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Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

arrl.org

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Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#111

Post by neartheplain »

wedowhatwedo wrote: post #102
neartheplain wrote: post #60

Were those who used ham bands while storming capitol even licensed? Right message, but maybe addressed to the wrong audience. I’ll bet most of these people use Baofengs purchased on Amazon. It’d be great if Amazon could echo this warning on the relevant product page(s).

If you have been reading sites like www.qrz.com for the last few years, you will see that there were perhaps lots of licensed amateur radio operator terrorists there.

News to me. Have any links? I just clicked through the forums there but didn’t see anything egregious.

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#112

Post by cozzyd »

chmod600 wrote: post #16

Related: Mexican drug cartels using radios: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21109605 A lot of that is probably to reach areas the cartels need to operate that don't have other reliable communication, or have little enough that it would be easily surveiled. Not sure if it applies to urban criminal activity, which is what the ARRL is worried about.

Isn't this what the TARS aerostats are supposed to be looking for? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_System

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#113

Post by UI_at_80x24 »

bzb6 wrote: post #97
UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #35

Baofeng's, Baofengs everywhere. Of all the images I have seen of the attempted coup, I have only seen baofeng radios. These are very cheap ($20'ish) radios that work very poorly (they splatter all over the bands) even when equipped with decent antennas. They barely work when equipped with the stock rubber-duck antennas. It's easy to be a snob about the type of radios that they are using, but that's not even the point…

Your post reeks of elitism, which is very common in the radio community. Saying baofeng radios “barely work” when you use them with the antennas they come with is a blatant lie. I’m sorry that there’s some sort of “eternal September” in the radio community because of baofeng users, but lying won’t bring back the days when only people who could afford very expensive equipment could enjoy radios.

>Saying baofeng radios “barely work” when you use them with the antennas they come with is a blatant lie.

Not a lie. Personal observation. When I first got the radio I tested it at our groups ham shack. I was 150' away from our repeater (open field, no obstructions) and could not get the repeater to acknowledge my signal. I could hear everybody fine, but could not TX. One of my buddies handed me a spare antenna, and presto I was able to use the repeater. I was also able to hear repeaters that were 20+km away that I couldn't tune-in on the rubber duck. Transmit and receive improved with a different antenna. I thought I had a bad radio, bad transmit button, or bad microphone before I swapped out antennas.

My statement is 100% accurate based on my observations. Grumbles from the other members in my group agreed with the sentiment. They ship with bad antennas.

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#114

Post by ape4 »

JosephRedfern wrote: post #7

This might be a dumb question, but is there any information out there about how much official monitoring goes on for amateur bands (and other bands, for that matter)? Are there strategically placed logging stations that allow triangulation of signal origin based on RSSI etc? I guess this stuff is super commonplace in SIGINT, I just don't know much about it.

If there wasn't before there probably is now - at least around DC.

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#115

Post by some_random »

I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate for this, but honestly FCC regulation of ham radio is at best antiquated cold war bullshit (ie, crypto bans) and at worst gatekeeping for a bunch of old men who can dox themselves in order to get exclusive access to some bands.

Every single person here uses high powered encrypted communication without a license, it's a cell phone.

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#116

Post by wtfiswiththis »

UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #113
bzb6 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your post reeks of elitism, which is very common in the radio community. Saying baofeng radios “barely work” when you use them with the antennas they come with is a blatant lie. I’m sorry that there’s some sort of “eternal September” in the radio community because of baofeng users, but lying won’t bring back the days when only people who could afford very expensive equipment could enjoy radios.

>Saying baofeng radios “barely work” when you use them with the antennas they come with is a blatant lie. Not a lie. Personal observation. When I first got the radio I tested it at our groups ham shack. I was 150' away from our repeater (open field, no obstructions) and could not get the repeater to acknowledge my signal. I could hear everybody fine, but could not TX. One of my buddies handed me a spare antenna, and…

Bought four handsets for my work. They worked through concrete over a distance. Your comment is 100% inaccurate based on my observations.

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#117

Post by ASalazarMX »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #59

“messages encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning.” The language is troubling, but the laws on the books in US are already ridiculously broad and overbearing. Usually, the question is more along the lines of what stick you want to use. Just in case you never had a chance, "Three felonies a day" gives will give you an idea where US is now.

> "Three felonies a day" gives will give you an idea where US is now.

When you reach six, USA will qualify as a dystopian wonderland: https://aliceinwonderland.fandom.com/wiki/Six_Impossible_Thi...

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#118

Post by ASalazarMX »

chmod600 wrote: post #16

Related: Mexican drug cartels using radios: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21109605 A lot of that is probably to reach areas the cartels need to operate that don't have other reliable communication, or have little enough that it would be easily surveiled. Not sure if it applies to urban criminal activity, which is what the ARRL is worried about.

Encrypted radios. Any radio store will sell those, IDK why the rioters skimped on that.

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#119

Post by Blikkentrekker »

generalizations wrote: post #104
Blikkentrekker wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is the reality. “Freedom of speech”, much like “freedom of religion”, is an empty statement. — no man wants true freedom in either, so one is only free so long as it not thread over the bounds of the law, and it can thus be surmised as “ One has the right to commit legal actions. ”. It's entirely different from such matters as “right to a criminal defence attorney when charged with a crime”, which many do feel…

> no man wants...many do feel Are you appealing to the desires of the crowd (bandwagon fallacy), or to a moral principle? I'm talking about moral principles, which the laws and the government ought to uphold. If they don't, the law and/or government is in the wrong. The right to speak your mind is a moral right; arguably, the right to defend yourself with an attourney is a subset of this. The law is not the arbiter o…

Do you believe it should be legal to make death threats, print libel and slander that harm a man's reputation, spread around pictures taken of others in the shower without their consent, and publish stolen personal information?

If not, then you do not believe in absolute freedom of speech, but only freedom of speech within the confines of the law.

Re: Radio users reminded not to use radios in crimes

#120

Post by i_am_proteus »

blhack wrote: post #103
UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #35

Baofeng's, Baofengs everywhere. Of all the images I have seen of the attempted coup, I have only seen baofeng radios. These are very cheap ($20'ish) radios that work very poorly (they splatter all over the bands) even when equipped with decent antennas. They barely work when equipped with the stock rubber-duck antennas. It's easy to be a snob about the type of radios that they are using, but that's not even the point…

I don't know why people complain about Baofengs so much. I have a bunch of baofengs that I bought to pass out as emergency radios at burning man. They have saved at least one person's life, because it meant we were able to call the emergency services when somebody had a heart attack and collapsed. I'm sure that guy is glad that that crappy $20 radio was there and a ham operator had configured it for the 911 service i…

People mostly complain about Baofengs because they leak a bunch of RF interference everywhere. Not obvious to the Baofeng user, but obvious to radio operators on other frequencies.
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