ESPIONAGE and the Amateur Radio Band

Espionage... through "Amateur Radio"

Kent

In the late summer of 1990, I was approached by the Princeton School District and asked if I wanted to teach an "Amateur Radio" course in the Adult Continuing Education Program. I had been involved in "ham radio" since my youth...and have always been a promoter of the fraternity. At the time I was president of the Anoka County Amateur Radio Club...with around 90 members. The school district offered to pay a modest amount in return for my services. The class was advertised in the "Princeton Union Eagle" as well a "mail out" by the school district.

A short time later...a curious thing happened. Jim Adams called me on the telephone and asked me if I would mind if he attended the ham radio course. What made it "curious"...is that none of the other students called and sought my permission to attend...Why was Jim Adams motivated to make such a request?

I began teaching the course early in the fall, which ran for about 8 weeks, as I recall. About a dozen students started the course, while only about 6 completed it....and many of those individuals had irregular attendance. Jim Adams was there for every class and had always completed whatever assignments that were made for "out of class" study. He was steadily developing his Morse code skills...and for all appearances, seemed to be my most motivated student.

At the conclusion of the course, I administered the Morse code and written exam...with the assistance of Nancy....who had obtained her amateur license through self study, only a few months after we were married. Federal Communications Commission regulations require the administration of the exam to be in presence of at least two licensed amateurs with a "General Class" license or higher. Nancy seemed more than willing to assist with the examination.

During our marriage, Nancy and I used a radio frequency in the Amateur Radio 2-meter band of 146.235 MHz...as a virtual "private frequency". I had a large antenna on the yard...in addition to radios in both vehicles. Having the mobile radio communications capability proved invaluable in many occasions.

The radio also permitted Nancy the ability to know exactly where I was at almost any time. Through a system of repeaters, I kept Nancy appraised of my location, believing it to be a polite and caring consideration. With hindsight...during the period of 1991 to 1992...HAM RADIO...gave her much, much more.

In late October of 1990, one of the local Minneapolis radio clubs sponsored a large regional "Hamfest" in Brooklyn Park. The event was held at the Hennepin Vocational-Technical College in Maple Grove...and provided a place for electronic equipment vendors from throughout the Midwest to "sell their wares".

Jim Adams called me once again...this time to ask if I would help him choose a 2-meter radio to purchase at the convention. I agreed to help him. He now had upgraded his license to "Technician" grade and had obtained the amateur call sign "N0MSO". I met him at the convention as promised...and he selected a relatively expensive 2-meter portable radio or "handy-talkie". I seem to remember that he spent close to $400.00 for the radio.

Over the course of the next several weeks...I noted with growing curiosity that I had never heard Jim on the radio. My curiosity was rooted in almost 30 years of past experience...in that usually, when someone got a new license and new radio, you would hear them "on the air" at all hours. I had not heard Jim Adams on the radio at all. On two separate occasions, I "ran into" Jim in public. Each time, I asked him... "Jim...I haven't heard you on the radio...How come?" ...and each time he responded with..."I just like to listen. I enjoy listening"...he said.

Sometime later, I received a phone call from an elderly ham friend of mine named Tom Ware, who was known to everybody in the Midwest as "W0CF". Tom was quite a remarkable person to know. He had been in the "radio intelligence" division of the Federal Communication Commission before World War II. He subsequently had been in the OSS during the war and had been dropped behind the German lines in France to assist the French underground with communications. After the war he again joined the FCC as an inspector and examiner. Through it all, he had been a "ham's ham".

What I had NOT known was that Tom had been listening in on the "secret frequency" Nancy and I were using for many months. Tom had grown upset listening to the way Nancy was talking to me...and wanted to let me know that he "knew what was going on". I again somehow felt consoled in that there was at least another individual who could understand the ridicule and pain.

Soon after the first phone call from Tom Ware, he called again. Tom's house was full of radio equipment. He had made a hobby of being a master of all there was to know that was going on in the radio spectrum. Tom had discovered some unusual radio transmissions which he had come to believe were originating in the Princeton area. He asked me if I was aware of them. I responded with "no" at the time....but I was instantly suspicious.

The radio signals in question were being operated on 145.895 MHz...in the lower part of the 2-meter band. Upon listening over a short time, it was clear to me that there were three radios in operation on this frequency. There was seldom any voice communications made...only a series of long to short key down transmissions. This is not the kind of thing that a legitimate radio amateur operation would entail. Whoever was doing this was either doing something illegal or immoral.

After a short while, I was able to evaluate the "finger print" of the three transmitters being used. One radio had a characteristic known as "alternator wine"...which at low engine RPM in a car, sounds like a low pitched siren as the engine speed varies. (Nancy was driving a 1984 Dodge Caravan which I had previously known had this problem). This same radio had a transmit power of 50 watts...and clearly was presented a strong "receive signal" on my radio. The second radio being used had a low level "60 cycle hum" on the carrier. (This was from a radio which was at the house which was powered through a 12 volt car battery in the basement...and was our "emergency" radio in the event of a power failure. The hum was a little more than a nuisance...but clearly evident on the signal). The third radio signal was generally a "clean" carrier...but noticeably weaker than the other two radios...the kind of signal level you would expect from a 21/2 watt "handy-talkie".

I set up a "voice operated" tape recorder with a 2-meter receiver in order to monitor the "espionage frequency". I had a time hack on the tape recorder in order to establish what times the signals were occurring whenever I was at work or sleeping. The activity seemed to be most frequent at around 7:30 AM and also between 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM. At other times it would be active around 10:30 to 11:30 PM.

On one occasion, I could hear a child "fussing" in the background on the radio with the "alternator wine" (Nancy's van). On another occasion I clearly heard Jim Adams "sign" a transmission with "N0MSO". At the time, I could not remember the call sign he had received many months earlier. One on the guys I worked with in the F.A.A. ...and who had also been in my amateur radio class...and taken the exam at the same time, had been assigned the amateur call "N0MSP". This was easy to remember as "MSP" is the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport identifier...and it seemed a coincidence that an F.A.A. person would who lived in Minneapolis...would be assigned this call. The other known factor here was that the F.C.C. normally issues radio calls in alphabetical sequence. Whoever was using the call "N0MSO" had also been in my class. A trip to the local ham radio store in Fridley to look at the latest "Amateur Radio Callsigns" book revealed that the call sign N0MSO was assigned to James Francis Adams of Rural Route 1, Zimmerman, Minnesota.

The conclusion of this evidence of course was...that I had both trained and equipped my wife and Jim Adams with the knowledge and equipment to conduct "secret rendezvous" through an illicit procedure with ham radio equipment. Few people may comprehend the degree of failed morality as is evidenced here.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery"

Kent's Story --- The D.N.A. Paternity Test --- Who is the Father? --- What I Believe