Months of hard work tracking various sources of malicious interference directed at the VE7RPTrepeater, owned and operated by the BCFMCA and located on Mt Seymour, have finally begun to pay off.

On September 25th the FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability, including fines totaling $7,000, to James Grinton, K7VNI, located in BellinghamWashington. A copy of this notice is attached for your information.

Grinton repeatedly and maliciously interfered with the operation of VE7RPTon a frequent basis. During the last 2 years Grinton directed his malicious interference and harassment at the President of the BCFMCA, jammed phone patches and periodically flooded the repeater with music and other forms of intentional interference.

In early 2006 a team of Canadian Hams began tracking the interfering signals and quickly determined they originated south of the Canada/US border. A group of Hams in the USwere approached to provide assistance and the source of the interference was identified shortly thereafter. A number of independent confirmations were made to verify the location, the address of which was determined to be that of James Grinton, K7VNI.

A complaint was formally made to the FCC regarding this interference and the information collected by the combined Canadian and US tracking team was provided to the Seattleoffice of the FCC. An agent from the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s Seattle Office independently verified the location and source of the interference during late 2006 and a Warning of Interference to Communications Letter was sent to James Grinton, K7VNI, on January 19, 2007.

Grinton continued to interfere with the operation of VE7RPTafter receipt of the warning letter. In fact, the Seattleagent recorded over 160 violations during the period January 19, 2007to June 23, 2007.

A Notice of Apparent Liability, including fines totaling $7,000, was issued to James Grinton, K7VNI, on September 25, 2007.

This is the second of a series of interference complaints affecting repeaters in the Greater Vancouver area to be brought to a conclusion. Additional interference investigations are on-going.

Many thanks to all the people who devoted countless hours tracking and identifying the source of this interference. This is an excellent example of the tremendous spirit of cooperation that exists between Amateur Radio operators in both Canadaand the US. In addition, many thanks to the Seattleoffice of the FCC for their support and subsequent enforcement action.
(Thanks to the Greater Vancouver Amateur Radio Council (GVARC) Interference Committee)