[aprssig] Found and Resolved! (re: BL1730)

[Shanon KA8SPW]

Hello Group,

  I live just west of Detroit.  A few years ago we had a VERY similar 
incident with a call sign of ETX showing up on our local screens.  We 
tracked him to his drive way and took pictures, documented everything.  
Two of us stopped at his house and knocked.  The guy who had the car was 
not there at the time.  His room mate talked to us at length.  We did 
tell him the usual stuff and ask him to pass it onto the "gentleman".  
We also received a belligerent reaction from Mr. ETX when we did talk to 
him.  All recorded.  We offered information on how to become a ham.  
Signals stopped after the initial contact with the room mate.  Mr. ETX 
had a web blog where he bragged, don't you dare steal his car because he 
knows where it is at all times.  Turns out another ham who lived in Ohio 
had helped this guy do the install in his hopped up Mitsubishi car with 
the plate of ETX.  Both kids were in their 20's. 

  We were prepared to pass all the information onto the local FCC office 
if necessary.  Did not come to that.  I should look up his name and see 
if he ever did get a ham license.

73,

Shanon KA8SPW

Jim Duncan wrote:
> I made contact with Mr. Flippen who was initially very beligerent,
> threatened to have his attorney indict me and bring me to Ft. Smith and
> present my evidence. Once I got him calmed down and convinced him that 
> I was only try to help he settled down. We talked about the device, he 
> claimed that he's had lots of problems with people using his identity 
> for various things...
>
> Once I explained what it was that we were looking for he told me that
> several of his employees at TSC Digital Entertainment were technically
> minded. He agreed to telephone the office in Ft. Smith and investigate 
> and have whoever was responsible call me back.
>
> Withing 10 minutes I received a call from Will Stewart, who I 
> initially made contact with earlier this afternoon seeking to speak to 
> Mr. Flippen, who explained that he had purchased the MT8000A over the 
> internet so he could watch himself move around. He claims to just use 
> Google Earth and it shows him on their maps.
>
> He claimed to not know that he was transmitting or that it required a
> license. I explained the potential penalties to him and he asked about 
> how he could get a ham license. I referred him to the ARRL website. He 
> further agreed to immediately stop using the tracker until he is 
> properly licensed.
>
> He couldn't understand why he could be fined up to $10,000 for not 
> paying a $10.00 license fee but also did not seem to grasp the fact 
> that he must take the exam and so forth.
>
> What remains to be seen is if this will resolve the situation or not! At
> least we know that we probably will NOT see this guy back on the air 
> in the foreseeable future. If he does happen to resume transmitting 
> please DO keep tracking data record for later referral if necessary.
>
> I hope this will bring this matter to positive closure!
>
> 73 de Jim Duncan, KU0G
>
>
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