[RFI] ARRL to FCC...

[Hare, Ed W1RFI]

Let me offer a few quick points, in between meetings.

If you tell a neighbor that YOUR RFI problem is solved, but that you can't speak for other frequencies such as police, fire, etc., I can't imagine any real liability.

Another point is that in all of the grow light measurements I have made, the noise levels in the AM broadcast band were also way above the FCC limits, so it is not a misrepresentation to say that there is interference to AM radio.  

Ed


-----Original Message-----
From: RFI [mailto:rfi-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Larry Benko
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2014 7:49 PM
To: rfi at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] ARRL to FCC...

Dave,

IMHO I think you post waaaaaaay too much!!!!!!

Remember when all is said and done, more is said than is done.

Larry

On 7/26/2014 5:08 PM, David Cole wrote:
> Hi Don,
>
> I don't think I am being slightly paranoid at all.  I think I am 
> making a set of informed decisions, and seeking legal advice in making 
> those decisions.
>
> I asked the lawyer a smiler question to your's, but with a very 
> different emphases.
>
> You asked me "How are at risk of being sued for informing someone, 
> especially a law-violator, that they are attracting attention by 
> generating a nuisance in the community?"  This question sets up a very 
> restrictive set of conditions, and does not cover near enough area to 
> be useful.
>
> I asked the lawyer a different question, one more designed to cover as 
> much area as possible, and one the lawyer helped me ask--  I asked 
> "How can I minimize my and the clubs risk in dealing with RFI issues, 
> using this handout, and following what it says we will do.  That sets 
> up a set of conditions, which more accurately reflect reality, 
> covering everything from home entry, to initial contact...
>
> By the way, as an aside, a lawbreaker can sue you too...  The fact 
> someone broke the law has nothing to do with anything...  You can be 
> sued because someone does not like the color of your hair...
>
> His answers were actually a bit of a surprise to me...  Here is an
> example--  If you tell a person that they have now gotten rid of the 
> RFI, and if at a later time, that person causes RFI on a different 
> frequency, (because you only listened on 40 for instance, but he was 
> also wiping out fire and ambulance), and the RFI is still wiping out 
> Fire and Ambulance frequencies, (even if you did not know), and it 
> costs them money, or worse yet, the ambulance fails to save someone, 
> and RFI was involved, or they get sued, any number of people could 
> then sue you for the costs involved in correcting the problem, or 
> because someone died, and it will be because you advised them that 
> they had no issue, and you were wrong.  Now this is a rather extreme 
> case, but there are lots of little ways to get in trouble when advising people...
>
> So...  We inform of the problem, and that is really all we can do to 
> minimize risk.  The whole thing is much like the waving another driver 
> forward in traffic law-- if you wave someone around you in traffic, 
> and they hit a kid, or bike, or other object, you have very much 
> increased your risk of becoming part of any lawsuit which may arise 
> from that incident, and given you initiated the movement, (you waved 
> them on), of the auto that struck and killed a child...  Well... You 
> get the picture...
>
> Please don't get the idea that I think all of this is good, it is not, 
> but I must live in a world where this is possible, and so I deal with 
> it by involving people that are trained in the craziness...  Lawyers!
>
> I vehemently disagree with you in your presentation methods...  You 
> are suggesting I begin a process, which could turn litigious, by 
> outright lying to the parties involved at the onset, by suggesting an 
> AM broadcast radio is involved when one is not...  Not for me...  I am 
> totally comfortable telling them I am an Amateur Operator, and that we 
> need to correct a problem, using the least intrusive methods possible, 
> but that we will get the problem corrected, even if it involves 
> including the FCC.
>
> There are of course hundreds of ways to present this to the people 
> involved, you should always present it in the most friendly, least 
> obtrusive, kindest way possible.  However sometimes that simply won't 
> work.  The goal is to make the RFI that is affecting me, or the ham 
> that has asked me to help, go away.  No one cares if they are grow 
> lights, or if it touch lamps...  The RFI though, must go away...
>
> Your thoughts about the power company not liking Hams is not what I 
> have experienced here.  Our power company is enlightened, I guess, I 
> know I like them...
>
> A few months ago, they asked us to find a source for them...  But that 
> did not happen by accident, and we got lucky that the people at our 
> power company are decent, and know their jobs.  We took a very 
> business like, but friendly, non contentious attitude to our power 
> company, and asked them how we could deal with an ever increasing RFI 
> issue in which the Power Company is getting blamed in error, and costing them money...
> We pointed out that by having an intercourse of ideas, we could save 
> them money by reducing their truck rolls...  It worked...  And it 
> saves them money, and it gets us faster service when we report 
> something.  I can think of at least three and maybe four truck rolls 
> we have stopped this year simply by having the ham ask us first.  We 
> found the problem in the hams home...
>
> Three days ago, a fellow ham was about ready to call the power 
> company, he called us first.  We got his in-home RFI noise level down 
> from 10 over S9, to S5, to S6, with the addition of maybe 15 ferrite's, and four
> hours of messing around in his house.   That saved the power company a
> few hundred bucks.  In turn, if we call them and ask that something be 
> looked at, they respond almost instantly...  Last call I made to them, 
> there was a street lamp fluttering and making a ton of RFI... I 
> reported it to them, and it was fixed two days later, and I got a call 
> back from them, and email as well...  We get along very well with our 
> power company here... On the other hand we NEVER call them until we 
> are SURE that the issue is theirs...
>
> Thank you for the tip on High-Times...  I may look at that avenue.
>
> Anyway, thank you for the input, I will go off an dread the High-Times 
> now...  Never heard of them, but it will be interesting!
>
>   

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