Hey everyone,

Surrounding the WADNR and Amateur relationship I need to ask that those of you that believe that you/we have been wronged by the WADNR, please know that you/we have not!

Please stop with any and all insults, digs, or alike towards them.

Your Impact

When you engage on this topic you are likely speaking out of turn and have no idea surrounding why you/we were impacted. Sure, it sucks to be asked to leave, but if I came to your house and moved in without paying rent, you to might get all bent out of shape. You might be cool if I moved in, paid rent for me, but when I invite all my friends to move in as well, then you might get angry. In short this is what happened.

I had members of my own club engage with a local county commissioner that joined us for our breakfast meeting and dove into this asking for help but failed to understand the background. Just imagine how poorly this would have turned out if our Commissioner reached out to the WADNR and found out that people were complaining about access but then learning that we failed to comply with the contract.

Details

WADNR completed an audit and found several of their sites with equipment not captured in legal contracts. They did not single out amateurs as apart of this effort. Those amateurs that breached their contracts had a couple of things happen.

• Their amateur discount was revoked.
• And they were offered to renegotiate their contracts but at the commercial rate. Going from ~$80 a year ~$400 a month is a shocker.

Note: Commercial sites charge based on floor space and tower location.

There are several efforts underway to ensure we repair our relationship with WADNR. There are still several amateurs that have great relationships with WADNR. Please don’t f*** this up for them.

If you still have concerns, you are welcome to reach out to me or the HamWAN leadership. Please know that all of us are trying to remain respectful of those that got caught and drug us into this drama. I would love to out those guys as I have a history with a few of them, but it doesn’t benefit the issue or our hobby to do so.

73 (Ham radio way of saying Best Regards),

Jamie Hughes

WA7JH

President / Public Information Officer / Repeater Committee Chair, KCARC

Public Information Officer, ARRL – Western Washington Section

Email: president@kcarc.org

Phone: (360) 340-8886

Kitsap County Amateur Radio Club

PO Box 2268

Silverdale, WA 98383