Hello:

A few points here:

1.  As far as the politics, this is nothing new.  Since at least back in 
the 1970's, I have heard such stuff on the HF bands: 3853, 3898, 3950 
kHz on 75 meters; 14.313, 14.325, 20 Meters as a few examples.
2.  We get some similar stuff here in the western New York area on 2 
meters--not quite as bad all the time, but bad enough.
3.  As someone who used to run a rational discussion group on 2 meters 
late, late at night on simplex--out of the way on obscure frequencies, 
eventually, we were discovered and are now harassed a lot--such that the 
original intent to discuss all sorts of topics, calmly, and in a proper 
manners has now deteriorated into a slop pot of nonsense most of the time.

As concerns the actual statements about other hams and in particular, 
the blind ham, I've heard that a lot in my local area as well and have 
been victimized myself accordingly.  One group had consistently turned 
off repeaters when they heard a few blind hams including me--talking 
properly, identifying properly and in a non controversial manner.  When 
confronted, they denied any wrong doing on their part and continued the 
behavior--such that I and these other blind hams have to stay off their 
systems--which involve about half the systems in western New York.

I found two things out in both these cases.  Ignoring this behavior and 
reporting it to authorities: FCC, observers, and so on, does absolutely 
no good.  I took literally a 2 year absence from radio and when I came 
back on found things worse than ever.  (one particular individual is 
president of a local ham club and is thus a 'respected member' of the 
ham community.)

Sometimes I actually engage these idiots with a taste of their own 
medicine--which unfortunately is about the only way I can get them to 
leave the frequency and go somewhere else.

so there you have it!



On 10/20/2013 2:24 AM, Zach Shifflett wrote:
> Hi all,
> Disclaimer: if you're not in the mood to read a long winded rant, just
> delete this message and I'll totally understand.  There's just
> something that happened tonight that I have to get off my chest.
> All right, here goes:
> So tonight, I've been up sitting in my office reading a book with my radio on.
> There are these two guys who get on late on a local repeater most weekends.
> They're not the most likable of characters at the best of times, but
> tonight they were just completely beyond all sense of propriety.
> First off, they were talking about politics.
> I know this isn't like a cardinal sin or anything, though personally I
> try to stay away from politics on the air.
> So these guys are talking about politics for a while, and it just
> devolves into an all out racist, ignorant, unbelievable rage fest.
> These folks were going on about how Obama is just in the white house
> to take revenge on white people, and how the government is full of
> terrorist democrats who got into politics just so they could take
> innocent people's money and use it to abort babies and take our guns
> away.
> They went so far as to say that the president is a peace of trash who
> hasn't gotten over the fact that black people used to be slaves, and
> just wants to destroy America.
> Now, while I don't agree with that thesis, I know there are people out
> there who do, and it's a free country, so you can have whatever
> opinion you want and it's fine with me.  What really angers me is how
> these guys are getting so pissed off on the radio that they're
> screaming and ranting nonsensically for hours and hours over the air.
> This kind of thing reflects poorly on the ham community as a whole,
> and just seems like terrible manners.
> And the sad thing is that isn't even the worst of it.
> There's a repeater in another town about 20 miles away that has a net
> every night that I frequent.
> You seriously couldn't find a better group of guys than that are on this net.
>
> So these two guys who had just finished ranting about politics finally
> stop, and the one guy says to the other, "so yeah, how bout that
> pathetic bunch of idiots who hang out on the .825 machine every
> night..." and so on and so on.
> Then, they started in on talking shit and laughing at one of the guys
> on the net, who not only did they name in person over the air, but is
> another blind ham.
> I think this particular ham they're talking about, who is also the
> blind ham, might have a minor intellectual disability or something, as
> sometimes he can be a little hard to understand, but said ham is one
> of the nicest guys on the net, and always has a good word for
> everybody he talks to.
> So here are these guys, who aren't even in the local club or anything,
> never to my knowledge volunteer or do anything with any of the ham
> outfits in the area, and they're talking for 2 straight hours on the
> open air and laughing at other hams, calling them out by name, who
> haven't even done anything wrong.
> It took every ounce of self-restraint I could manage not to get on the
> repeater, but I knew doing that would just feed the fire.
> Ok, that's it. Thanks for listening.
> I just had to get this out there.  I was literally so pissed off my
> hands were shaking.
> 73,
> Zach, kk4ruz
>