FCC Fines Continue to Mount in Gerritsen Case

Briefly licensed radio amateur and alleged jammer Jack Gerritsen, ex-KG6IRO, of Bell, California, now faces a total of $52,000 in FCC-imposed or proposed fines. In a January 21 Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) the FCC proposed to levy another $21,000 forfeiture on Gerritsen--this time for apparently violating Section 333 of the Communications Act by interfering with a US Coast Guard rescue effort last October 29 on amateur frequencies. Part 97 Amateur Service rules also require that control operators "give priority to stations providing emergency communications," the FCC noted.

"Gerritsen's apparent willful and malicious interference with the radio communications of the Coast Guard Auxiliary officer who was attempting to communicate with a ship in distress is egregious," said the most recent NAL, signed by FCC Los Angeles District Office District Director Catherine Deaton. "According to the evidence, Gerritsen knowingly operates, without a license, radio transmission equipment." In the NAL, the FCC alleged that Gerritsen continued to transmit "despite repeated warnings and requests to vacate the frequency."

The latest proposed forfeiture factors in an "upward adjustment" from the $7000 base fine for causing interference to licensed stations, the NAL said. The FCC already has affirmed a $10,000 fine levied against Gerritsen last year for interfering with Amateur Radio communications. In December, the Commission proposed another $21,000 fine, citing additional instances of alleged interference on amateur frequencies.

Gerritsen has been accused of bombarding numerous Los Angeles-area repeaters with verbal tirades, often identifying with his now-deleted amateur call sign. The FCC in 2001 granted Gerritsen a Technician ticket, then promptly set it aside when it learned of Gerritsen's state conviction for interfering with public safety radio communications. He spent some time in jail as a result of that case, which he's appealing.

According to the FCC, the October 29, 2004, incident involved efforts by a member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary to contact the sailing vessel Elke-Marie after a storm had knocked out the boat's VHF marine radio. The vessel had working Amateur Radio gear, however. When the USCGA officer attempted to contact the S/V Elke-Marie on behalf of the Coast Guard using the Catalina Island Amateur Radio Association (CARA) VHF repeater, "Gerritsen began speaking and transmitting a prerecorded message," the officer and the complainant in the case--the wife of a passenger on the sailboat--alleged.

Although the officer asked him to stand down, Gerritsen continued to transmit, accusing the officer of declaring a sham emergency in an effort to jam Gerritsen's transmissions, the NAL recounts. The FCC said the transmissions, which continued for some 40 minutes, included the repeated playing of a recording and ultimately ended with the perpetrator's saying, "If you jam me, I'll jam you."

FCC agents promptly tracked a signal on the repeater's input frequency to Gerritsen's residence, but attempts to contact him by telephone proved unsuccessful. Later that day, FCC officials tracked to Gerritsen's residence a transmission on another 2-meter frequency during which the operator identified as KG6IRO. Although the agents reported hearing a voice from inside the dwelling that "synchronized with the voice" on their scanner, the NAL said, no one answered the door.

In the NAL, Deaton said the Communications Act requirement that all radio stations give "absolute priority" to radio communications or signals relating to ships in distress "exemplifies one of the best uses for radio transmissions, the endeavor to save a human life."

"Gerritsen's actions on October 29, 2004," she concluded, "exemplify the worst."

Several hundred ARRL members from the Los Angeles area have complained to the League about Gerritsen. In mid-December, the League called upon FCC Enforcement Chief David Solomon to intervene with the US Attorney's office in the case, citing the urgency of the situation and suggesting "that procedures other than monetary forfeitures be brought to bear."

Source: The ARRL Letter Vol. 24, No. 04 January 28, 2005

Posted 02/08/2005