I am a recent addition to the Ham community. Very soon after I got licensed I began receiving telephone voice mails that said “Hi, this is <insert woman’s name> and I have a radiogram for <my name> KJ7UMK. My phone number is <phone number>. Please call me. Have a nice day.” The message is always the same. I thought I knew what a radiogram is... maybe not. Is this some kind of scam going around or what? I get a couple of these calls per day. I don’t answer unknown numbers and these are flagged as possible spam.
Here's the radiogram form: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public Service/RADIOGRAM-2011.pdf Don't know if it's a scam or not tho. Do what I do in situations like this. Call 'em back on your work phone (assuming you aren't the owner of said work phone)
Weird - I am also in Phoenix with a new vanity call last month if that is where they are getting info from. Never had such a call, plenty of other scams even though listed on do not call list. If you have caller ID keep the number called from and the numbers left. Google the phone and there are lots of sites that report scams if the phone number comes up. I often check unknown numbers and get hits with many others reporting. I have never heard of a "radiogram" other than in the old days of the 60s and 70s with ham traffic nets and Navy MARS with messages from Vietnam etc. I was in BPL (Brass Pounders League) for message handling (although all by SSB) and ran a local traffic net in Minnesota. I don't recall we ever used that term, however.
Gee, I don't recognize that format of what we used although the link was from 2011 which was long after I was very active in the traffic nets. We did have forms..forget format.. and called folks. Also was when phone patches were popular before cell phones and the "web" was mostly packet readers with 300 baud dial-up connections to the "usenet."
You could possibly be getting a Radiogram from someone in your ARRL division congratulating you on your new license. Something like a Group two routine message FIFTY SIX Congratulations on your _____, a most worthy and deserved achievement. I found the above example. I have heard these types of messages on the Hudson Valley Traffic Net. It's a way to make new hams aware of the National Traffic System, while welcoming them at the same time.
It's not a scam. Call her back. Someone is sending you a welcome message via the National Traffic System.
Section manager used to send "welcome' radiograms to new licensees years ago. I remember handling a couple of them.Maybe that fell out of use so many years ago that nobody recognizes them as legitimate any more. As long as you are receiving information over the phone and not giving out sensitive personal information, give her a call back. Then she can mark it completed. Some of these messages arrive with a service code requesting delivery confirmation. If you are having trouble making delivery (like a person not calling back), it can be a pain in the rump until you deliver it. Give consideration to the message handler. It is still a part of ham radio.
If the caller would have said: “Hi, this is <insert woman’s name> <insert woman's call sign> and I have a radiogram for <my name> KJ7UMK. My phone number is <phone number>. Please call me. Have a nice day.” It might not have seemed so suspicious.
