ARRLWeb: FCC Fines Continue to Mount in Gerritsen Case

ARRLWeb: FCC Fines Continue to Mount in Gerritsen Case

FCC Fines Continue to Mount in Gerritsen Case
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 25, 2005--

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.'