[amsat-bb] Monday evening & Tuesday, trip wrap-up...

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Jeff,

Judging from what the Port Huron police officers said,
posting a sign or anything like this would have probably
still meant the Wendy's manager was calling the police,
once I started pointing my antenna skyward. It happens.

I have had many encounters with law enforcement over the
years when working satellites. All of them pretty much end
the same way as my encounter in Port Huron on Monday evening.
Only once was I encouraged to go somewhere else, although
I was told at the same time I was not breaking any laws or
regulations where I happened to be operating (in the hotel
parking lot, outside the site of the 2014 AMSAT Symposium,
near BWI airport in Baltimore).

​Specifically for Monday evening in Port Huron, I knew I was
not on the Wendy's property, so I didn't bother saying
anything to them. The law enforcement encounter went as
quickly as most of these encounters go. That event last year
in Baltimore was probably the longest encounter I have ever
had related to my satellite operating, at around 20 minutes
in the parking lot with those officers (initially two, then
a third arrived during the 20-minute encounter - each with
their vehicles, blocking cars in that part of the hotel's
parking lot). In the end, it is sometimes easier to beg for
forgiveness than ask for permission, as it is usually
easier for someone to say "no" when asked for something
they may not know much about. ​

73!





Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Twitter: @WD9EWK





On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 4:21 PM, J. Boyd (JR2TTS) <
the2belo at msd.biglobe.ne.jp> wrote:

>
>
> I wonder if it would be a good idea to do what some contest rovers here
> in Japan do when they set up at a scenic overlook or a park with huge
> stacked yagis on top of their vans, to avoid misunderstandings -- they
> put up little flags next to their vehicles that read "Amateur Radio In
> Progress".
>
>