The Problem

Since the early fall of 2001, the K4TQU repeater (147.375+) has been suffering from various degrees of interference caused by a group of Hunters and CBers using 2-meter radios. Monitoring, over many hours, has identified at least 30 individuals, located near Brevard, NC (this Map of Brevard is large and may take several minutes to load). This group appears to be using 147.975 MHz Simplex as a local community party line. At other times, it is used as a communication channel for hunters using dogs in areas of the National Forest. During several hundred hours of monitoring, no Amateur Radio callsign has ever been used. Only CB type handles and first names are used for identification. Many hours of foul language, music, singing, barking dogs, and interference have been logged. The most egregious interference comes from the hunters, who start on Thursday and run dogs through the weekend till Monday. This occurs regularly from the early Fall through to January when they appear to hunt bear.

There is a tendency to want to tell the "Illegals" to get off the repeater. This is generally ineffective (this has been demonstrated by several of us!) They are listening on a different frequency (147.975 MHz). They wouldn't know why we are angry or what they had done to cause the anger, if they could hear us. Cash strapped equipment dealers or other hams have sold them 2-meter gear and they are using it like CB. They appear to be ignorant of the requirements for using the gear. They have been ill advised that a license is not required or important. The hunters probably began using the 2-meter gear first (it worked better than what they were using before.) The community chat line aspect began because the gear was already in the vehicles and convenient. Even though only parts of conversations are heard sometimes, much information has been gleaned (see the LOG).

Guidelines

It has been suggested that an Expedition be mounted to find these "Illegals." A number of Hams have expressed a desire to find and expose them to our ridicule. It is proposed that we proceed under the following guidelines to establish a program to find these nefarious interlopers! Is that an Amen from the Peanut Gallery? OK. We will go to the area, monitor and record the activity on 147.975 MHz, and if possible identify some of the offenders.

Foremost, there can not be any eyeball to eyeball QSOs with the "Illegals." The temptation to get on the radio and shout at these people must be resisted. There must be no confrontation. We don't want to make the situation worse by getting tangled up with authorities, litigation or worse. Remember, hunters often tend to carry weapons! (and every "Mountain Grandma" I've ever known, has had an apron with a pocket containing a handkerchef wrapped around a pistol.)

We must take our pleasure from the skills we develop and bring to this hobby. The knowledge we are doing something to protect our Bands must be sufficent. We must work in a professional manner, move into the area, collect what information we can, and depart without ever revealing our presence. Keep in mind, we might need or want to go back, again.

What information we collect, will be submitted to FCC Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement, Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH. If we collect enough good information, it becomes an incentive for the FCC to do something. They take the credit, without having to expend many resources. We get the "Illegals" off the repeater. If we are ignored, at least, we have someone to whom we can complain!

The Plan

Phase 0) Make up simple antennas to use for direction finding. These could be loops, yagis, or Doppler antennas, whatever works for you (see the FAQ) . We must learn to use this equipment effectively. In order to provide practice and work out the kinks, during the summer we will hold a "Friday-night Fox Fest" from 7:30-9:30PM. The "Fox" will sit in a parking lot somewhere in Clarke County and yak on the repeater. We, the "Rovers", try to find the "Fox" by listening on the repeater input. This should be interesting till we can graduate to more difficult moving targets (a Fox driving at 65 around the loop!?). Keep in mind, automotive fox hunting requires two people, one to operate the radio equipment and one to DRIVE!

Phase 1) Short day-trip (Saturday or Sunday early July) to get familiar with the Brevard area. Drive around the area to become familiar with local landmarks, roads and trails. Also, scout for potential monitoring positions at roadside pulloffs and overlooks.

Stationary monitoring positions ("Monitors") on local ridges and along the Blue Ridge Parkway would be very important. These positions would be able to point RDF antennas down into the valleys, and perform triangulation on the "Illegals." There will be times when the "Rovers" in the valleys can not hear the "Illegals" and would require being vectored or advised by the "Monitors". Inter-group communications and message passing could be done by using our 2-meter radios on another Simplex Frequency, other than 147.975 MHz.

Phase 2) Weekend trip (Late August/Early September) using an adjacent campground area as a Base Camp (see the MAP). There are several nearby National Forest Service campgrounds, Cove Creek just east of Pilot Mt. off FR 475, White Pines and Davidson River off US 276, northwest of Brevard. We would disperse from camp, some of us as "Monitors" and some as "Rovers". During the day we could swap duties, so everyone gets to chase or monitor. It's possible, the mountains could be shielding us from much more activity than we are hearing on the repeater. We won't know till we go there and listen.

Phase 3) The Big One, a full scale, weekend trip, to monitor, record, locate, photograph, and identify participants while they are using ham radios in a weekend dog hunt. This would happen sometime during the fall (September/October). We would make every effort to identify as many "Illegals" as possible using the techniques developed during the earlier Phases.

Remember, the "Illegals" will be running up and down the roads with antennas on their vehicles. A number of them are using RF tracking collars on their dogs. They pull off the road periodically to use yagi antennas to listen for signals from the collars and get bearings to the dogs. When they see other vehicles sporting antennas and Hams waving yagis they're going to get curious. It may well be a good idea to come up with a cover story. Something like, "Uh, Yeah, we're looking for the soon to be extinct Red-beaked Pot-bellied Mountain Suckers." Yeah, I know, that story needs a little more work!