I encountered something new (to me) while activating G/WB-002 on 2M FM on Thursday …
Already having to contend with intermodulation from the commercial masts on the site (it has got worse recently), my fun was added to by someone first playing music on frequency and then what appeared to be a heated exchange in Russian over the top of the chasers.
Unfortunately this meant I lost the 2nd half of a QSO with regular chaser Jim 2E0CHO, for which I apologize, and I ended up QRT a bit earlier than planned, though with 18 QSOs in the log at that stage.
I know that my previous QSO partner also heard it, so it was fairly local in origin.
Has anyone else experienced this ?
As a side note I also heard music jamming the GB3VM repeater recently. Is the (in)famous LPWS back?
Unfortunately, Yes. Although not on 2m. I made several trips to the G/WB (and GW/SW) area earlier this year and have repeatedly had a strong carrier come up every time I transmitted on 5.3985 (60m) after the first couple of QSOs.
Its nothing new, I’ve heard it intermittently for at least the last ten years, and it happens a lot on HF, too. Particularly 20m for some reason. As Stu says, ignore them and eventually they will look elsewhere for their fun. They WANT you to react, they want to know that they are tormenting you, they feed on your frustration - ignore them and instead you are tormenting them!
Yes, that was me before 2E0CHO, and I heard it very clearly. Certainly eastern European sounding. It was a signal 6 here in Dorrington, but you were booming over it. Pretty odd I have to admit.
Jamming of radio amateurs goes back at least to the early days of 2m FM repeaters - presumably a potentially bigger audience for their antics than on simplex.
Scan reading the ‘amateur radio’ section of the LPWS website, it looks to be written by a disaffected [former?] radio amateur who wants to belittle Ofcom, radio amateurs and the hobby in general.
It makes little difference if we share the ignore advice. If the jamming is ignored the jammer won’t know whether or not he is being heard, particularly on FM where the capture effect could be working against him. It isn’t the act of interference that this type enjoys, it is the rage and frustration of his victims. Think of it as remote bullying. Starve him of your anger and the whole point of the exercise vanishes for him. It may not be rocket science but it is good psychology!
I have found it quite amusing and flattering that someone takes their time to try and jam HF, I mean really? The wolves were actually quite on-point around Halloween. It’s a shame these folk don’t get out and experience the wonder of the environment I get to do my radio in. Lots of obstacles to overcome in SOTA, as in life.
Take care on those winter bonus summits people, don’t take chances!
