Post by End80 on Sept 28, 2022 16:49:52 GMT
The following is excerpted from
FCC Podcast #15
– August 14, 2019 – 38 minutes.
Evan is joined by David Dombrowski, Regional Director for Region One in the FCC Enforcement Bureau.
Audio download and transcript at www.fcc.gov/news-events/podcast/pirate-radio
How is the FCC cracking down on illegal radio?
One of the FCC's top enforcement priorities is cracking down on pirates. No, not the Pirates of the Caribbean or East Africa—we're talking about pirate radio. Across the country, FCC officials are working to identify and take action against unlicensed radio operators that illegally use the frequencies allocated for legitimate radio operators... ... ..
SWARZTRAUBER: Pirate radio. I apologize to the listeners in advance if I make any horrible, corny jokes throughout the course of this podcast, but it would probably help to start with a definition, right. I mean if you are familiar with telecom you know it's an illegal radio station, but what do we mean by pirate radio.
MR. DOMBROWSKI: Okay. So a pirate radio by simple terms is a broadcast station operating in the FM band, 88 megahertz to 108 megahertz that you dial up on your car radio, that is operating without a license... ...They also have potential to cause interference to the adjacent channel stations, you know, up above their frequency and below their frequency. So that's why the licensing process is so important to avoid that interference.
Now one thing I want to talk about is Part 15. There is a lot of misconception about what a low power transmitter is. We do let stations operate with low power transmitters but they have to comply with the technical requirements of Part 15 of our rules.
And those rules dictate a lot of restrictions and cover your wireless transmitters that we use every day, remote controls for you car, your headset, bluetooth sets. They also cover your wireless routers in your house.
Now all those things have one thing in common. They are very low power and the range of them are very small. So a transmitter that complies with the Part 15 requirements has a very small operating range, about 100 feet.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right.
MR. DOMBROWSKI: And so that's not practical for somebody that wants to operate a radio station to cover an entire community.
So when they say, oh, I don't need a license to operate I'm a Part 15 transmitter, well we have to do studies and measurements to see if that's true.
We do that with every pirate station. We do a field strength measurement to see if their power exceeds that threshold and if they meet the Part 15 requirements or not.
So if they don't meet the Part 15 requirements they need a license.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right.
MR. DOMBROWSKI: So that's what we do.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So everyone can now breathe a deep a sigh of relief, you are not going to have to go out and get a license for your security camera and you garage door opener.
There is a reason that those devices operate in an unlicensed manner because they are not transmitting very far.
FCC Podcast #15
– August 14, 2019 – 38 minutes.
Evan is joined by David Dombrowski, Regional Director for Region One in the FCC Enforcement Bureau.
Audio download and transcript at www.fcc.gov/news-events/podcast/pirate-radio
How is the FCC cracking down on illegal radio?
One of the FCC's top enforcement priorities is cracking down on pirates. No, not the Pirates of the Caribbean or East Africa—we're talking about pirate radio. Across the country, FCC officials are working to identify and take action against unlicensed radio operators that illegally use the frequencies allocated for legitimate radio operators... ... ..
SWARZTRAUBER: Pirate radio. I apologize to the listeners in advance if I make any horrible, corny jokes throughout the course of this podcast, but it would probably help to start with a definition, right. I mean if you are familiar with telecom you know it's an illegal radio station, but what do we mean by pirate radio.
MR. DOMBROWSKI: Okay. So a pirate radio by simple terms is a broadcast station operating in the FM band, 88 megahertz to 108 megahertz that you dial up on your car radio, that is operating without a license... ...They also have potential to cause interference to the adjacent channel stations, you know, up above their frequency and below their frequency. So that's why the licensing process is so important to avoid that interference.
Now one thing I want to talk about is Part 15. There is a lot of misconception about what a low power transmitter is. We do let stations operate with low power transmitters but they have to comply with the technical requirements of Part 15 of our rules.
And those rules dictate a lot of restrictions and cover your wireless transmitters that we use every day, remote controls for you car, your headset, bluetooth sets. They also cover your wireless routers in your house.
Now all those things have one thing in common. They are very low power and the range of them are very small. So a transmitter that complies with the Part 15 requirements has a very small operating range, about 100 feet.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right.
MR. DOMBROWSKI: And so that's not practical for somebody that wants to operate a radio station to cover an entire community.
So when they say, oh, I don't need a license to operate I'm a Part 15 transmitter, well we have to do studies and measurements to see if that's true.
We do that with every pirate station. We do a field strength measurement to see if their power exceeds that threshold and if they meet the Part 15 requirements or not.
So if they don't meet the Part 15 requirements they need a license.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: Right.
MR. DOMBROWSKI: So that's what we do.
MR. SWARZTRAUBER: So everyone can now breathe a deep a sigh of relief, you are not going to have to go out and get a license for your security camera and you garage door opener.
There is a reason that those devices operate in an unlicensed manner because they are not transmitting very far.