On Wed, 1 Jun 2005 14:33:26 -0700, "Joel Kolstad"
wrote:



He'd be breaking the letter of the law but -- assuming he dialed the 706 back
to 5W -- not really the intent, IMO. I really can't imagine the FCC pursuing
the issue. True story: I used to live next door to a guy with a linear amp on
his CB, I called up the FCC field office, and they told me there wasn't
anything they could do. Said they had official monitoring stations that, if
they picked up the guy's transmission, they could go after him, but they just
didn't have the resources to pursue complaints from people calling in
violators. And, oh, did I want their free brochure on mitigating interference
to my own electronics?

:-(

I bet a Goldwing CB is also closer to $1k than $150!

---Joel Kolstad


YOu have me on the Goldwing CB price, I wouldn't have a clue about it,
but as for the law, I don't recall where it is, but there are FCC
enforcement records that you can read on the internet at their site,
or someone has them posted. I used to read them regularly. They are
filled with enforcement letters to CBers who are using modified rigs
that are non-type accepted or non-certified. They are often fined
$8000 or more and, if a ham, they are ordered to get rid of the rig,
modify it so it can't operate out of band and then cover it in some
form of epoxy so it can't be re-modified again. Loss of license is a
risk.

It may be that only one in a million gets the FCC ticket, but then the
lotto has much lower odds (1:10s of millions) yet someone hits the
jackpot almost every day. The FCC is getting enough complaints to
start going after truck-drivers so all it takes is for that motorcycle
to be in the enforcement area when the FCC is monitoring.

Each radio has it's own finger-print that the FCC can read. Many
times, they can tell the make and model by the signature before ever
seeing the rig. I would think that the most popular HF mobile rig
ever is recognized by the FCC.

As for the local enforcement officers having permission to enforce the
illegal CBs, I believe I remember that that bill was overturned. I
hope so and am glad if it was. I don't know many police that know the
difference between the CB and Ham radio. My goodness, they can't even
tell the difference between a ham rig and a cell phone even when you
hand them a copy of the law that tells them to leave radio operators
alone.



--
73 for now
Buck
N4PGW