FCC OUT OF THE PIRATE BUSTING BUSINESS !!!

[W2PFY]

I was listening to WBCQ last night and I heard the owner of the station during his show said that the FCC has almost given up trying to bust outlaw radio stations in NYC and it pretty much has the same strategy for parts of Florida.

I think the last thing I want is for a state government to  be in the business of policing the radio waves. It could affect us if some know it all cop is a friend of your PITA neighbor who doesn't like your tower etc.

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/02/14/new-york-state-bill-aims-to-criminalize-pirate-radio/

http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2011/110207/nerw.html

Now the Empire State is poised to join them, as Albany lawmakers consider a pair of bills (A.326 in the state assembly, S.2737 in the state senate) that would make a class D felon out of anyone who "knowingly makes or causes to be made a radio transmission in this state without first having obtained a license or an exemption from licensure" or "acts, whether directly or indirectly, to cause an unauthorized radio transmission to, or interference with, a public or commercial radio station...or to enable the radio transmission or interference to occur."

PLEASE KEEP THIS ON TOPIC. This could turn into a run away political discussion so please keep it about radio. Thanks.

If this was covered before, I didn't see it. Again, not good news to me.

 

[WBear2GCR]

It is unclear to me that the States have the legal authority to control the airwaves, since they come under the interstate commerce clause - they can not be contained to a single state... at least this is the basis for the creating of the FCC, afaik.

A very very bad law for NYS...

                   _-_-bear

[WBear2GCR]

FYI:

  Saland@nysenate.gov


I wrote.

                  _-_-bear

[k4kyv]

I find this particularly disconcerting

...or "acts, whether directly or indirectly, to cause an unauthorized radio transmission to, or interference with, a public or commercial radio station...or to enable the radio transmission or interference to occur."

Looks to me that this could be broadly construed to include RFI resulting from deficient consumer electronics junk. No doubt it would eventually be thrown out by the courts, but that doesn't prevent the hassle, and possible heavy legal expenses in the meantime.

[W1ATR]

Don, ya left off the first part of that sentence about "a radio transmission in this state without first having obtained a license or an exemption from licensure"

The law seems to be geared towards unlicensed transmissions in the same way that when a cb operator trashes a neighbors tv, he has to shut it down. When a licensed ham operator trashes that same tv, it's the neighbors problem. The whole thing is based on having a license to transmit or not.

I do agree that it can become a headache by placing the burden of enforcing that law on people (police) that do not specialize in this field. They need to be able to determine the law correctly and apply it correctly, and I don't think that's going to go down that way. The states only want in because it'll they think it'll generate revenue.

The whole problem now is that the feecee is loaded with a bunch a fatass lazy bureaucrats that don't want to do their job in the first place, vs having the building full of technically qualified and legally educated people. 

[Bill, KD0HG]

The whole problem now is that the feecee is loaded with a bunch a fatass lazy bureaucrats that don't want to do their job in the first place, vs having the building full of technically qualified and legally educated people. 

The issue is that the real radio (and TV) FCC employees are all retiring and there just isn't anyone with the same skill sets to replace them.

Same goes for the broadcast business.

[WD8BIL]

The issue is that the real radio (and TV) FCC employees are all retiring and there just isn't anyone with the same skill sets to replace them.

Time to change careers! Govment jobs pay, on average, 2X a private sector job of like kind and when was the last time you heard about govment layoffs?

I wonder ifn they gots online applications?

[Bill, KD0HG]

Bud, the FCC (regardless of whatever they might pay), broadcasters and defense contractors around here simply can't find acceptable RF-qualified employees.

One defense contractor around here has perhaps 25-50 openings for RF engineers, techs, satellite and terrestrial antenna engineers, and more that they haven't been able to fill. The FCC recently had a field engineer job open in Seattle that they couldn't fill after months of searching.

[W2VW]

The whole problem now is that the feecee is loaded with a bunch a fatass lazy bureaucrats that don't want to do their job in the first place, vs having the building full of technically qualified and legally educated people. 

The issue is that the real radio (and TV) FCC employees are all retiring and there just isn't anyone with the same skill sets to replace them.

Same goes for the broadcast business.

Why can't they hire the thugs in da Cadillac yo?

[Steve - K4HX]

http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/

The issue is that the real radio (and TV) FCC employees are all retiring and there just isn't anyone with the same skill sets to replace them.

Time to change careers! Govment jobs pay, on average, 2X a private sector job of like kind and when was the last time you heard about govment layoffs?

I wonder ifn they gots online applications?

[Steve - K4HX]

This is just another sign that broadcasting is on death row.

The reality is that the FCC hasn't been doing much about pirates for many years. How could so many pirate operate for decades if the FCC was really doing anything?

[k4kyv]

The issue is that the real radio (and TV) FCC employees are all retiring and there just isn't anyone with the same skill sets to replace them.

Same goes for the broadcast business.

I have been reading about that in the broadcast rags for at least the past 20 years.  The technical and engineering schools apparently are concentrating on digital-digital-digital, with limited coverage of RF and other analogue-related topics.  Yet recent graduates with degrees concentrated in digital technology are not finding jobs, which are being heavily outsourced to Asia.

This is a strong argument for maintaining amateur AM privileges and encouraging amateur AM operation.  The AM community is one of a remaining few facets of amateur radio whose participants still show a significant level interest in actually working hands-on with the technology we use for communicating, and that includes RF. Otherwise, amateur radio has largely become a communicator's hobby, in which the primary requisite is to spend money to buy off-the-shelf plug 'n play radios.

It follows therefore, that amateur AM is providing a training ground for a badly needed technology.  The problem I see is that like broadcast and FCC rf engineers and technicians, a large portion of the AMers we hear on the ham bands are also at or near retirement age.

[K2PG]

It is unclear to me that the States have the legal authority to control the airwaves, since they come under the interstate commerce clause - they can not be contained to a single state... at least this is the basis for the creating of the FCC, afaik.

The precedent has already been created. Florida passed a law a few years ago making it a felony to transmit without a station license and to cause interference to licensed broadcast stations. I believe that a similar law was recently passed in New Jersey. The constitutionality of neither law has been challenged in court and the FCC has issued statements welcoming the Florida law.

A possible precedent that could be brought to challenge these state laws is South Carolina vs. WBT. In the 1920s, the state of South Carolina sought to charge a license fee for radio receivers, similar to the practice in a number of European countries. WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina challenged this law, as its signal is widely heard in South Carolina. The federal courts ruled in favor of WBT.

[W1RKW]

I don't know how many RF type jobs I went after 10+ years ago in both the gov, def, and com world only to be denied or ignored.  I succumbed to the digital age at a defense contractor doing systems engineering but I'm amazed at how many questions my coworkers ask me about EMI, RF, audio, etc.

[K7EK]

    If you want to hear some real stupidity, go to 3840 LSB any night after 0500z. Steve, K6TXH, continues to operate out of control despite years of evidence having been collected. The ARRL AND FCC have no backbone. My contention is that they should both disband and refund member/taxpayer money because they do nothing except talk and take no action.... About the only thing that will get the attention of ARRL and/or FCC is if he makes threats against life or property on the air. Everything else K6TXH gets a pass on. Go figure! 

Best regards,

Gary, K7EK

[n1ps]

The FCC used to have 13 monitoring stations, fully staffed.  I lived near one of them, which was located in Belfast, Maine.  They had an irritating habit of sending me and my customers of my radio shop violations when they got bored listening to HF.  By the early 90s, all the monitoring stations went remote control.  I wonder if they still exist?  Its been a while since they wrote me up....

They also conducted field visits from these stations.  I remember one day back in the early 80s one of them flagged down an oil truck, conducted an inspection then demanded to be taken to the fearless leader of  the truck's radio system.

Times sure have changed.  Now they can't even shut down a silly little transmitter in Belgrade, ME. But perhaps one could call the Belgrade Lakes dog catcher with his (future) vast new powers.

Peter

[Bill, KD0HG]

Here's more. Yes, the FCC has closed down many of their field monitoring stations. But I have heard that they still exist, but are now remotely controlled.

I once met an attractive woman who left the FCC after they closed down Grand Island, Nebraska. (LOL!)

They're just not getting funding from Congress to go bust the illegals. That's the problem. There's a whole lot more that I could post here about it...But I won't.

You know...Write your congressman...Either give more $$ to the FCC, or cut back even more per the wishes of many. All good for the jammers and other miscreants. Is enough funding to enforce the laws worth it? I think it is. And let the FCC keep the fines they collect!!

[flintstone mop]

The law seems to be geared towards unlicensed transmissions in the same way that when a cb operator trashes a neighbors tv, he has to shut it down. When a licensed ham operator trashes that same tv, it's the neighbors problem. The whole thing is based on having a license to transmit or not.


[/quote]
Really a plus for us. As licensed operators we know how to properly adjust our equipment.
The Cbers are max modulation/over modulation and running excessive power way beyond the license free 4 watts.
11M get into everything when you approach 100 watts output.
Expect less from the FCC as we head to third world status.

Fred

[K2PG]

The FCC used to have 13 monitoring stations, fully staffed.  I lived near one of them, which was located in Belfast, Maine.  They had an irritating habit of sending me and my customers of my radio shop violations when they got bored listening to HF.  By the early 90s, all the monitoring stations went remote control.  I wonder if they still exist?  Its been a while since they wrote me up....

They also conducted field visits from these stations.  I remember one day back in the early 80s one of them flagged down an oil truck, conducted an inspection then demanded to be taken to the fearless leader of  the truck's radio system.

Times sure have changed.  Now they can't even shut down a silly little transmitter in Belgrade, ME. But perhaps one could call the Belgrade Lakes dog catcher with his (future) vast new powers.

The FCC still operates some remotely controlled monitoring stations, although not at the scale that they did 25 or 30 years ago. They also have some monitoring equipment at their field offices, which are now considered to be part of the Enforcement Bureau. Government budget cuts have taken their toll. As for the Belgrade, ME (K1MAN) case, that will take some time to wend its way through the bureaucracy. Since Baxter did not pay the forfeiture, the government will have to sue him for the $21K. The FCC did designate his license renewal application for hearing, but amateur radio is not a priority matter for the Commission these days. The days of commissioners such as Nicholas Johnson (the one who was instrumental in yanking the license of WHDH-TV in Boston) are long gone. Baxter's hearing date will probably be set once the government puts the collection lawsuit on the docket.

[flintstone mop]

LOOK out for KRAP on 6955


just keeding

The VOA and Monitoring Times enjoyed it HA!
I'll upload the commentary from the VOA

[K2PG]

Don, ya left off the first part of that sentence about "a radio transmission in this state without first having obtained a license or an exemption from licensure"

The operative word here is or. That word could put a duly licensed amateur radio operator in deep doo-doo in NY if he is causing RFI, even if the problem is in poorly designed consumer products belonging to his neighbors. This bill, had it been introduced in the days of analog TV, would have been a real headache for amateurs living near New York City, Buffalo, or Utica. All three were channel 2 areas and everything seems to get into channel 2 (54-60 MHz). Likewise, Schenectady, which was (and still is) a channel 6 (82-88 MHz) area.

While TVI is less of a problem these days, we still must contend with the crappy phones imported from the Far East, as well as stereos, computer speakers, and other consumer junk. Also, the second harmonic of our 6 meter band falls inside the FM broadcast band and harmonics can be generated internally in the receiver front end.

Best for those of you in the Empire State to fight this poorly worded legislation and leave the policing of the RF spectrum to the agency designated by Congress to do so, the FCC. Although the FCC seems more interested in listening to lobbyists and auctioning spectrum (thanks, Congress, for the Telecomm Act of 1996, which thrust the FCC into the role of spectrum auctioneer), rather than in being the traffic cop of the airwaves.

[k4kyv]

The days of commissioners such as Nicholas Johnson (the one who was instrumental in yanking the license of WHDH-TV in Boston) are long gone.

What happened exactly? I vaguely remember hearing something about it.  Wasn't it some kind of corporate dispute involving networks and ownership, or were they actually caught doing something illegal over the air?

[flintstone mop]

The days of commissioners such as Nicholas Johnson (the one who was instrumental in yanking the license of WHDH-TV in Boston) are long gone.

What happened exactly? I vaguely remember hearing something about it.  Wasn't it some kind of corporate dispute involving networks and ownership, or were they actually caught doing something illegal over the air?

Here's some help, Don from WIKI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHDH-TV_%28defunct%29

Seems that they never had a license for more than 6 mos at a time for some reason

[W2XR]

The issue is that the real radio (and TV) FCC employees are all retiring and there just isn't anyone with the same skill sets to replace them.

Same goes for the broadcast business.

I have been reading about that in the broadcast rags for at least the past 20 years.  The technical and engineering schools apparently are concentrating on digital-digital-digital, with limited coverage of RF and other analogue-related topics.  Yet recent graduates with degrees concentrated in digital technology are not finding jobs, which are being heavily outsourced to Asia.

This is a strong argument for maintaining amateur AM privileges and encouraging amateur AM operation.  The AM community is one of a remaining few facets of amateur radio whose participants still show a significant level interest in actually working hands-on with the technology we use for communicating, and that includes RF. Otherwise, amateur radio has largely become a communicator's hobby, in which the primary requisite is to spend money to buy off-the-shelf plug 'n play radios.

It follows therefore, that amateur AM is providing a training ground for a badly needed technology.  The problem I see is that like broadcast and FCC rf engineers and technicians, a large portion of the AMers we hear on the ham bands are also at or near retirement age.

Don, I think the type of RF technology we AM-on-HF enthusiasts enjoy is radically different from the type of RF design work largely being done nowadays. Today, the RF design of HF circuits is considered somewhat akin to doing design work at DC. Much RF design is now done for Wi-Fi and other microwave-based equipment systems, and there is no comparison between this and a 2-30 Mhz SSB or plate-modulated KW-class transmitter, whose technology may be fun and interesting from an amateur standpoint, but is considered as utterly and completely obsolete otherwise.

Just my two cents.

73,

Bruce

[k4kyv]

Don, I think the type of RF technology we AM-on-HF enthusiasts enjoy is radically different from the type of RF design work largely being done nowadays. Today, the RF design of HF circuits is considered somewhat akin to doing design work at DC. Much RF design is now done for Wi-Fi and other microwave-based equipment systems, and there is no comparison between this and a 2-30 Mhz SSB or plate-modulated KW-class transmitter, whose technology may be fun and interesting from an amateur standpoint, but is considered as utterly and completely obsolete otherwise.

But still, the LF/MF/HF/VHF spectrum is still being used by stations other than amateurs. This includes all of terrestrial AM and FM broadcasting, including IBOC.  Also short wave broadcasting (such as it is), and apparently the government still considers the HF spectrum essential enough that they nixed the proposal to give us a real band in the vicinity of 5 mc/s. The broadcast industry is lamenting the dearth of even the technically knowledgeable people needed to maintain existing facilities. And someone has to be able to handle all the low frequency stuff below the AM broadcast band.

Studying the fundamentals of a.c. from an engineering class textbook and then jumping right on to computer and microwave technology is a far cry from the training needed to design, build and maintain low frequency radio communications facilities. The AM ham community could prove to be a worthwhile training ground to fill those needs. Plus, knowledge and skills in that "obsolete" technology still lays the foundation for expertise in to-day's state of the art. Once upon time, it was very  common to hear major personalities in cutting-edge innovation boast of having got their start as kids via amateur radio.