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

[Jim Duncan]

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