View Full Version : Was it a ham?
W5HTW
12-07-2009, 12:46 AM
Do you recall the several incidents over recent years when fire fighters started forest fires? While it is likely some of that was so they igniter could be a hero, in most cases it was probably out of work people hoping to create their own jobs as fire fighters, though we may never know for sure.
So the question is, do whackers do the same thing?
Check this story: http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?bfromind=2728&eeid=6981426&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=-2&ck=&ch=ne&ch=ne
Could this be a ham whacker? No way to tell from the story. It could have been someone luring cops to an ambush that didn't occur. Or just someone aggravating the cops.
But it could have been Mr. Ham Hero, hoping to be on the scene. And he most likely was right there, just as many of the arsonists are at the fire scene.
Someone with a real police radio? Or someone with a modified ham radio? The potential for it to have been a ham is very high. We have had others give false emergency calls. I hope this does not turn out to be a ham, and that whoever it is, is caught and the fact he is not a ham is well publicized.
Ed
K8MHZ
12-07-2009, 01:01 AM
We haven't heard from Frank lately.
That worries me.
W9JEF
12-07-2009, 01:02 AM
Do you recall the several incidents over recent years when fire fighters started forest fires? While it is likely some of that was so they igniter could be a hero, in most cases it was probably out of work people hoping to create their own jobs as fire fighters, though we may never know for sure.
So the question is, do whackers do the same thing?
Check this story: http://my.att.net/s/editorial.dll?bfromind=2728&eeid=6981426&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=-2&ck=&ch=ne&ch=ne
Could this be a ham whacker? No way to tell from the story. It could have been someone luring cops to an ambush that didn't occur. Or just someone aggravating the cops.
But it could have been Mr. Ham Hero, hoping to be on the scene. And he most likely was right there, just as many of the arsonists are at the fire scene.
Someone with a real police radio? Or someone with a modified ham radio? The potential for it to have been a ham is very high. We have had others give false emergency calls. I hope this does not turn out to be a ham, and that whoever it is, is caught and the fact he is not a ham is well publicized.
Ed
So what if it is a ham?
We're a cross section of society,
as can be seen here on the Zed.
Guilt by association is the stuff of McCarthyism.
I don't understand.
How does an unknown individual become a "hero" by reporting a made up crime that never happened? He (or she) broke the law by fabricating the whole event. Is anyone really stupid enough to come forward & think they can receive accolades by letting the authorities know it was them who made up the incident?
Tom KCØW
W5HTW
12-07-2009, 01:21 AM
I don't understand.
How does an unknown individual become a "hero" by reporting a made up crime that never happened? He (or she) broke the law by fabricating the whole event. Is anyone really stupid enough to come forward & think they can receive accolades by letting the authorities know it was them who made up the incident?
Tom KCØW
They become heros by fighting the fire. Of course they don't say they are the one who started it! Gee! But then they are there in the middle of the crew fighting the fire. However, often they do get caught.
Several notable forest fires have been deliberately started. In a number of instances arson investigators have found firefighters started the fire. Probably a lot of that, as I indicated earlier, was to create jobs for themselves, as some firefighters are paid by on duty time.
Just a few years ago one of the largest forest fires in Arizona's modern history was started by a Hot Shot fire fighter. Some of the ones in California have also been started by fire fighters.
Often this is just because they like fire. But now and then it is because they need the work fighting the fire (this was the case in Arizona) and started it to become employed.
While I hope this false radio dude is not a ham, it is a possibility. Whether he (ham or not) made the call for personal excitement so he could watch - and he was probably there doing exactly that - or whether he made it to aggravate the police (and he was not there) the fact is so many hams today believe in their 'right to transmit on public safety frequencies' (a false right) it remains very possible this was a ham.
I personally hope it was not, as amateur radio already has a large black eye in the view of public safety organizations, and if this turns out to be an amateur radio operator, that will greatly degrade any view the professionals have of us.
While many hams don't care, I just happen to be one that does. Yet I admit that I am speculating. There is no hint the person was a ham. Hams are not the only ones that own radios capable of operating on illegal frequencies (illegal to them) and in fact, this could easily be a disgruntled police officer.
My purpose is simply to say I hope it was not a ham. Doesn't matter to me if you care or not. I do.
Ed
I don't understand.
How does an unknown individual become a "hero" by reporting a made up crime that never happened? He (or she) broke the law by fabricating the whole event. Is anyone really stupid enough to come forward & think they can receive accolades by letting the authorities know it was them who made up the incident?
http://www.electprice.com/iwin.jpg
Tom KCØW
You would be shocked what goes through the mind of someone who wants to be a hero or famous, and what they will do to get their name associated with an incident.
Look what Mark David Chapman did to be famous.
Ya, I guess I just don't think like "them"...............Defiantly beneficial for my own personal freedom & probably better for society as well. :)
Tom KCØW
Ya, I guess I just don't think like "them"...............Defiantly beneficial for my own personal freedom & probably better for society as well. :)
Tom KCØW
Having worked for the system, nothing amazes or shocks me anymore. Just when you think you hear or see the most twisted thing, someone comes along to one up the last one.
http://www.electprice.com/iwin.jpg
About 2 years ago or so two crackheads are getting whacked out together and the one guy decides to kill and mutilate his buddy and then light him on fire. He proceeds to walk to the courthouse (closed on the weekend) and walks down the garage ramp to the security booth to tell the guard the he should be arrested for killing and burning his crackhead friend.
KC9ECI
12-07-2009, 02:59 AM
Could just as easily been a couple of stupid kids who got their hands on mom or dad's work HT.
N5PAR
12-07-2009, 03:28 AM
Or just someone aggravating the cops.
Ed
I would be willing to bet this is the reason for making the false call. Especially since it was an "Officer down" call. Whoever did it knew every cop in the area would respond. Doesn't really matter if it was a ham, a kid, or a whacker he or she probably just wanted to cause a lot of excitement.
KB1NXE
12-07-2009, 04:05 AM
A little over a year ago, a portable (read: HT) radio went missing from a volunteer fire department. Since the station key's hiding place was a public secret in the town, could've been anyone.
The radio was programmed for many of the local police frequencies as well. Seems whoever took it liked playing on the county wide police and sheriff dispatch frequency.
Since the local radio tech for the county is also our club president, several members went on a Fox Hunt. They localized to a town one night, and I guess he needed to go to bed. They were unable to get any closer than a neighborhood in that town. Soon afterward, we guess the battery ran down. That was the end of it.
So, after that rather long story, it may be someone who is just looking to have a good time. I don't see where a Ham could get to be a hero out of it. Unless he found the real person.
WA4OTD
12-07-2009, 04:50 AM
Hams are a cross section of the USA, but I think the Ham Cram test philosophy is putting many hams into our ranks that should not be there. IE the cross section is cutting wider than it should.
I guess i grew up when getting a license involved work, study and a real commitment and when you got the license you really valued it. When you get your license in a day who cares.
KC9PFH
12-07-2009, 11:37 AM
If a guy was going to pull a robbery or something it might be helpful to get a bunch of cops tied up responding to a bogus call....
If a guy was going to pull a robbery or something it might be helpful to get a bunch of cops tied up responding to a bogus call....
That does happen. It happened here years ago. Perps were calling in false calls to get the police to run to the other side of the town. Then they would do a business burglary. Notably Radio Shack. Can tell right away when the alarm call comes in..
Glass Break
Interior motion
Rear Door.
In through the front, out through the rear..
WB3JLA
12-07-2009, 12:44 PM
A lot of Fire Chiefs I know today started field fires when they were kids
Hams are a cross section of the USA, but I think the Ham Cram test philosophy is putting many hams into our ranks that should not be there. IE the cross section is cutting wider than it should.
I guess i grew up when getting a license involved work, study and a real commitment and when you got the license you really valued it. When you get your license in a day who cares.
Now a one day, three hour class and you get a ticket. Bring on the utility users.http://www.electprice.com/iwin.jpg
N0SYA
12-07-2009, 02:23 PM
So what if it is a ham?
We're a cross section of society,
as can be seen here on the Zed.
Guilt by association is the stuff of McCarthyism.
the problem with your scenario is McCarthy was telling the truth
W5HTW
12-07-2009, 03:11 PM
I think I just grow concerned that we have so many hams today who are in a frantic hurry to modify their HTs, or their 2-meter mobile rigs, to enable transmit on police/fire frequencies.
While in decades past ham gear could fairly easily be put on illegal HF frequencies, (such as the Johnson or Heath transmitters could) hams had a very different attitude. They saw no 'need' to use them out of the ham bands, except for the ones who were in MARS. Our attitudes toward the rules have changed, and our over-evaluation of our importance to public safety has been blown dramatically out of proportion.
When I became DEC in this county, one of the things I heard from two hams who were going to 'serve' as my assistants was "we better start getting them radios modified.' I asked them why. "So we can communicate with the police," I was told. I asked "using what call sign? And for what reason?"
While I was successful in dampening the 'let's modify our radios' approach here, in many places that is a very enthusiastic approach to EMCOM. With that in mind, it is a simple matter for a ham to make an illegal transmission, to report a non-existent emergency, and rush to the scene to be there when the cops or fire fighters arrive, to say "I checked it out for you. False alarm." And, yeah, it has been done.
I, too, hope this false transmission is traced to a stolen radio, or a disgruntled cop or fire fighter, and nothing at all to do with amateur radio. But the possibility exists, and I would hate the black eye amateur radio across the nation would get if the headline read, "Local ham transmits false emergency calls." We already have a very poor image with the professionals in public safety, but it can get worse.
It could happen.
Ed
