Railfan Technology > FCC fines NY man $23,000 for unlicensed radio transmissions.

The FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (a fine) for unlicensed transmissions to a New York man.  If you read the report you'll see that the guy was some kind of nut case but I'm posting this just to let people know what the FCC can do in cases of unlicensed transmissions.  I'm not suggesting that anyone on Trainorders is violating the laws, just passing along this information.  Many of us are using ham band transceivers to monitor the railroad frequencies.  Most of the Japanese brands (Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, etc.) have software to block transmission of signals outside of the ham bands.  The Chinese brands do not block out of band transmission.  In other words, you can transmit on whatever frequencies you can receive on.  

The NAL was issued to a New York man for unlicensed transmissions on the ham radio frequencies and also on the NYC PD frequencies.  He most likely could have caused interference on the railroad frequencies also.  

So, if you have one of the tranceivers and get the urge to push the transmit button, think about it again.  In some areas the local hams will use directional antennas to locate you and report you to the FCC.  Other services will just report the problem to the FCC and let they hunt you down.  They usually have a pretty big workload and it might take a few years, but it gets bad enough, they will dedicate forces to the problem.

To read the NAL click this link-->  http://www.arrl.org/files/media/News/FCC%20NAL%20Delise.pdf

John

 

What John did not mention is that a lot of hams monator more than just
the ham bands. It is required of use to report to the FCC any interference or 
sperious transmissions. It is better now than when I was a CBer, but there 
are people that just don't care. All I can say is Uncle Charlie can really put 
you away............Swede.....NA7SL........Albany,Or.



 

I am curious - how do the Chinese manufacturers sell gear that has not been type accepted for use on the Amateur bands?  I guess it is no longer necessary.  The FCC really socks it to the guys they catch because the don't have the manpower to catch many of them.  Here in Oregon I have heard many unlicensed truckers using the lower portion of 2 meters because it's "quiet".

Tom
CBRL

CBRL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am curious - how do the Chinese manufacturers
> sell gear that has not been type accepted for use
> on the Amateur bands?  I guess it is no longer
> necessary.  The FCC really socks it to the guys
> they catch because the don't have the manpower to
> catch many of them.  Here in Oregon I have heard
> many unlicensed truckers using the lower portion
> of 2 meters because it's "quiet".

Good question. As far as I know, everything that transmits anywhere in the radio spectrum has to have an FCCID number (printed somewhere on the device), obtained by an application to the FCC that includes a test report from an independent FCC-certified lab that it is completely compliant with the requirements of its intended service (and its spurious out-of-band emissions are complioant with those types of FCC requirements as well). Most of these reports are public information on the FCC website (military systems are obviously not, and manufacturers (Apple comes to mind) can apply to have the information embargoed for a period). The reports, including photographic tear-downs, make for interesting reading.

Ray      

Ray,

Thanks for the information - I will check out the FCC website and see if any Chinese rigs are listed.

Tom
CBRL

CBRL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ray,
>
> Thanks for the information - I will check out the
> FCC website and see if any Chinese rigs are
> listed.
>
> Tom
> CBRL

When reading the specs on Chinese radios, read the wording carefully.  A lot of times the wording is that  (for a commercial radio) the radio is "Part 90 compliant."  That supposedly means the radio meets the Part 90 spec requirement.  However, to be legal for commercial use, the radio must be "Part 90 Certified," which is the information one will find in the FCC database.  Of course, for simply monitoring (which is all a railfan should be doing), the actual receive performance specs are more important that the certification, the certification mainly aimed at making sure the radio does not transmit spurious signals or transmit out-of-band. It is possible for a radio to be Part 90 certified and still have pretty crappy receive specs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/16 08:02 by WW.