Slippery slope right there me thinks..... Mark, HDX On Thu, Sep 17, 2020 at 9:00 AM Bob Famiglio, K3RF via arrl-odv < arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> wrote:
Board Members:
Today I received the below message relayed by an ARRL life member who was an OOC for our League for years. He wanted to know if we knew of or had any policy about such a matter. I believe we do not and probably should not. But that is not a decision I can make.
Some background: We have had pirates using local large area amateur repeater systems. I am a control operator for two systems covering multiple states, W3WAN (internet linked) and our five state RF-only system, N3KZ. N3KZ, affiliated with the University of PA club run by alumni, gets shut off for days at a time. I have had to control it off myself for such unlicensed abuse. One continuing reason is that militia groups mostly in PA, usually from midnight to early morning, had started using the system with tactical callsigns without having any ham licenses. Now they likely heard why it has been off. I suspect now it is widely known we know what they are doing. So, perhaps now they want licenses. This is partial speculation on my part as we cannot find who the pirates are, but there are many and they talk only to each other in very short transmissions to keep a low profile. N3KZ and W3WAN cover most of the rural areas of PA, Delaware, NJ, WV and New York. Highly reliable, 24/7 emergency power, and hardened sites. I suppose this is attractive to such groups such as survivalist. Some outdoor enthusiast (survivalist) are good hams and mountain toppers. Militias are not necessarily inherently bad, but this aspect may be an issue. This is FYI as I don’t think we have a role to play here, or do we? The club referenced is a League affiliate and a very large PA club. Have we addressed such issues in the past?
Here is the relayed message from the past OOC. I did not receive this directly from the writer of the message. - - - -
*START MESSAGE*
*I received a 2nd request today through the website for an amateur radio exam session for a group in the Oathkeepers militia. This group has recently been banned on Twitter for their violent, extremist policy in which they threatened open warfare on election night. Facebook followed with their own ban.*
*The original request for training and testing came soon after the PA COVID shutdown. Now they are trying to set up training on 9/30 with an EPA contact, Ralph Brandt K3HQI, and have our team administer an exam. I replied that our location is closed for the foreseeable future, and our VE team is not administering exams so we cannot accommodate them. *
*I’m telling you this in case Chuck Ortwein of the Oathkeepers or Ralph (redacted) K3xxx (redacted) contacts anyone on the board for support with a VE team. I wanted you know that I already told him no and would ask you to do the same. Amateur radio is meant for the enjoyment of the hobby for individuals, not for organized groups with agendas outside of the pursuit of amateur radio.*
*END MESSAGE*
*Bob Famiglio, K3RF*
*Vice Director - ARRL Atlantic Division*
*610-359-7300*
www.QRZ.com/db/K3RF
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