I've been listening to the group on 3955 tonight while I've been working in the shack, and there's a fellow who claims he works for Homeland Security. This guy says he's on the job at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., which is plausible. Out of nowhere — and without any mention of what he was referring to — he tells the group that someone's going to get a certified notice from him for improper operation on another frequency.
Why this guy dropped this in the middle of a different conversation I don't know. Some folks on the frequency asked him what the heck he was talking about, and he said he regularly monitors 75 meters and sends notices to violators.
I checked him out and he's not an Official Observer. I caught him in some half-truths and some outright fabrications during his QSO.
Most of what he said — about his career as a federal marshall in various parts of the country — was confirmed by his FCC license data. The guy has been liicensed since 1961, and he was spinning a yarn about how tough his 20 wpm code test was at the Nashville, TN federal building “back in the day.”
When I looked the guy up on the ULS database, I found that he was a Technician Class license holder until he upgraded to General in 2000 — the year after the 13 and 20 wpm code tests were dropped. When did he take a 20 wpm code test? It doesn't look like he ever passed 13.
During the QSO, he also seems to enjoy dropping bits of info about the technology he has access too — always quick to add that he shouldn't be saying much about it. For example, on these overnight shifts he enjoys shooting the breeze on the Satellite phone with the aircraft carriers in the Gulf, or talking with the astronauts on the ISS. He also says he can use the spy satellites to watch anyone go outside and wave to him. The longer he talked, the louder my BS alarm rang.
When asked what authority he had to send notices to hams whose operation he didn't like, he explained that the FCC was shorthanded, and that since the FCC falls under Homeland Security, he had the authority to go after hams who he believed were violating FCC rules.
The truth is out there somewhere … part of me suspects the guy probably does work for Homeland Security — as the janitor or night watchman.