In my opinion, the kind of confrontation you described is just as bad as the 
offense itself.  How do we know that the guy really was a bootlegger?  Could 
it be that somebody was angry enough to just walk into his shack, grab the 
mic, and make that claim?  If I thought someone really was operating 
illegally, I'd try to contact him off the air to ask him to cease and 
desist, and if he seemed unwilling to do so, I'd report him in writing to 
either the ARRL or the FCC.  If neither of those organizations did anything 
about his operating practices, I'd just avoid him on the radio.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harry Brown" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2012 18:24
Subject: confrontation on the air? what do you all think about this topic?


> Hi all,
> Since we've been talking about different ham radio lingo, etc.
> I wanted to go another direction, and I want to know what you all think.
> As you know, riley Hollingsworth, who was known for this cracking down =
> on rule violaters on the air, isn't doing that any more, since he =
> retired.
> I remember the day when I read that, and I thought to myself, "what will =
> we hams do now?"
> Then, I read an article, that gave me the answer.
> I don't remember where it was, whether in QST, or where it was, but it =
> said something like this, "We hams will have to police the hobby, as the =
> FCC won't have the resources to do it in the future."
> I strongly agree with this article.
> This is our hobby, and the FCC does indeed, not have the resources, and =
> budget cuts will probably make this situation even worse.
> So, how should we police ourselves on the air?
> As a matter of fact, I heard about one way it was done, and I think it's =
> pretty cool.
> A local ham friend of myne was talking to a 4th call area station down =
> in Georgia, and they were having a real enjoyable QSO, and all the =
> sudden, my friend heard this big bang, noise. Another ham grabbed the =
> microphone, and said "this station, ...., is a boot leg station, and =
> will now be taken off the air."
> My ham friend never heard this boot legger station again!
> He said to me, "Trippy, I loved it, absolutely loved it, the hams in =
> that community took matters into their own hands!"
> So, what do you all think about this issue?
> Trippy, ac8s
>