FCC picking on Hobby AM/FM? Looking at the wrong bad guys!!

Thanks Go to TheLegacy

Troy, I appreciate your posting about this kind of thing.

I want to know who the righteous bullies are... names, call letters, locations, everything...

Someday I want to find one who is enough of a person that they will talk with me on the Low Power Hour about why they are so hate filled about things that aren't that important.

These people usually hide behind some kind of mob authority, wear hoods to conceal their identity, and sneak around trying to evade direct face to face conversation.

Once people pass 10 years of age they should start acting like humans with brains instead of comic book characters.

That reminds me of the way CB radio used to get at times, I always heard trash talk, and there was even a trash talk channel, whether it was 17 or 40, where people would scratch the itch to be twelve again.

Forums are the same way, like other radio sites not named that have the same style of expressions on them. Maybe people just need to let loose behind a mic or keyboard (pretty much the same thing) because they're frustrated in real life, from having to conform and be proper.

I've had an impression that radio DJs have to keep it together on the air so much, even today, that they cuss even more off mic.

I don't know that ham radio is something the FCC cares about nearly as much as broadcast, since it's hobby and not for the public, as in not on the broadcast bands, and it's not interference as in someone jamming communications.

Even on AM/FM 'public decency' isn't what it was, there's 'safe harbor' between 10 pm and 6 am where 'language' can be used, and I hear it easily in rap songs on college radio, and even in morning drive after 6 am I've heard some words that wouldn't have passed ten years ago.

Boomer

This is really old news. There are always a few idiots in the amateur radio ranks (and anywhere, in fact), and unfortunately, they get a lot of publicity because their signals can be heard literally around the world.

The situation with abusers on the ham bands is different than that on FM, and even AM. Amateur radio is a hobby, and doesn't affect people's livelihoods - all these yahoos are doing is interfering with other hobbyists. Interference on the broadcast bands not only affects businesses, and also potentially affects those who want to listen to these businesses. And while I promote creative and different programming for Part 15 broadcasting, most people still want to listen to vapid DJ's and definitely uncreative programming for lots of good reasons (particularly to them). Why should those who are broadcasting without a license take that right away (no matter how much we may find that particular content abhorrent)?

The long and the short of it is that the FCC can guarantee that licensed stations don't interfere with each other, because they know their power and their location. They have no idea if an unlicensed station, of unknown frequency, power and location, will interfere with anything. And because most unlicensed operators don't own expensive test equipment, or even modelling software such as NEC (never mind understand how to use it), they can't guarantee that they won't interfere with anything - the listening test doesn't always work.

That's why the FCC restricts field strength so much on FM, and attempted similar restrictions on AM (but didn't take into account the tenacity of operators to resort to loading coils, radials, etc.). And I really don't understand why some keep on going back to the same old arguments. If you are broadcasting with sufficient field strength to get 1/4 mile range on FM to a typical radio, you can certainly create interference. Get many people doing it, all over the band, and you're guaranteed chaos, particularly with the buy and switch on crowd, which will have far greater numbers than those who attempt to find out more about what they're going to do before actually doing it. THAT's why the FCC goes after these guys.

The only way that I can see the FCC letting hobby broadcasters get more range than they do today is to either assign them specific frequencies for their own use, or to use white space frequencies, which come with their own methodology and certification to limit potential interference. In both cases, you're keeping these broadcasters away from existing licensed stations.

Emerge Sooner

Druid Hills admits in his choice of words that the "science" he cites is only "emerging" and is therefore not fully emerged: "...emerging science about brain development suggests that most people don't reach full maturity until the age 25."

Youth could be educated to reach maturity very early in their lives if they weren't intentionally kept young and stupid by coddling mothers who don't want to lose their "babies" and scheming school systems that promote athletics as "physical education" when it is nothing more than prep for military service.

As I Recall

Druid asks: "When is the last time you sat in a classroom?"

1998.