Yosemite Sam was apparently busted on 17 February. The transmitter was
reportedly west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, just off I-40.
(various reports)

dxAce
Michigan
USA

does anyone have an opinion on why yosemite sam would get busted so
fast? was he interfering with any licensed service? harassing amateur
nets? im just curious that the feds would get off their asses to get him
with all the jammers and QRM'ers and linear amped cb'ers swamping the
waves. not to mention the bad power poles and transformers that they
dont care about, and the abundance of consumer products that broadcast
noise across huge swathes of the spectrum. and bpl blanketing their
trial cities. why was he such a priority? or did he just fall into their
hands somehow?

(Jim) wrote in news:17383-4221A36B-4@storefull-
3138.bay.webtv.net:

does anyone have an opinion on why yosemite sam would get busted so
fast? was he interfering with any licensed service? harassing amateur
nets? im just curious that the feds would get off their asses to get him
with all the jammers and QRM'ers and linear amped cb'ers swamping the
waves. not to mention the bad power poles and transformers that they
dont care about, and the abundance of consumer products that broadcast
noise across huge swathes of the spectrum. and bpl blanketing their
trial cities. why was he such a priority? or did he just fall into their
hands somehow?



Well, he did broadcast on 5000 and 10000 khz over WWV(H) at one point, I
believe. Although, he was a minor annoyance on they are 50 kW stations or
something.

I wonder if they got a guy or just a transmitter and a computer playing a
sound file in a loop.

Close enough to the Mexican Border to attract Interest ??

Did anyone figure out what he was actually trying to accomplish? Was it
just annoying, or was there some sort of code involved?

Jim wrote:

does anyone have an opinion on why yosemite sam would get busted so
fast?

The quick answer is that Sam operated for at least two incarnations on 3700
which is located inside an amateur band.

That tends to get folks moving rather rapidly to figure out who is running the
operation, and where it is coming from.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

As a general rule it is a really BAD idea to intrude onto ANY frequency
assigned to hams. We are somewhat protective of our shrinking radio
spectrum and will defend it strongly.
As an example, in 1980 or 81 the "Greatfull Dead" gave a concert in
Rupp Arena. Too bad for them their roadies used 70cM ham HTs to
communicate.
Within minutes they where warned to leave the 70cM hamm band. They
laughed at the hams. A really dumb idea. Every ham in the area with
70cM
radios joined in the fun. We held an series of nets. As the roadies
tried to switch freqs we followed. The concert started very late. They
had to borrow HTs from security to get anything done.
Were our actions illegal jamming?
No.
The intruders had no rights.
If this had been a life or death stituation, hams would have gladly
helped. Around the same time a young lady had her boyfriends HT to
listen to the gang. About 11:00PM she came on and said she felt "real
bad" and couldn't get off the couch to reach the telephone to call
911. We instantly brought up the 911 autopatch, had her explain the
situation. EMS was dispatched and her boy friend was told to head
for the hospital to meet her. The surgeons removed her apendix and
nothing was said about her "illegal" use of
her boy friend's HT. Because it wasn't illegal.
Set up shop on any ham frequency at your own risk.
It might take them a while to locate you.
But keep in mind that a lot of hams love to find low powered, and
sometimes mobile, foxes with transmitters. Compared to the task of
tracking down a fox, an idiot running a stationary high powered signal
is hunting in a baited field.
As another exaple we had a stranger show up on the 76 repeater one
afternoon. Trying to chat with the female IDer. It was clear that he
wasn't a ham, and likely had a stolen rig. We adopted CB handles, but
IDed every 10 minutes with our call letters. This brain trust even
agreed to meet wtih some of us. A cop who was also a ham joined the
party. After some converstion the idoit offered to sell us the "funny"
CB. He brought it in, and it had a set of call letters engraved. A
quick check of the Callbook gave us the owners address. The cop was
able to get his dispatch to track the owner down. And sure enough the
rig had been stolen. His police faxed a copy of the report and the cop
arrested the idiot. And when the searched the car they found a lot of
loot. The theif went away for a long time. Transporting stolen guns and

a trunk full of weed across state lines is a really, extremely bad
idea.
Don't mess with hams unless you are very smart.
Or want to have the FCC visit you some night.
Terry

wrote in message
oups.com...

Set up shop on any ham frequency at your own risk.
It might take them a while to locate you.
But keep in mind that a lot of hams love to find low powered, and
sometimes mobile, foxes with transmitters. Compared to the task of
tracking down a fox, an idiot running a stationary high powered signal
is hunting in a baited field.


Agreed, stay away from the ham bands if you want to pirate. Frankly, I
don't care what you do outside of the ham bands, as long as you're not
interfering with air traffic control comms or safety-of-life channels. But
you'd better know what you're doing when you set up shop on unauthorized
frequencies.

Which the very fact that this guy was located & shut down negates the whole
"the FCC must be turning a blind eye" theory. My question is why did
someone feel it necessary to put the station on the air in the first place?
Well I suppose the FCC will be asking the same questions.

--
Tom Sevart
Frontenac, KS
http://www.geocities.com/n2uhc

"Tom Sevart" wrote
wrote

Set up shop on any ham frequency at your own risk.
It might take them a while to locate you.
But keep in mind that a lot of hams love to find low powered, and
sometimes mobile, foxes with transmitters. Compared to the task of
tracking down a fox, an idiot running a stationary high powered signal
is hunting in a baited field.


Agreed, stay away from the ham bands if you want to pirate. Frankly, I
don't care what you do outside of the ham bands, as long as you're not
interfering with air traffic control comms or safety-of-life channels.
But
you'd better know what you're doing when you set up shop on unauthorized
frequencies.

Which the very fact that this guy was located & shut down negates the
whole
"the FCC must be turning a blind eye" theory. My question is why did
someone feel it necessary to put the station on the air in the first
place?
Well I suppose the FCC will be asking the same questions.

--
Tom Sevart
Frontenac, KS
http://www.geocities.com/n2uhc


Tom, the referenced clown did broadcast deliberate interference on two HF
maritime hailing and distress frequencies. That's more felonies to his
credit, and if records show there was distress traffic anywhere during that
time frame, it could get even worse for him.

Jack Painter
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Jack Painter wrote:

"Tom Sevart" wrote
wrote

Set up shop on any ham frequency at your own risk.
It might take them a while to locate you.
But keep in mind that a lot of hams love to find low powered, and
sometimes mobile, foxes with transmitters. Compared to the task of
tracking down a fox, an idiot running a stationary high powered signal
is hunting in a baited field.


Agreed, stay away from the ham bands if you want to pirate. Frankly, I
don't care what you do outside of the ham bands, as long as you're not
interfering with air traffic control comms or safety-of-life channels.
But
you'd better know what you're doing when you set up shop on unauthorized
frequencies.

Which the very fact that this guy was located & shut down negates the
whole
"the FCC must be turning a blind eye" theory. My question is why did
someone feel it necessary to put the station on the air in the first
place?
Well I suppose the FCC will be asking the same questions.

--
Tom Sevart
Frontenac, KS
http://www.geocities.com/n2uhc


Tom, the referenced clown did broadcast deliberate interference on two HF
maritime hailing and distress frequencies. That's more felonies to his
credit, and if records show there was distress traffic anywhere during that
time frame, it could get even worse for him.

Which two frequencies would they be?

dxAce
Michigan
USA