RadioBanter - View Single Post - build-it-yourself cb illegal?

james · April 18th 08, 01:09 PM posted to rec.radio.cb

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:50:00 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

|On Apr 16, 8:30*pm, an_old_friend wrote:
| On Apr 16, 7:12*pm, wrote:
|
|
|
|
|
| On Apr 16, 5:56*pm, an_old_friend wrote:
|
| On Apr 16, 3:51*pm, wrote:
|
| From the posts here and in the other radio newsgroups such as the ham
| and frs groups, I seen posts saying it
| was illegal to use a cb transmitter you built yourself.
|
| So does this mean it's illegal to use my Radio Shack CB kit that was
| sold in the 1970's and 1980's to
| transmit on the cb channels?
|
| I don't have that kit anymore though, or what was built with it.
|
| The posts here had me thinking it was illegal to use.
|
| the old kit built one are legal as i understand the matter grandfather
|
| Until I saw another post somewhere that made me realize it was
| probably a part 15 device.
|
| Which I think is completely legal to use on the 40 cb channels.
|
| If not, then those kits weren't legal even though Radio Shack sold
| them all over the country.
|
| Whether they were part 15 or full power, since they were completely
| legal at the time they were sold, not
| allowing them to be used on the legal 40 cb channels is a violation of
| the ex-post-facto laws of the
| U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land.
|
| I highly doubt that they were full power though. I think they were
| probably part 15.
|
| But then again, some people say it's not part 15 either unless it's
| been certified as part 15 by the FCC.
|
| Either the way, the kits were sold as being legal to use on "all 40 cb
| channels" in the U.S.
|
| Some of the older kits said on all 23 channels.
|
| If only I still had mine, which I don't anymore.
|
| So basically some of these licensed users are saying that people who
| built these cb kits in the 70's and 80's
| and were using them aren't allowed to use them anymore (even though
| they didn't build them today) even
| though prohibiting such use is a violation of the law.
|
| .
|
| a number of the older unit are legal but you can't build a new one- Hide quoted text -
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| - Show quoted text -
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| This is just theortical since I don't have the kit anymore anyways,
| unless I come across one in a secondhand shop or something (highly
| doubtful), but what if
| I had an old kit from back then that was perfectly legal back then,
| but never started putting it together until today.
|
| Would it be legal to use or not?
|
| hmmm honestly I don't know
|
| it is is in the range that I would say you could get away with it
| since you could have refubished it recently likeanything
|
| it might be technicaly a bit beyond the pale
|
|
|
|
|
| Would it be grandfathered or not?
|
| The radio built from it would only be being built recently.
|
| Even though the kit and parts to build it are both from back then when
| it was legal.
|
| With the instructions to build it from that kit (included in the kit)
| are also from back then.-- Hide quoted text -
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| - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
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| - Show quoted text -
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|
|I think it would be legal since the kits were legal when sold.
|
|Otherwise, it would be the government violating the ex-post-facto
|provisions of the U.S. constitution, the whole reason grandfathering
|radios and other things
| came about in the first place.
|
|It wasn't just willy-nilly deciding what does and doesn't get to be
|grandfathered. Althoigh it seems like the FCC thinks it can today.
|
|Grandfathering came about because it would be a violation of the laws
|otherwwise.
|
|The government wasn't legally allowed to not grandfather older radios.
|
|Too many people today are forgetting how the laws came about. And the
|reasons for them.
|
|-----------------------

First off the Communications Act of 1934 empowers the FCC to regulate
and determine standards for all transmitters used by the general
public. So whether they grandfather one specific model or not is not a
violation of any Law or the Constitution. During WW2 the US Congress
suspended "ALL" none essential Communications traffic in the US. That
included amature radio. Only Public safety, and broadcast radio were
not affected. It took an act in 1947, if my memory serves me
correctly, to reinstate the amature radio service.

In 1976 the FCC changed the rules for Type Acceptance of CB radios.
Any radio that met type acceptance prior to that date was allowed to
be used but their sale was made illegal. As for your question, if it
was a type accepted kit prior to 1976 and unassembled and you obtained
in a sale on or before January of 1976 then it would be legal to build
and use. If you obtained the kit not through a sale it also would be
legal to build.

In reality, today if you were find one and build it and it met these
criteria:

1) caused no TVI to your neighbors
2) transmitted less the 5 watts output

then for most part the FCC probably wont bother you.

Those old radios are good for nostalgia purposes. Their receivers lack
today in comparision to even the cheapest of CB sets. I had an old
Radio Shack Knight Kit CB radio back in the early 70's. The main
complaint I had of it was selectivity.

james