Sort of like all too common "hacker" vs "cracker"misnomer..

the_rajah

Tue Jan 15 13:45:54 -0800 2008

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That's too bad, but I've seen that sort of thing for years where someone assumed, incorrectly that because someone had a big antenna at their house and disrupted radio/TV reception in the area with their over modulated and illegal amplifier, that they were a ham. I've always tried to set the record straight.

Has anyone attempted to point out the difference to the folks at The Guardian and, get a correction in the story? (Fat chance probably).

Sort of like all too common "hacker" vs "cracker"misnomer..

Tony

Tue Jan 15 13:52:15 -0800 2008

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I just sent them a kind email reminding them the difference between a ham operator and anyone who operates on Marine/CB.
Contacts include:
Matthew Weaver, author: Matthew.Weaver (AT) guardian.co.uk
Reader feeback: reader@guardian.co.uk
You can call their switchboard and ask for Siobhain Butterworth (editor): +44 020 7278 2332

Iraq Speedboat Conflict Falsely Attributed to Ham Radio

Michael Smith

Tue Jan 15 14:38:01 -0800 2008

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The term Ham isn't even used in the UK. I suspect the writer just threw together a few vaguely understood ideas for the article.

So where does the Filipino Monkey operate from? Iran? Saudi Arabia? The UAE? Do these places even have formal amateur radio licenses? Regardless of that, nothing this person does reflects on amateurs in The US or UK.

So clarification from the Guardian would be a good idea but most of the readers would probably go "yeah, whatever".

And if, as the article says, this operator has been trolling the airwaves in that area for a long time, the navies on both sides should have known to ignore it. Back when Australia and Indonesia exchanged shots in Timor, officers on both sides sat down and agreed on maps, etc to use to try to avoid conflict. Maybe the US/Iran thing has gone beyond that but I do think it would help if radio operators on both sides could agree on frequencies/voice codes etc to use to try to exclude spurious traffic.

broadcast/radio disinformation...

zogger

Tue Jan 15 16:27:41 -0800 2008

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...is a very common psyops warfare tactic (along with planted media stories from "sources" and etc.). It is not just always passive listening after all... Who profits or benefits by having a "crisis" develop there? Do they even have any proof it came from an unknown amateur prankster? And what about all the superdooper whizzbang high tech signals guys, where is the expensive tax payer funded beef there? They supposedly can ID a gnats whiskers twitching on the back of the moon, and we get this really vague news story? BS meter = "pegged", this is disinfo, the whole story, IMO., along with the all too convenient timing with joe potus over galavantin' around over there. They are looking for the excuse, the "tonkin gulf" incident, to start the Iranian bombardment / conflict. Again, who profits?

broadcast/radio disinformation...

AB3A

Wed Jan 16 04:34:51 -0800 2008

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This kind of non-technical argument is the sort of propaganda that gets nations in trouble. 

Fact 1:  The Navy wasn't sure who made the transmission. 

Fact 2: It was later identified publicly as some trouble-maker they'd heard before. 

Fact 3: There is no disputing the behavior of those behind the wheel of those speed boats. 

Given all these provocations, if someone wanted to create a "Gulf of Tonkin incident", we'd be on a war footing right now. 

We aren't.  We should be vigilant against such provocations.  And the vigilance worked. 

Keep up the good work folks!

Iraq Speedboat Conflict Falsely Attributed to Ham Radio

refactored

Wed Jan 16 13:19:16 -0800 2008

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From the Wikipedia....

"Filipino Monkey" is a pseudonym used by radio pranksters in maritime radio transmissions since at least the 1980s, especially in the Persian Gulf. These pranksters make odd, confusing, or even threatening calls on VHF marine channel 16, which is the shipping and maritime International Emergency Distress Frequency. All ships at sea are required to monitor the channel, which is meant to be used only until contact is made during an emergency, at which point the users are supposed to change to a different frequency.[1].

Note the plural in "prankters".

Note this is in a highly militarized zone packed with very very very bored conscripted soldiers on endless boring boring boring guard duty of all sorts with access to military radios of all sorts.

Note that ethics, forethought, brains and conscripted soldiers are one of those mixes that just don't happen. Been there, done that, you wouldn't believe how mind bogglingly dumb half the tales are.

I bet you some very low ranked soldiers are sitting somewhere, quiet as mice, half shitting themselves in utter terror that they may be found out, half splitting their sides giggling with insane silly laughter at having made "Monkeys" of a crappy world that had been treating them as the lowest of the low.

ps: Even if they have been found out, they have been quietly punished to hell and gone, and then the matter completely and utterly hushed up. That's the way these things work.

Doesn't matter

squiggleslash

Tue Jan 15 17:08:49 -0800 2008

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The fact is the guy is obviously pro-war (enthusiastic about wars indeed) and does something with radios that is outside of the mainstream, which means they're a radio hacker, or in other words an amateur radio enthusiast.

So the logical thing to do is to start heavily vetting amateur radio license applications. Any hint that the applicant is, or has been, a Republican and/or supporter of George W. Bush should result immediately in an invasive background check, a full body cavity search, and, of course, a giant red "Denied" stamp on the application.

Given this has to do with radio, we should also, in time, extend this to commercial users of the airwaves. Fox, for example, should have its licenses revoked. Rush Limbaugh should be banned from radio until we can be absolutely sure he isn't some kind of terrorist.

It's about time the shoe was on the other foot...

Iraq Speedboat Conflict Falsely Attributed to Ham Radio

peacefinder

Wed Jan 16 12:31:18 -0800 2008

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Incorrect headline: Should read Iran, not Iraq.

Iraq Speedboat Conflict Falsely Attributed to Ham Radio

rubycodez

Wed Jan 16 22:36:27 -0800 2008

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wow, that's a bad sign when error didn't register in anyone's brain for two days

fixed-thanks