We can (all) help get your gear - just help us all

[KB2FBI]

I was "robbed" many years ago of my mobile.  Tough nuggies on me. No Internet then.

Now, we can alert each other, BUT -
Still, like real estate, Location, Location, Location!
Where are you and where was it stolen?  I am a "2" call living in "5" land. So location needs to be given.  What I can help recover is if a listing is summarized in heading with State, City then gear.
I am in Austin, YeeHaw! Texas. Anything in Clifton, New Jersey is probably not going to turn up here.  If I am kicking the tires on eHam or (help us) eBay, I can then check the item.
But for better help, try something like the following:
"Clifton, NJ - Yaesu 727 taken from vehicle in Mall"
details........
I want to help but often times, the geography isn't given.

 k

[W5QDF]

I may be wrong - not the first time in my life, just ask my better half...LOL

Is it a Federal offense to steal amateur radio equipment due to the fact that you have to have a federal license to operate it?

[N7IOH]

Maybe we could convince eHam.net to have a section where "licensed hams" could list stolen ham equipment.  I don't mean like the one currently in forums now.  The current forums Stolengear is not very user friendly.  It could be set up similar to mods.dk where it is listed by brand and then by model.  This would allow for quickly checking, for example an Icom IC-730 sn. 3456789 or Kenwood TS-850SAT sn. 1234567.  Then list the hams call sign, date stolen and where stolen.  The reason I said licensed hams is that way we could more easily contact them should the stoled gear be located.  Email address are always changing along with phone numbers and home addresses.  But with a call sign we can look them up even if they have changed call signs and at least find an address we can write to (at least most of the time).  There should also be a way for the owner of the stolen gear to report it recovered.  I would guess this could be done the same way we are allowed to edit our classified ads.  

One nice thing about being able to look up equipment by make and model is if you were shopping for a used Kenwood TS-850SAT for example.  You could write down or print out the section showing those that have been reported stolen before you go shopping for that radio.  If you had a list of items you wanted to buy you could copy and paste them all together and print it out.  

I am sure the web master and the eHam staff could come up with something that would work just fine given some time and encouragement from us.  They may need to get someone to be a manager for the Stolen Equipment section.  I don't have a clue how difficult that would be.  Maybe drop eHam.net site manager Mike Gilmer, N2MG an email showing your interest would help.  You can try this email address, forumsmaster2@eham.net

Al, n7ioh

[KA1MZY]

>RE: We can (all) help get your gear - just help us  >Reply  
>
>Is it a Federal offense to steal amateur radio >equipment due to the fact that you have to have a >federal license to operate it?  


No.  Anyone can buy the radio equipment. It's a crime to USE the equipment, stolen or not without the FCC license.

[KC2BNX]

KB2FBI, I think that is an extremely good idea - perhaps someone with the right resources can setup a dedicated website with layout that is user friendly for entering the details of the stolen or lost gear. We could keep it specific to radio gear or similar or perhaps broaden it a bit? Perhaps people who read these posts in this forum could have a list of S/N's of stolen gear with them whether shopping on ebay or at hamfests or otherwise. It'd be great if there was some sort of search-able database where one could specify the make, model, s/n and other details of gear to run a check to see if it was stolen or lost.

[5R8GQ]

A whole bunch of work that will come to a whole bunch of NOTHING!

Five minutes with a Dremel Noto Tool and all the rigs serial numbers are gone, so are Drivers License numbers, callsigns, etc. How are you going to get your stuff back when you can't prove it's yours? There's no law against selling gear without serial numbers. Lotsa hams won't buy it....but a lot sure will, and ALL the CB'ers will. Your HF Mobile gets taken out of your truck at a gas station in Bakersfield. Two weeks later, the serial numbers are filed off it, the General Coverage Mod has been made on it, and it is being either sold on a CB website or at a Truck Stop.

This is a pipe dream.
Stuff gets stolen,
Insure it. Be careful.
Don't have a cow over it, it's only "stuff"