[SixClub] Grid expeditions/activations A WARNING

[ScottOlitsky at aol.com]

Last April I attempted to activate EL84 from Fort Jefferson in the Dry  
Tortugas.  Two rangers stopped me from using my radio for various reasons  that 
made no sense.  It took a few hours to get there and cost a vacation  day and a 
fair amount of money.  I have pasted below a letter that I sent  to the 
national park service.  The response that I was received was  ridiculous and 
continued to state that I needed special permission because of  the harm that amatuer 
radio could inflict on the park.  I have sent this  information to the ARRL 
and am awaiting their response to the park  service.
 
Before going to a rare grid, I suggest making plans to see that this does  
not happen to you.  Even though the rangers were clearly wrong, It did not  
matter that day.
 
Scott
AC3A
 
 
Dear XXXXXXX,
 
I would like to bring to your attention an incident that occurred on my  
recent trip to the Dry Tortugas national park.
 
On April 25, my family and I traveled to the Dry Tortugas for a day  trip.  
We had planned the trip several weeks earlier.  We has planned  to visit Fort 
Jefferson and snorkel.  I had also planned to operate my  amateur radio that 
day and talk to other hams from this relatively rare island  which was met with 
a fair amount of excitement from other amateur radio  operators.  
 
Upon our arrival, I took out my handheld radio and handheld antenna.   My 
radio is about the size of a cell phone and my antenna is approximately 24  
inches long.  Shortly after putting my antenna on the radio, Rangers  XXXXXXXX  
walked over to me and inquired about what I was doing.  I  explained that I was a 
licensed ham radio operator and offered to show them my  license.  I was told 
that I needed a special permit to "broadcast" from the  park.  I then 
explained that I was not "broadcasting" and that I had an FCC  license which would 
allow me to operate my radio and talk to other radio  operators.  I told them 
that I would be happy to show them.  They did  not want to see my license and I 
was again told I needed a special permit  to operate my radio in a national 
park.  I questioned them about that need  as I had operated from many national 
parks throughout the country.   Furthermore, I suggested that the! FCC would 
most likely be the government  agency that would govern where I could transmit.  
Officer XXXX then  explained that the Dry Tortugas were different from any 
other national park  in the country and that a special permit was indeed needed. 
 I asked her to  please check this as I found that difficult to believe and 
thought she might  have been mistaken.  I also explained that a major reason we 
came to the  park that day was to operate my radio and that there were many 
other hams  wishing to contact me from the island.  She supplied me with a 
number to  call for a special permit for my next trip to the park but would not 
allow me to  use my radio.  I still found it hard to understand that I could not 
 transmit but at that point I realized that I was not going to be able to 
change  her mind.  Therefore, I told her that I would simply listen and not  
transmit.  She then instructed me that I could not listen to the radio  either.  I 
found! it even harder to believe that using a radio to RECEIVE  radio signals 
was not permitted on the island nor was it under her jurisdiction  to limit 
my ability to do so.  However, I did not wish to have my radio  gear 
confiscated so I stored it for the day.  It was a very  disappointing way to start our 
stay in the park.
 
The following day, I contacted the park supervisor, the park superintendent  
and the law officer to inquire about the rules governing the use of amateur  
radio.  Each person told me that a permit had been needed for some  operations 
when they included large operating stations and large  antennas inside the 
fort.  They each knew of no law or rule that prohibited  the use of a small 
handheld radio outside the fort.  Each said they would  check with the rangers and 
try to determine why I was not permitted to use my  radio.  They each promised 
to get back to me with follow-up  information.  A week passed and several 
phone calls were not  returned.  Finally, the park supervisor returned a call and 
I was told that  a special permit would help prevent this from occurring the 
next time I came to  the island.  I was told that because the island is small, 
the use of a  radio would be easily seen by other visitors who might wonder 
what I was d!  oing.  In a larger park, the use of a radio would be less likely 
to be seen  and these questions would be less likely to be asked.  This 
reasoning  makes no sense to me.  Given the small size of my radio, does this  also 
hold true for users of family service radios?  If cell phone  service was 
available on the island, would they not be allowed?  Given this  explanation, 
could a handheld radio then not be allowed to be used in more  populated areas of 
larger parks where their use would be visible?  
 
This was an upsetting experience.  I suspect that the rangers and the  other 
people I spoke to do not appreciate the consequences of these  actions.  It 
would be analogous to preparing a special golfing trip to the  National Golf 
Course in Augusta or a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef  during your 
vacation.  Arriving there with all of your equipment and then  being told you 
could not partake in the event that you had planned, and spent a  considerable 
amount of money on, because you did not have a permit that was not  listed as 
being needed anywhere and that was actually not really needed  anyway.  We 
amateurs are dedicated to our hobby and often make operating  our radios part of 
trips that we make.  I have personally traveled all over  the world on surgical 
mission trips and always make amateur radio part of my  trip.  Furthermore, I 
am still not sure these rangers were told they were  wrong with regards to 
what they had done.  It has n! ot been made clear to  me that what I was told was 
accurate in any way.
 
Is a special permit needed to operate from a national park?  Are the  Dry 
Tortugas different in that respect from any other national park?
 
Or, were these rangers incorrect in what they told me?  Can they  decide who 
can and who can not operate a handheld amateur radio in a national  park?   Do 
the rangers have an authority over the use of a radio by a  licensed amateur 
radio operator that they do not have over a cell phone  user?
 
I appreciate your help with this matter.  If this was a mistake, I  would 
like to know that the people involved are aware of it and maybe it can be  
avoided from happening again.  If it was not, the amateur community needs  to be 
aware of these issues.
 
Thank you for your attention,