Dee Flint wrote:
"KØHB" wrote in message
news

"Dee Flint" wrote in message
news

And the "legal no-no" (§97.315, §97.317) does not apply to homebrewed
amplifiers, which the item in question appears to be.
Amateur-to-amateur sales are also exempt.


Didn't the FCC change that in the last year or two? Since it didn't
successfully keep the amplifiers off the CB band anyway, I believe they
dropped that restriction.


§97.315 and §97.317 remain in effect.


Well it looks like that item (WT Docket 04-140) is still in limbo. Part of
it does include changing the amplifier rules but it hasn't been implemented.

IIRC, those rules date back to 1978.

They're a result of widespread use of external "linear" amplifiers by
cb and freeband users.

FCC thought that outlawing the manufacture and sale of such amplifiers
would
decrease their use, which is completely illegal. Of course no such
effect
occurred, and the manufacture, sale and use of such amplifiers by cb
and
freeband users continues even today.

The only real effect those rules have is on amateurs, who could no
longer
buy amplifiers capable of operation on 10 and 12 meters unless
modified,
and who could no longer buy amplifiers suitable for use with HF QRP
rigs
at all. The rules also affect kits, leaving homebrew as the only
option.

Amateurs were punished for what nonamateurs did.

One manufacturer found a way to produce a legal QRP-to-100W HF
amplifier,
however. The amplifer is designed so that it can only work with the rig
for which
it is designed, because it needs control information from the main
rig's microprocessor
control system. The controlling rig is designed so that it will not
transmit outside the
amateur bands above 25 MHz, and that feature is not defeatable by
anything other
than a rewrite of the firmware.

So both the rig and its amplifier (which is meant to be mounted inside
the rig) are
useless for cb and freeband use. FCC has accepted the design.

73 de Jim, N2EY