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Phil Kane wrote: You didn't miss anything by not trying to look it up. The Commish' in its infinite wisdom made the Part 15 "intentional radiator" and "incidental radiator" requirements very complicated several years ago, with no real thought given to analog laboratory measuring equipment such as TDRs, signal generators, and Antenna Analyzers. The old "100 mw input" limits apply only to certain types of devices, and in general "intentional radiators" have to be certified for compliance with specified antenna arrangements. Stuff like that keeps private-sector "FCC Certification Test Facilities" in business. Phil, In practice, is there anything that can be done about uncertified (and very probably not-technically-compliant) intentional radiators? Last year, after I bought a new car, I found that the remote-control keyfob would not work reliably (or at all) when the car was parked in a local mall's parking lot. When I sniffed around a bit with my HT, I found that there was a strong, repetitive signal on 433.920 MHz. I DF'ed to a local restaurant. The waiters at the restaurant use hand-held remote terminals, which transmit the order (by item number, apparently) back to a base in the kitchen where it's printed out by the cooks. This makes for fast and reliable service, but the base is apparently sending out a heartbeat transmission several times per second. The signal is strong enough to swamp other devices on 433.920 MHz for around a hundred yards. I can pick it up on my car rig (in SSB mode) for a couple of blocks in some directions. One evening when I ate there I expressed curiosity and took a look at one of the handheld terminals. It has a model-number sticker on the bottom but there's no hint of a Part 15 registration number. I wrote down the manufacturer name, found their website, and also dug through the FCC Part 15 authorization database. I can't find any evidence that this device (which is imported) was ever certified under Part 15. I suspect that it's noncertified, and may have been cranked up to a power level which is beyond the Part 15 limits (and certainly seems excessive for what it's doing). I passed the info along to my local ARRL OO, who contacted some lab guys at the ARRL... they'd never heard of this particular problem. As far as I know they didn't choose to follow up on the matter. Since this isn't actually interfering with any licensed ham transmission I'm trying to make (but only with other Part 15 devices) I didn't feel that I really have standing to push the matter through the ARRL/OO or file a formal complaint with the FCC. My gut feeling at this point is that trying to get the FCC to take this issue up with the manufacturer, importer, and/or customer (restaurant) is probably a waste of effort... can you hold out any hope that there's a way of dealing with the problem? -- Dave Platt AE6EO Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads! |
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