"Me" wrote in message
...

The FCC is a "Paper Tiger" ever since the gutted the Field Operations
Staff back in the Clinton/Gore Reinvention of Government days. They
don't have enough Field Staff to investigate the Public Safety
Interference complaints let alone any Ham or Consumer complaints.

I wouldn't go quite that far, there have been some pretty aggressive
prosecutions lately. But with a 50 mW transmitter, you would have to be
pretty creative at causing trouble to get their notice.

What will get you in trouble is causing interference and then being arrogant
about it. So, if you do exceed the field strength rules, there is a remote
possibility that some FM station might decide you are interfering with them
or competing with them. They might send you a nasty letter. If you stop
interfering, it will stop there. If you don't, they *might* shoot of a
letter to the FCC and the FCC *might* send you a nastynote. If you write
back and agree to stop, and then actually do stop, it will probably end
there. However, if you send them back some nasty response, or ignore their
letter, then you could be in trouble. Even then there will be proceedings
after proceedings before things escalate to the $10K level.

In other words, you not only have to break the rules, but you need to be
really stupid about it. It does happen, though. Among amateurs, who tend to
know the rules and have the equipment to measure compliance, there are
probably one or two prosecutions a month. Those amateur prosecutions
usually happen with a lot of help from the ARRL, however. If you interfere
with a ham, chances are he will help you figure out how to operate your
transmitter without interfering. And if he escalates it to his OO, the
local OOC will likely get more technical help to see how you can accomplish
your goals in a non-interfering way. If the local section can't resolve it,
they will request help from the ARRL headquarters who will also be more
interested in solving the problem than prosecuting. All this before Charlie
ever learns of the problem.

It really does take an astonishing level of stupidity to get prosecuted, so
don't stress over it too much.

However, if you happen to live next door to an FCC listening post or some
sensitive government facility, then all bets are off.

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