[CQ-Contest] 10M trucker-busting old fogies

[David Robbins K1TTT]

> Dave (TTT), any ideas for how we could get organized?  I'm sure you
> haven't
> given it a moment's thought  :)
>

I have, but not much recently.  At one point there was a start of a mail
reflector for it and a group on the spotting network.  I had a map
posted on my web site of areas I had monitored them in.  But for some
reason there doesn't seem to be widespread interest in doing anything
about this nation wide problem.

I have always thought the spotting network would be good for that and
still frequently announce (with a/f not dx spots) frequencies and
locations that I can figure out on there for stateside intruders.
Unfortunately I don't know how far they get any more as some sysops have
decided that defense of our frequencies is not an appropriate use of the
spotting network and have filtered out the announces.  And now with
sunspots declining the interest in 10m will be dropping so there won't
be as many operators monitoring there.

There are really two parts to catching the stateside guys, long distance
spotting and monitoring, and close in tracking.  It is hard to take
action on monitored stuff as most of those truckers know better than to
give their license numbers or company names, but they do discuss routes,
landmarks, upcoming towns and stops... and occasionally delivery points.
That kind of information can be passed to locals who can intercept them
and get the specific information the fcc needs to take action.  But this
really requires a real time information network like the spotting
network to do it efficiently... otherwise you just depend on someone
locally happening to hear a nearby intruder and intercepting them.  It
is also possible to build up patterns and possibly lay in wait for them,
many of these guys are driving fixed routes day after day.

The arrl this year tried to get the oo's organized to collect data, but
I haven't heard how successful they may have been.  The fcc does seem
responsive, note those 3 trucking companies in one week that got
'friendly' warning letters.  Though they don't seem to be interested in
helping tracking.


David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net