The FCC has fined Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc of Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma, $25,000 for violating the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
by offering for sale non-certified Citizens Band (CB) transceivers. The
Forfeiture Order (NoF)
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1936A1.pdf
released September 29 recounts a history of alleged violations dating back
to 2001, when the Commission issued the first of seven citations to Love's
for marketing non-certified CB transceivers. All CB transmitting equipment
must first receive FCC certification before it can be marketed or sold in
the US.

"Based on the evidence before us, we find that Love's willfully and
repeatedly violated Section 302(b) of the Act and Section 2.803(a) of the
rules by offering for sale non-certified CB transmitters on three instances
-- two on February 23, 2005, and one on February 25, 2005," said the NoF,
signed by the FCC Enforcement Bureau's South Central Region Director Dennis
P. Carlton. The FCC said that between March 2004 and January 2005,
Enforcement Bureau field agents, following up on complaints, visited 10
Love's retail outlets in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona and California. "At these
locations, the stores displayed and offered for sale various models of
non-certified CB transceivers marketed as ARS [Amateur Radio Service]
transmitters," the FCC NoF noted.

According to the NoF, Love's attorney had argued that because the radios in
question were marketed as Amateur Radio equipment and "as sold" operate only
on the amateur bands, the transceivers fell under the FCC's Part 97 Amateur
Radio Service rules. The FCC pointed out, however, that its Office of
Engineering and Technology (OET) had specifically tested the two Galaxy
models in question (DX99V and DX33HML) and found both to be "dual-use"
Amateur Radio and CB transmitters.

"Each of the models could be modified to allow transmit capabilities on CB
frequencies," the FCC said in the NoF. In 1999, the OET clarified that ARS
transceivers that have "a built-in capability to operate on CB frequencies
and can easily be altered to activate that capability, such as by moving or
removing a jumper plug or cutting a single wire" fall under the FCC's
definition of a CB transmitter.

"We conclude that seven citations were more than sufficient to provide
Love's actual notice that marketing this equipment is unlawful and that
continued violations could make Love's liable for severe sanctions," the FCC
said.

The Love's case was reminiscent of other FCC enforcement proceedings
alleging marketing of uncertified CB transceivers labeled as Amateur Radio
gear, including one against Pilot Travel Centers LLC that could have cost
the company $125,000 in fines. That case ended last May with a consent
decree. While Pilot agreed to make "a voluntary contribution" of $90,000 to
the US Treasury "without further protest or recourse," it did not admit to
any wrongdoing.

In June, the FCC affirmed a $7000 fine on TravelCenters of America in
Troutdale, Oregon, for marketing uncertified CB transceivers as 10-meter
Amateur Radio transceivers. The FCC turned away TravelCenters' argument that
the transceivers in question were not CB transceivers, which require FCC
certification, but Amateur Radio transceivers, which do not.