a 19 year old admitted that over a two-year period, he illegally
operated on, and caused interference to, the MPSCS (Michigan Public Service
Communication System.

The FCC report goes on to say:




Mr. Thurston is a 19-year old amateur radio licensee who operates under the
call sign N8CAM. According to reports that the Michigan State Police
provided to the Commission, on or about April 21, 2017, Mr. Thurston was
subject to a routine traffic stop, during which, an officer of the Michigan
State Police observed that Mr. Thurston was in possession of a radio
capable of operating on the MPSCS. After confirming that Mr. Thurston was
not an authorized user of the MPSCS, the officer seized the radio under
authority provided by state law. Another Michigan State Police officer
specializing in the organization’s radio equipment subsequently inspected
the seized radio and determined that it was able to connect with, and
operate on, the MPSCS because the device was a “clone� of an infrequently
used radio belonging to Oscoda County, Michigan, that was authorized to
operate on the MPSCS. As a “clone,� the device in Mr. Thurston’s possession
operated using the same radio identifier code as the Oscoda County radio.
Because the MPSCS recognized the code transmitted by Mr. Thurston’s radio
as belonging to the authorized Oscoda County radio, the system permitted
Mr. Thurston’s radio to make and receive transmissions on the state-wide
network. According to records provided by the Michigan State Police,
between July 15, 2015, and April 21, 2017, the cloned radio in Mr.
Thurston’s possession transmitted on the MPSCS 989 times, with the average
transmission lasting 4.8 seconds.19 Based on information provided by the
MPSCS, during each such push-to-talk transmission, other authorized users
of the “talk group� on which the cloned radio was then transmitting would
not have been able to make their own transmissions during the brief periods
when Mr. Thurston was transmitting on the MPSCS. The Michigan State Police
have not alleged that Mr. Thurston made any false or threatening
transmissions on the MPSCS.




N8CAM pleaded guilty to the felony charges, but because hes so young, and
probably because he didnt make any false or threatening transmissions was
treated with some leniency. He was not sentenced to any prison time, but
fined $3,000 and has to surrender his amateur radio license for two years.
But, he will have to pay anÂ* penalty of $17,000 if he operates on MPSCS
frequencies or causes interference to the MPSCS in the next 2o years.

Im hoping that hes learned his lesson here. I dont want to be writing about
him again in two years.






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