Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC Proposes $10,000 Fine for California Ex-Ham:

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 19:20:52 -0400

FCC Proposes $10,000 Fine for California Ex-Ham:
from The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 27 Website: http://www.arrl.org/ on
July 3, 2004 Add a comment about this article!
FCC Proposes $10,000 Fine for California Ex-Ham:

A new chapter has begun in the West Coast chronicle of Jack Gerritsen.
The FCC now wants to fine Gerritsen $10,000 for violating the
Communications Act because he doesn't have an Amateur Radio license yet
continues to operate, despite an FCC notice that he no longer has
authority to transmit and numerous complaints from Los Angeles-area
amateurs. The Bell, California, man--who was very briefly KG6IRO in
2001--contends the FCC acted improperly in setting aside his Technician
license. He claims he still holds a valid ham ticket until the
Commission affords him a hearing to decide its fate. The FCC says
otherwise.

"Gerritsen's positing of arguments challenging the set-aside of his
Amateur license does not give him any right to operate a radio station
without a license issued by the Commission," the FCC said. It issued a
Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) June 15.

On its own motion, the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB)
set aside its November 7, 2001, license grant to Gerritsen a week after
issuing it. Citing §1.113(a) of its rules, the FCC based its action on
complaints about the operation of Gerritsen's station. It also said
Gerritsen's 2000 conviction for interfering with police communications
raised questions about his qualifications to be a Commission licensee.
His Amateur Radio license application remains in pending status.

FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth, who wrote Gerritsen last
November to tell him he no longer had authority to operate a radio
transmitter, says the agency has quite often used §1.113 "to correct
errors." The rule states: "Within 30 days after public notice has been
given of any action taken pursuant to delegated authority, the person,
panel, or board taking the action may modify or set it aside on its own
motion."

Gerritsen cites a different section of the FCC's rules to claim it
cannot take away his operating authority without first granting him a
hearing. He continues to use KG6IRO, although the call sign appears in
the FCC's Universal Licensing System as "terminated."

Gerritsen's history of radio-related problems extends back to 1999, when
he was arrested and subsequently convicted in state court of interfering
with police radio communications. Complaints about Gerritsen to the FCC
resumed in 2003 after his release from jail after allegedly violating
his parole by owning and operating radio transmitting equipment. Agents
from the FCC's Los Angeles Office tracked 2-meter transmissions to
Gerritsen's home and observed him holding a small portable radio
transceiver. Gerritsen refused a request to inspect his radio equipment,
the FCC said.

In the NAL, the FCC said it continues to receive complaints of
unauthorized operation of KG6IRO. Unconfirmed accounts allege that
Gerritsen also may have transmitted on various public safety
frequencies, although the NAL does not cite such allegations.

Earlier this year, Gerritsen landed back behind bars for a month
following a federal trespassing conviction. He received the maximum
30-day penalty plus a $2500 fine and court costs. It's not known if
Gerritsen paid the forfeiture. Imposing a fine on Gerritsen is the next
step in a case that eventually could lead to criminal prosecution.
Amateurs and law officers--some of them also amateur licensees--already
have expressed displeasure at the slow pace of progress in the Gerritsen
case.
Hollingsworth says Gerritsen's pending Amateur Radio application is back
in the hands of the WTB, which also will decide the fate of Gerritsen's
General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) license. The Commission set aside
that license last fall, basing its action on what it described as
"continuing unlicensed operation and complaints of deliberate
interference from transmitters you operate." A Hearing Designation Order

for Gerritsen is still said to be slowly working its way through the FCC
bureaucracy.

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 23, No. 27 July 2, 2004

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/61FxlB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

-- 
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address 
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEXTEL-1/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    [email-masked]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/