On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:54:24 -0800, running dogg wrote:


running dogg wrote in :

(snip)
I believe that in the US only licensed hams can own transceivers. The
ham community is pretty tight fisted with their existing rigs, many
making you show them your license before they let you buy their rig.
This is apparently done to combat pirates, which the hams view as
threatening their spectrum (although since hobby broadcasting is
illegal, it's hard to see how).

In the US anybody can own a ham transceiver - though only ham's are
licensed to operate (or be in direct control of) the transmitter.