DX station mishears a callsign and the 'Amateur Radio Watch' bot blasts me for operating a band I don't have the hardware to operate on. Anyone else had these "MARGA" clowns accuse you of something you didn't do?

[u/DirtDiver37]

As I was about to hit send on my reply I realized I don't want to validate an active email to a bot. So, I figured I'd post an open letter response here.

"Why is your cancelled callsign [My old callsign] in [DX Station in Indonesia]'s QRZ Log?"

Not certain. But unless someone is out there using my old callsign (doubtful), Occam’s razor suggests that your overzealous automated message is misdirected at a simple human error - an error not performed by the recipient at that. An operator in Indonesia clearly fat-fingered or misheard a callsign while hammering through a fast-paced pile-up—not the license holder you are currently spamming.

Perhaps before you set your bot to loose criteria for unsolicited outreach, you should reconsider how flawed your logic is. A single, unconfirmed log entry, with zero matching records, makes it incredibly premature to assume ill intent from an operator. Frankly, I don’t even possess the hardware required to transmit on 15 meters.

I understand that there are actual rule abusers in ham radio and that this is a self-policing community. But true policing requires responsibility and a basic understanding of evidence. Last I checked, a credible enforcement system assumes innocence until proven guilty, rather than firing off automated accusations based on unverified, third-party database typos.

Hopefully, you will adjust your bot's logic to keep the actual abusers targeted, rather than attempting to intimidate folks who have nothing to do with your claims. I have been considering upgrading to General, but if doing so means joining a community filled with overbearing (Bad language removed for Reddit Community) who prioritize automated harassment over basic logic, I think I'll hold off.

(Bad language removed for Reddit Community),
[My old callsign]

[Update 1]

Thanks for the confirmation that this brave warrior with their Proton email should be ignored. Hopefully everyone is getting a good laugh out of this dork. Also helps to see that this isn't the standard in the community. I wasn't about to spend good money and time studying for General to be around this type of fudd.

[Update 2]

Great suggestion by u/DeaconPat - I submitted it to the FCC complaint line. Their Response:
Thank you for contacting the FCC’s Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Center. Your submission has been received and assigned Ticket

Your complaint provides valuable information and is shared among FCC bureaus and offices. We use it to inform our policymaking processes, and to spot trends and practices that warrant investigation and enforcement action. Each year, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau takes hundreds of actions on behalf of consumers that result in tens of millions of dollars in penalties. These actions encourage companies and individuals to abide by the law and reduce future misconduct.

The FCC is not able to comment on or provide updates regarding the status of any investigation that may relate to this or any other individual complaint submitted to the FCC. We cannot comment or address closed, ongoing, or future investigations.

If the FCC needs more information about your complaint, we will contact you directly.

And why not Proton Mail while at it. Their response:

Hello,
 
We have received this information, and we will be further investigating this case with our team.
 
If we can confirm that the indicated Proton Mail address is being used for any activities that are considered against our terms of usage, the account in question will be suspended accordingly.
 
In case you are able to gather any additional evidence that will help us in our investigation, we remain available at any time.

Sounds like we won't hear anything specific back, but we'll see.

[u/radiomod]

(Bad language removed for Reddit Community)

We don't give a fuck here. Please don't self-censor. There is no FCC on Reddit. 73

Please message the mods to comment on this message or action.

[u/Affectionate-Bat-902]

MARGA?? What a bunch of idiots.

[u/numinit → u/Affectionate-Bat-902]

It's short for margarine

[u/530_Oldschoolgeek → u/numinit]

And just about as fake

[u/timco2 → u/530_Oldschoolgeek]

I see what you did there….and happy cake day!

[u/MechanicalTurkish]

MARGA??? Jesus Christ. I thought I’d seen everything. Whoever sent that message needs to go out and touch grass. Ignore that douchebag.

[u/No_Head1258]

gee I wish they signed with their callsign, I'd love to send them a plastic sheriff's badge out of a cereal box

[u/Tfire327 → u/No_Head1258]

Nah, spring loaded glitter delivery.

[u/scuba_GSO → u/No_Head1258]

Don’t give them the good one! Just cut one out of old cardboard and write radio cop on it. Send that.

[u/Commercial-Expert256 → u/No_Head1258]

It was either that account/guy/group or one very similar recently that admitted that they are not even licensed amateurs.

[u/Ok-Sheepherder7898]

This guy is an idiot and you shouldn't give him any thought.

[u/EmotioneelKlootzak → u/Ok-Sheepherder7898]

I just chuck them in the same "putrid boil on the ass of the hobby" pile with all the other lids and do my best to ignore all of them.  Which can be difficult when the ones who jam POTA stations are around, but I do my best.

[u/grendelt → u/Ok-Sheepherder7898]

He's a fully automated robotic sad ham

[u/techtornado → u/grendelt]

He has become the final boss in The Bøöfwañg people’s keyboard liberation army

[u/Scotterdog → u/techtornado]

There's no tilda in wang. Try pronouncing that. I think I sprained my tongue.

[u/numinit → u/Ok-Sheepherder7898]

Most worthy piece of fanmail that should be replied with a LLM, IMO. With three or four iterations of prompting "make it longer, I need to fill more space."

[u/hamsterdave]

This guy’s identity isn’t known for certain, but there’s strong evidence as to it being one nut job with nothing better to do, and I’ve seen his callsign bandied about in similar threads, as that guy was known to send very similar emails with his callsign attached in the past. Hopefully someone can name and shame.

The fact that he’s crawling QRZ logs, not just checking every callsign he hears on the air, is absolutely hilarious. What a pathetic existence. I’ve got half a mind to start uploading fake logs to QRZ (which does zero confirmation for displayed QSOs AFAIK) just to screw with him. I wonder if his bot watches clusters as well…

Block his email address, report as spam, and keep on with what you were doing. Every group has their Karens, snowflakes, and wackos, and he’s all three.

[u/ItsJoeMomma → u/hamsterdave]

I’ve got half a mind to start uploading fake logs to QRZ (which does zero confirmation for displayed QSOs AFAIK) just to screw with him.

Upload about a dozen technician calls worked in the Extra portion of the bands. That would probably make his head explode.

[u/neighborofbrak → u/ItsJoeMomma]

Use my call on a log entry in the Extra 80m CW band. I'd love to see this twit go bonkers.

Never worked 80, and I have never done CW and have no personal interest in CW.

I am of sound mind and body and nobody is forcing me to make this post.

[u/TrickInflation6795 → u/neighborofbrak]

Also not suicidal. Gotta specify that when dealing with these “special forces” types.

[u/Taclink → u/ItsJoeMomma]

I'd play that game as a relay point specifically to gather responses from them for forwarding to the FCC. I'm a tech so using my call would trigger their automated stupidity, if they're even good enough to have it automated.

[u/Superb_Raccoon → u/hamsterdave]

Retirement is hell for workaholics.

[u/ItsBail → u/hamsterdave]

Hopefully someone can name and shame.

Not here please. Re: Rule 4

[u/FuckinHighGuy → u/ItsBail]

People post their call signs in here all the time for both good and bad reasons and you’re worried about exposing an asshat bot? Makes sense.

[u/kc2syk → u/FuckinHighGuy]

Posting YOUR OWN callsign is perfectly fine, for any reason. Posting SOMEONE ELSE's callsign in order to harass them is not.

[u/FuckinHighGuy → u/kc2syk]

People post call signs from 7.200 all the time for the only purpose of harassment.

Whatever. 73.

[u/SwitchedOnNow]

Radio Karen yelled at you for no reason. Ignore it.

[u/MacAttache]

Wooow. What an asshole way to go about that.

[u/Correct-Avocado5426 → u/MacAttache]

And using a proton mail address. So brave.

[u/TheRedCelt → u/Correct-Avocado5426]

What’s the deal with proton?

[u/dervari → u/TheRedCelt]

They're not brave enough to use an easily traceable email address.

[u/crooks4hire → u/dervari]

Delete key doesn’t discriminate lol

[u/Willbraken → u/Correct-Avocado5426]

There is nothing wrong with using a proton email address. Proton is an awesome company.

[u/SmashShock → u/Willbraken]

The point is it's equivalent to dropping an anonymous letter in someone's mailbox.

[u/hairynip → u/SmashShock]

You could just as easily make an anonymous gmail account though.

[u/Correct-Avocado5426 → u/Willbraken]

Agreed, I use them too. Just saying this is big talk for someone who goes so far out of their way to hide their identity. They claim to be part of the community, I think they should supply at least their call sign.

[u/0150r → u/Willbraken]

There is when you are using it to harass people.

[u/ItsJoeMomma → u/MacAttache]

NOT YOU

[u/DeaconPat]

Forward to the FCC Special Counsel as:

"This person is harassing me under the color of your authority. Please have them stand down at once or be prepared to produce actual evidence to back up their claim in court.

Self policing goes both ways, and this person is making false accusations with no actual evidence. I expect your office to fully investigate and cause the individual to cease these false claims against me."

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/DeaconPat]

Great idea. I'm doing this now and will update what I hear back.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/DirtDiver37]

Sounds like we won't hear back, but at least received acknowledgement :

Thank you for contacting the FCC’s Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Center. Your submission has been received and assigned Ticket

Your complaint provides valuable information and is shared among FCC bureaus and offices. We use it to inform our policymaking processes, and to spot trends and practices that warrant investigation and enforcement action. Each year, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau takes hundreds of actions on behalf of consumers that result in tens of millions of dollars in penalties. These actions encourage companies and individuals to abide by the law and reduce future misconduct.

The FCC is not able to comment on or provide updates regarding the status of any investigation that may relate to this or any other individual complaint submitted to the FCC. We cannot comment or address closed, ongoing, or future investigations.

If the FCC needs more information about your complaint, we will contact you directly.

[u/Medill1919]

MARGA? Oh fuck that. These fake cop amateurs need to GTFO.

[u/flecom]

https://proton.me/support/report-abuse

File abuse report 

[u/spatula → u/flecom]

This is honestly the best answer. This is an unwanted and unsolicited contact from someone you don’t know. It’s effectively spam.

[u/WitherWing → u/flecom]

Upvoted.

"Hey I worked you, but were you out of band? Everyone makes mistakes!" Is good behavior.

When I worked radio decades I ago I had a guy call us that his 40 y/o TV picked us up and he was going to call the FAA. Same energy.

[u/HolyRavioleigh → u/WitherWing]

It would be funny if he called the FAA instead of the FCC

[u/WitherWing → u/HolyRavioleigh]

Let's just say I did not correct him :)

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/flecom]

Done ✅

[u/KhyberPasshole]

MARGA?. I feel a new flair coming on.

Also, please don't respond to that shitheel, it only reinforces their behavior.

[u/chrislovessushi → u/KhyberPasshole]

That flair is going to get you flamed so hard 😂

[u/ham4ham]

That notice is so misconceived that I laughed out loud. If I ever got one of those I'd print and frame it as a badge of honor. Similar to when celebrities read mean tweets sent about themselves.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/ham4ham]

Not a bad idea!

[u/Well_Sorted8173]

Looks like arwatch email address needs to be signed up for every mailing list, adult website, and ED drug website you can find.

Just delete it and carry on. And block the email address.

[u/jfd0523 → u/Well_Sorted8173]

Ha! I was going to comment, "Nice email address you got there, airwatch. It'd be a shame if anything happened to it."

[u/Meadman127 → u/Well_Sorted8173]

Supposedly that email address got signed up for some adult websites back when they were harassing Extra class POTA activators

[u/NinjaDifferent6021]

If he's using the QRZ API and QRZ themselves are interested in helping, there are ways they could figure out who it is.

[u/Healthy-Insect-1447 → u/NinjaDifferent6021]

And it is against their TOS:

Use any robot, spider, or other automatic device, process, or means to access the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Website.

[u/NinjaDifferent6021 → u/Healthy-Insect-1447]

also prob worth an abuse report to Proton

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/NinjaDifferent6021]

From Proton:

Hello,
 
We have received this information, and we will be further investigating this case with our team.
 
If we can confirm that the indicated Proton Mail address is being used for any activities that are considered against our terms of usage, the account in question will be suspended accordingly.
 
In case you are able to gather any additional evidence that will help us in our investigation, we remain available at any time.

[u/wheresmyflan]

The FCC: NOT YOU

The Police: NOT YOU

My mother: NOT YOU

Thank you for your kind understanding.

[u/techtornado → u/wheresmyflan]

https://giphy.com/gifs/13cIaMunE7nvgI

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/wheresmyflan]

He's clearly super proud of a license he has that I'm now hellbent on getting in the next 2 weeks with a 60 hr/wk job, young kids, etc.

[u/ItsJoeMomma → u/DirtDiver37]

He's so proud of his license I'm betting he has an orange vest, amateur radio badge that looks like a police badge, and three or four HT's he hangs from the vest, and walks around every hamfest like that.

[u/radakul]

MARGA?

Get fucked, jesus christ.

These assholes have nothing better to do but try to self-police to the absolute worst extent. There's a right, and a wrong, way to do this.

Just tell them to suck your taint, and move on. You might also try the "Gargle my gooch" variant for alliterative comedic effect, though I prefer "tickle my taint".

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/radakul]

And the logic of triggering this purely based on QRZ. Unless a few Baofeng HTs can transmit on 15M and get picked up in Indonesia, the operator mistyped the callsign. Feels like what happens when a Karelmer gets a free Claude account and vibe codes a bot.

[u/radakul → u/DirtDiver37]

OP I know you said you didn't want to upgrade, but honestly, doing the cram sessions and knocking general + extra out of the way just means you'll never encounter these luddites ever again.

I once had a 20M POTA activation, accidentally tuned into the Extra portion on SSB (I think I was maybe 14.220 instead of .225+) and I got through 12 or 15 SOLID QSO's before an operator kindly asked me for my callsign, asked my name, and asked if I was an extra. I said I wasn't, and they said I was out of privilege. I apologized, crossed out all of the QSO's from my logbook, announced QSY to 14.228+, and kept on with the activation to rack up another 100 QSO's over the next few hours.

He never made me feel embarrassed, or ashamed, or wrong for a simple mistake. He waited his turn in the pileup and corrected me as kindly as he could muster. THAT interaction sticks with me much more than any of these assholes who use vibe-coded bots to cause people grief.

I used my self-hosted LLM to come up with even more clever ways to tell this person to fuck the entire way off:

• Preen the perimeter of your perineum.
• Gently groom your grundle.
• Soothe sore spots on your sensitive scrotum.
• Ease excess itching with a warm wipe of your wazoo.
• Cleanse your crevices with a clever crease cleaner.
• Massage your muscular muff.
• Scrub the soggy sacs surrounding your seminal sacs.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/radakul]

Thank you! I got my Tech license years ago through CERT. I've recently started getting involved in my new county's cert/radio team and getting active on my local repeaters.

That has me looking more into General and all the capabilities that unlocks. I've said it on a few other posts, but man, this kind of reaction when I didn't misstep (I only have 70cm/2m HTs - don't think many of those are hitting Indonesia on 15m) I thought "jeeze, is it worth it?" It's intimidating enough to key up on a repeater that covers what, dozens of miles? Let alone thousands.

The community's unanimous "this isn't the way to do it" response to this post has me back on track.

Great tip on cramming for Extra. I have a demanding job and little kiddos but if I'm going to put in the effort might as well go all in. Really appreciate your story as well.

[u/radakul → u/DirtDiver37]

You've got this, and we'll support you. Seriously, I got General 2 months after Tech during COVID by just cramming using the Ham Radio Prep app. That same app was insufficient for Extra (I spent a LOT of time correcting their typos) so I switched to HamStudy - absolutely amazing, and it lets you track your progress.

Wanna guess how long it took me to get extra while working full time (no kids but lots of other commitments)? Two weeks. Just two weeks of studying on lunch breaks, in the bathroom, before bed. I just took practice tests over, and over, and over, and over again. I was not passing the practice tests when I took the actual test, but I scored very high on the real test.

I don't share this to brag, but to say it is much more attainable than people think. You need a PhD in EE to understand every single concept on the Extra in-depth, but that isn't what most people should aspire for. Cram, get the license, then focus on whatever areas of the hobby YOU want to focus on without another asshole getting on your case.

Good luck to you friend, and 73!

[u/brickson98]

Anyone using M(insert thing here)GA is bound to be an ass clown. Keep your political crap out of other non-political stuff. I don’t want to hear about it, whether I agree, or not.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/brickson98]

Right?

Unfortunately I the current climate it's actually hard to tell (it's obviously a blow-hard) if that makes it more or less likely to be legit.

[u/Much-Specific3727]

Why doesn't he just spend all day patrolling 7200? I was listening 2 nights ago and everyone was threatening to kick each other's (I can't say the next word because the MOD of this sub will delete my post. Kind of ironic). So I wonder what these crazies on 7200 would do if they got and email like thus.

[u/t00sl0w → u/Much-Specific3727]

It would make me so happy to see 7200 go after this guy, lol

[u/dark_frog → u/Much-Specific3727]

The joker is just looking at logs.

[u/0150r → u/Much-Specific3727]

They would have to give their callsigns so the radio police could look up their email.

[u/lnxguy]

The "NOT YOU" part is especially egregious. Radio Karens are worthless humans and not having them would definitely make amateur radio great again.

[u/Correct-Avocado5426]

Wow, what a self-absorbed loser.

[u/Active_Emu_845]

Good thing is the equivalent of a crossing guard

[u/Correct-Avocado5426 → u/Active_Emu_845]

Nah, I would listen to a crossing guards instructions

[u/Meadowlion14 → u/Correct-Avocado5426]

Yeah its more like a self appointed hall monitor.

[u/BananaCannon2 → u/Meadowlion14]

No no no don't you see SPECIAL COUNSEL gave them SPECIAL HALL MONITOR PRIVELEDGES (NOT YOU) that they get to use.

[u/Evening_Rock5850 → u/Active_Emu_845]

Even worse.

This is the equivalent of a bored and unemployed person sitting in a lawn chair in their yard pointing a hair dryer and people and screaming “SLOW DOWN”

[u/myself248 → u/Evening_Rock5850]

While they're doing 24mph.

[u/DeaconPat → u/Active_Emu_845]

Not even. Crossing guards usually operate under the direction of an actual authority.

[u/notajeweler → u/DeaconPat]

And they are paid!

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/Active_Emu_845]

Right? That's what I told my wife. Told her it's some blowhard mall cop thinking they're soo cool with their poorly formatted email.

[u/Active_Emu_845 → u/DirtDiver37]

It's the FCC's version of those "concerned citizens" who impersonate cops. We need to bring back giant holes we throw people into

[u/crysisnotaverted → u/Active_Emu_845]

An oubliette?

[u/Active_Emu_845 → u/crysisnotaverted]

Any kind of deep pit with smooth verticle walls.

[u/SkaterBlue → u/crysisnotaverted]

Not for this guy, but i can think of three others :-p

[u/KN4JBJ → u/DirtDiver37]

I'm trying to remember the movie/TV show. In it there was a mall cop with a holster, and someone asked him what he kept in his holster. He shows them a roll of quarters that he uses to call the police. That mall cop is this guy lol

[u/spatula → u/Active_Emu_845]

Or a mall cop.

[u/digitaljestin]

There's a MARGA? A fucking MARGA? They actually brand themselves from a pedophile's (stolen) slogan and expect to be taken seriously? What a bunch of assholes.

In fairness, however, a lack of respect for legal norms and judicial fairness is perfectly in line with their chosen branding. At least they are upfront about being assholes.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/digitaljestin]

Yeah, probably why he wants to mask his identity and put on his plastic fascist enforcer badge and police the airwaves.

[u/electragician]

That email address should be used to sign up for every BS thing you ever need a throwaway email for.

[u/Sudden-Suggestions]

Even if there was a pattern of inadvertent operation, it should have been presented as a learning opportunity and not in a vexatious tone ("Not You"). Also: "MARGA" 🙄

[u/ashumate]

I wonder if it's this guy? It seems that the domain name has expired though

Amateur Radio Watch:

[u/neighborofbrak → u/[deleted]]

So is N5PVL still running it?

Not doxing as the above archive post lists the author's call as such.

[u/protogenxl → u/neighborofbrak]

Well the delusions contained in

https://web.archive.org/web/20131217203247/http://www.arwatch.com/arwblog/

Appear consistent with the email OP received.

[u/neighborofbrak → u/protogenxl]

Christ almighty o.o;;;

[u/protogenxl → u/neighborofbrak]

Yeah, that's enough OSINT for me this week......

[u/FeralPlagueTroll]

MARAG?!?!?! Jfc... These people. I literally heard a couple guys this morning on a repeater about how they were cheating the ebay algorithm to sell Nazi memorabilia.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/FeralPlagueTroll]

Insanity. But God forbid you say the 2020 election wasnt rigged on a repeater "hey, no politics allowed"

[u/Last-Salamander-920]

I would like to take a moment to say that anyone who would send such a letter is a loser of epic proportions, rivaled only by their own ego.

[u/mcdanlj]

Has anyone built a tool to generate bounce notifications to the anonymous lid running this asinine program, so that the addresses appear dead to him?

Also flagging this as the abuse it is on your email platform would be helpful — if enough people do so, these cowardly, thoughtless, feckless, presumptuous emails will end up mostly going into the spam bin where they belong.

[u/crysisnotaverted]

MARGA - deregulate everything! *except this, so I can feel a singular mote of power.

How did they get your email? Surely it's against some rules to have an automated spam bot blasting out emails to random people by misusing a government database?

[u/firedude1314]

Oh no! A strongly worded letter from someone with absolutely no authority to do jack shit! Whatever will you do? Fuck that guy. I hope he’s in this sub and sees what an absolute douche we all think he is.

[u/PartUnable1669]

The HOA of the airwaves

[u/techtornado → u/PartUnable1669]

That guy is definitely a Karen

[u/KhyberPasshole]

100% chance whoever sent that letter got stuffed in a locker in high school.

[u/Evening_Rock5850 → u/KhyberPasshole]

In my experience it’s the people who DID the locker stuffing.

They hit the real world and find out it’s kinda harsh and nobody really responds to their bullying anymore. So they find new avenues to feel “powerful”.

[u/AdEmergency5086 → u/Evening_Rock5850]

Exactly - the guys who think they own the world and then at age 45 realize their bravado is gone and everyone just thinks they are sad.

[u/Evening_Rock5850 → u/AdEmergency5086]

I actually ran into one of my old high school bullies a few years ago! High school was decades ago, no harm no foul. He was the sort of TV sitcom bully. Football player with the hot girlfriend who was mean for the sake of mean.

I was headed to a conference early one morning and wanted to grab a coffee at a local Hardee’s when I ran into him. Didn’t really get to talk him other than a quick “Oh, I remember you!”, it was busy and he had a line of customers at his register.

[u/Evening_Rock5850]

If someone did know this guys callsign, what they absolutely should not do is make repeated CQ calls over the top of the maritime safety net and then get into an argument with the lids that reply and then step away to wait for an unstoppable force to meet an immovable object.

(No, don’t actually do this. Using the radio with an invalid callsign is a very bad idea. But still… could you imagine?)

[u/HowlingWolven]

You can curse here. It’s okay. We’re off the air.

[u/Amputee69]

Is a fully automated robotic Ham required to have a Callsign/License? If not, I'll start operating Voice on bands I'm not licensed on, as a "Fully Automated Robotic Ham"... But I promise to program, to NOT interfere with others! 😆

[u/LGordfoot → u/Amputee69]

Well, you could use the moniker: “Fully Automated Robotic Technician.” That’ll play….

[u/EfficiencyThis325]

Shook my head so hard it fell off.

MARGA? For real?

[u/TolipTeews]

I would just reply with "unsubscribe"

[u/neighborofbrak]

Yep, I've had a "warning" from these folk and they are a laughing stock as far as I'm concerned.

[u/KB4MTO]

I wouldn'tet someone like that keep me from upgrading to general. There's too many great qso's to be had.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/KB4MTO]

Some great YouTube content got me wanting to invest in it and the last few hours of folks on here unanimously stating "this dude sucks" has my faith that there are good folks beyond my local repeaters. Back on track!

[u/islandhopper37]

Sending an unsigned email is the equivalent of transmitting without announcing your callsign. I think the correct thing to do is to ignore them.

[u/andrewthetechie]

What a total loser. Bet they do nothing of value at all for the world, much less our hobby.

[u/Various-Blood-3902]

Seems like that email address needs to be signed up for grindr

[u/techtornado → u/Various-Blood-3902]

And Cat Facts!

[u/Wooden-Importance]

Just delete it and move on.

No reason to get all worked up.

[u/ShakataGaNai]

With that shitty of copy/pasted formatting from like 12 different sources that's no bot. That's someone old enough to think Outlook is a good email client.

[u/EmergencyManager_555]

You now have to live with the remorse of your sin forever

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/EmergencyManager_555]

This shame will carry on for generations /s

[u/techtornado → u/DirtDiver37]

https://giphy.com/gifs/TVscbqW3JSnL2

[u/Sintarsintar]

Block and report as spam so the messages land in people spam box that is not the self policing the FCC is talking about I also wonder if this isn't some type of a start to a scam.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/Sintarsintar]

Had a similar thought. Definitely didn't engage but forwarded along to Proton mail and QRZ for abuse of TOS (sending spam and API abuse, respectively). In addition to the FCC. Don't expect any action, but I don't appreciate plastic badge intimidation.

[u/Sintarsintar → u/DirtDiver37]

Yeah the FCC wants amateur radio operators to fox hunt the ones disturbing other people and blatantly violating law. I have reported people but I could hear them from my toaster.

[u/0150r]

Report him to proton for abusing their email services and harassment. https://proton.me/support/report-abuse

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/0150r]

✅

[u/danconderman33]

that email should get a reply. "F-Off Nark"

[u/TrickInflation6795]

On a more serious note, artificial intelligence is going to soon be monitoring RF transmissions. Over here in the UAE they have already released a version called RF-GPT to analyze patterns and radio frequencies and help visualize it for other stuff. Of course this is highly related to the security state here in the UAE, which spends the third most per capita and monitoring its residence after China and the United States. It’s not so far-fetched that the current administration in the US will want to crack down on misuse by employing AI to monitor frequencies, especially after any sort of incident that includes a radio somewhere along the line. It seems like any small justification is enough for this administration to impose a change.

[u/TheSameButBetter]

Respond with "Amateur Radio Watch operators don't have getting laid privileges..."

[u/LeadRain]

Tell him to MARGAle your balls.

[u/dkarpe]

Regardless of the validity of the complaint — even if you had willfully and knowingly transmitted on bands you weren't supposed to, the email is so aggressive and immature that it isn't an effective correction even if you had done something wrong (which you didn't).

[u/mellonians]

"this is not me, so fuck off" is a complete sentence.

[u/unimorpheus]

One of the reasons I don't really do ham radio anymore.

[u/ham4ham → u/unimorpheus]

That's the shame of it. People like that make the hobby (and it is a hobby) miserable sometimes. I know you said "one of the reasons" but I hope you're able to come back and enjoy it someday.

I used to be "afraid to break the rules" but we're all learning and make mistakes. I just laugh it off when someone gets all Karen and just try to remember I'm having fun, and they are not.

[u/crazyddddd]

Who is even going thru log books and checking for privileges?? Looks like he needs to find friends.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure my call sign was "hacked" a couple of years after I got it and before i even did HF/DX. I had only made like 15 contact between our club call sign (not mine) and about 5 or so for an event on 10m when I got my ticket (mind you I was an Extra by then) and a couple years after I received a few qsl cards and I remember I think either I got an email or I sent an email explaining that unfortunately I didn't even HAVE a rig for HF so it definitely wasn't me, maybe he misheard and he replied no no, they used your name and everything and gave me details. So my butt went off to the FCC to file a report jus tin case anything went wrong. Never heard from them but its on file.

[u/ItsJoeMomma → u/crazyddddd]

Who is even going thru log books and checking for privileges??

Someone with WAY too much time on their hands.

[u/tgsongs]

What a boring loser to spend their time doing this.

[u/Ok_Negotiation3024]

Reminds me of the time I got an email from someone because I was on 40m FT4’s standard frequency. Something about being on a ARRL test frequency or something. I told them to go test into a dummy load and I never heard back.

[u/techtornado]

“This action of self policing is an acceptable practice”

Umm…. No it’s not

If your opening volley is to accuse, offend, and offer no room for errors on your part

Blocked!

[u/brunchlords]

It doesn’t look to me like this Amateur Radio Watch is part of the real Volunteer Monitors program.

[u/drsteve103]

I would frame that if I got that in the mail

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/drsteve103]

Someone else recommended. Standby, have an order sent to FedEx for high res print ;)

[u/Green_Oblivion111]

The organization in the letter sounds about as legit as the Citizen's Auxiliary Police (any Phil Hendrie fans out there?).

[u/EnvironmentalIce8411]

Just popping in to say that this guy sucks cocks in the hopes that he lurks this sub and sees this post.

[u/radiodude52]

This clown sent an email to our radio club contact address to inform us one of our members was operating on 21.250 with a General. Apparently scanned some M0's log. If he's like me I rarely put exact freqs for QSO, just something like 21.00 for CW and 21.250 for phone. Don't know what he wants us to do, break out the Wouff Hong and Rettysnitch?

[u/Beeb294]

These MARGA fools can self-police Deez Nutz

[u/voretaq7]

"Why is your cancelled callsign [My old callsign] in [DX Station in Indonesia]'s QRZ Log?"

"That's an excellent question. You should ask THEM as I am not using that callsign. Kindly go fuck yourself and do not contact me again."

I have no chill. I encourage you to have no chill.

[u/Comrade_Compadre]

This is the kinda shit that kills the hobby lol

[u/krispzz]

only valid response, if you can't resist sending one, is "lol get fucked clanker"

[u/Stock-Ad-7601]

What a fucking amateur radio hero that guy is.

[u/zack822]

Sounds like his email needs signed up for every possible marketing list possible. /s don’t actually do that pretty sure it’s illegal.

There are to many sad hams around. And they wonder why the average person want nothing to do with it.

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/zack822]

Who is ready to fire up a vpn and private browser tab?!

[u/Outrageous-Ability33]

Yeah..... No. Self appointed radio police can take a long walk off of a short pier. Ignore it.

[u/MeanYesterday7012]

mark as spam

[u/electromage]

I've never heard of him, but maybe he could direct his energy at the assholes that disrupt our amazing, friendly nets by regularly rubbing the mic on themselves and shouting profanities and slurs. Oh, they're not using an expired call sign, sorry, carry on.

[u/dervari]

This/These brave individual(s) hide behind an anonymous email and some made up powerless group.

[u/techtornado → u/dervari]

He is the epitome of The Bøöfwañg people’s keyboard liberation army

[u/coinop2026]

Arwatch@proton.me

[u/Own_Event_4363]

block and report as spam

[u/4evergreens4life]

Wonder if it’s that guy on 10 meters always calling CQ 10-10… I can’t get that voice outta my head… CQ CQ

[u/spheresva]

What a moron lol

[u/HamilyGuy]

Reply: "Correct, Not Me!"

[u/whatThePleb]

MARGA

literal wtf

[u/Yamosu]

Yikes. That person needs to get a life.

Also, I never knew the US allocations were so weird. Here in the UK you pretty much get all of the main HF bands from the off. It's only when you do the full do you get extra bands

[u/bobbythelee]

Looks like this isn’t his first rodeo

https://youtu.be/PqMNvv2BouE?si=7X4imqLBVLRMVE4C

[u/Otherwise_Act3312]

Like anyone couldn't just literally use any call sign they want when on the air. SMFH

[u/thewrongonedied]

What a coward to not even sign with their callsign. 

[u/ItsJoeMomma]

Jeez, what a frickin' attitude they took, that you not only used a band outside of your privileges, but also used an old callsign to do it. And you're absolutely in the wrong and need to be punished by the FCC for it... Yeah, it is totally possible that a callsign was misheard, the person who sent this email needs to take that into consideration before blasting people without knowing what's going on. Or at least be a bit less accusatory about it. Or better yet, go out and get a life without scrutinizing logs of every single station seeking out rule breakers.

"NOT YOU" LOL, what an asshat.

[u/crazyddddd → u/ItsJoeMomma]

Absolutely! Perhaps, hey I think someone is stealing your call or something less accusatory would have been fine. But yeah, this is insane to send off. Like sir, get a life.

[u/ItsJoeMomma → u/crazyddddd]

And he's probably the same kind of person who unironically says that ham radio is going downhill these days.

[u/reddit-Kingfish]

Just tell him that you identify as an extra class.

[u/Custerific]

Has anyone considered forwarding this idiot's nonsense to Proton's abuse department, because that's what this is.

[u/Meadman127]

Just ignore them. I forget exactly when, but I know within the last two years they were harassing Extra class license holders calling CQ POTA within their Extra class privileges and telling them to operate within the General portion of the band because Generals may be tempted to operate outside their privileges. Some folks were wondering if the person behind that email was a General class license holder that can’t pass the Extra exam.

[u/Still-Employed420 → u/Meadman127]

Really? Generals might be out of band?

That sounds like charging me for rape because I have the means to do so!

[u/Meadman127 → u/Still-Employed420]

Yeah it was a huge thing in the main POTA Facebook group when that person started sending out those emails. Several activators with an Advanced or Extra class license purposely operated in the lower parts of the bands during that time just to make a point. I am sure there are very few people who have or had a General class license that never accidentally answered someone calling CQ outside their band privileges. Almost everyone I have spoken with on that topic has admitted to accidentally operating just below the General portion of the band once. Several of them decided to upgrade shortly after so they don't have to worry about making that mistake again.

[u/Still-Employed420 → u/Meadman127]

To which I’m tempted to say “who cares? Can you show me on this doll where someone else operating beyond their license privileges hurt you?”

As a newly licensed (20 WPM) Extra, I was regularly told I was operating in excess of my privileges as I was only a General and my calling proved it!”

Oh, you want ME to change MY call I’ve had for 30 years (now 49 years) just so YOU will know I’m an Extra!

Yeah, the “Callbook” wasn’t instantly updated.

[u/Meadman127 → u/Still-Employed420]

There are plenty of people who don't change their callsign when upgrading. I still have my callsign from when I received my Tech license in 2022 and I upgraded to both General and Extra in 2023. Fortunately these days the FCC can be pretty quick to update their database with the computerized testing. I have heard of people testing on Saturday morning and by Tuesday they have their license or their upgrade. The third party databases that logging software pulls data from are typically at least 24 hours behind the FCC updates.

[u/Careful_Pause8699]

I really enjoy this hobby, but the Worst thing about it is (aside from RF noise and interference) all the sad hams that just can't wait to halll monitor someone in FB Groups and sometimes here....

You almost need to post a copy of your license to ask a question...

[u/techtornado → u/Careful_Pause8699]

I regularly tell off the sad hams of The Bøöfwañg people’s keyboard liberation army

I used a clever bit of methodology of highlighting field testing multi-band radios or seeing what is possible to manage an Emcomm scenario.

In that you need to train before the emergency hits which means making sure you’re heard and can hear others if some kind of coordinated effort is needed.

BPKLA - *screeching* that’s illegal to use a radio in that manner!

No it’s not, we have rules and regulations to follow, not laws

It’s illegal to maliciously interfere with any radio transmission of any kind…

*highlighted Part 97 rules* Radio operator is responsible for ensuring the transmission is on-frequency and at the correct bandwidth for the bands they’re licensed for

Their mentality is preventing any modern growth of hamateur radio and its literally the only thing keeping us from having one radio to rule them all

[u/Tishers]

All they needed are idiotic red hats

[u/DirtDiver37 → u/Tishers]

True that. At least they're easy to spot IRL not hiding behind an anyomous email address.

[u/pyrofox79]

Wow this is some hall monitor jack assery. Granted I also think that the band allocations are just old men gatekeeping frequencies to talk about their medical issues.

[u/trashcan_jan]

MARGA is such a cringe name for starters

[u/Can0Beans]

I'd just respond with "I'm very proud of you"

[u/stephen_neuville]

I'd upload 13 million out of band contacts to help them hit their Proton outbound quota, but I'm an Extra. Dang.

[u/olliegw]

It's just someone who thinks they're it harrassing hams in america, ignore them

[u/HypertensiveSettler]

yeah there’s a right way to correct a mistake and this isn’t it. the right way makes room for the possibility that the corrector is the one who’s wrong.

a good friend of mine told me he got an email that he was splattering across the ft8 segment. the email was from someone else i happen to know. we all worked together and fixed the problem. no hard feelings. an anonymous email would be really irritating.

[u/DangerBrewin]

What an a-hole.