Scenarios

Amateur radio is a very strange hobby in so far as it seems to attract a complete bunch of social miss-fits and low achievers. This is strange when you consider the qualifications that are required before a licence is issued, but as anyone "in the know" can tell you, all the examination answers can be learnt "parrot fashion".
Particularly in the UK, multiple choice examination papers, narrow the possible answers even further. You have to choose only one of four answers, and with even a small amount of knowledge you can reduce the chances of being wrong to a 50/50 choice. One stupid answer, one improbable answer, and two possibly correct answers.

The following scenarios are here to illustrate the bizarre comparisons between life in the real world, and life as a radio amateur!

The Real World

Amateur Radio World

Imagine you are driving in your car one day, and you inadvertently exceed the speed limit. To your misfortune, there is a police car nearby, and you are charged and taken to court. You are charged with “Exceeding the Speed Limit” and fined, you are not charged with driving without a licence are you?

Imagine you park your car on ‘double yellow lines’ [no parking zone], a Traffic Warden sees you and you are given a fixed penalty for parking, you are not charged with driving without a licence are you?

Imagine you go out in your car, and you get elephant’s trunk BUT still decide to drive home, even though you know you have drunk too much. To your misfortune, you drive through a random check and find yourself in court for “Driving Under the Influence” you are not charged with driving without a licence as you have one. You are obviously guilty and are fined £125.00 and banned from driving for 12 Months. After a year, you get your licence back in the post, and you can drive again.

Imagine you are out shopping, or in the pub and you inadvertently call someone a CUNT. What happens……….nothing! (or possibly a punch up the bracket if he is bigger than you!)

Hard to imagine? These analogies are imaginary, but the consequences are from real cases!

For annoying a just a few of the less than 60,000 radio amateurs in the U.K. the consequences can be quite dramatic and out of all proportion to the penalties handed down to real criminals, muggers, rapists, or persons threatening or endangering life! And yet, what harm can you do with a radio?

What interests us are the so-called offences committed, and the penalties handed down. These penalties are quite often many times more than those given to real criminals involved in theft, robbery, and violent attacks. When an analogy is made with motoring offences, you really see the discrepancies. It is possible to cause death by dangerous driving, and be fined less than for playing music on an amateur radio repeater! If that were not enough of an example, the motorist will invariably receive the licence for his instrument of death back, years before a radio amateur will be legally allowed to use his radio licence back again.

One of the usual things the prosecution tell magistrates or the jury, are that transmissions "could have interfered with emergency services". This is particularly prevalent in cases concerning pirate broadcast stations or UBR, but also sometimes used as evidence against radio amateurs in court. It is, of course, complete bollocks on both counts. When you consider that the "evidence" is given by members of The Radio Investigation Service, it brings into question their credibility and status as so called "expert" witnesses.

We could go on to list actual cases and the level of fines, but to make the point, we will be brief.

These are not even the most extreme examples, but are the genuine and accurate offences shown with the genuine and accurate penalties from news reports in the national press in the UK.

The discrepancies go on, from The Birmingham Evening Mail 26.6.99:-

It's a good job he didn't have a radio with him!!

Plus, don't forget that the radio amateurs were required to re-sit the radio amateurs examination before being re-issued with their radio licences, the killer motorists getting their driving licences back with no restrictions or driving test whatsoever.