[SixClub] Grid expeditions/activations A WARNING

[Jerry Gault]

Any grid expedition should be planned and proper written authorization to
operate from any area should be obtained. I certainly won't go anywhere
without written authorization.
 
73
Jerry

  _____  

From: ScottOlitsky at aol.com [mailto:ScottOlitsky at aol.com] 
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 2:29 PM
To: jgault at nc.rr.com; sixclub at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [SixClub] Grid expeditions/activations A WARNING


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,