FCC Cracks Down on Uncertified VHF/UHF Gear, With Hams Caught in the Middle

So absolutely true! So much that it has created a demand that these radios have come to fill the demand in a big programmable way. Seems this trend began with the Icom IC-02AT but quickly progressed to no longer removing or adding to diode matrix or retuning VCO's. Obviously every modern ham transceiver of the last 20 yrs has included a general coverage receiver.
Every VHF and UHF HT rig has to at the very least have very wideband scanning receiver capability to be competitive in the marketplace. Very many hams prefer to have maximum capability and will perform some type of "Mars" mod. Lets face the fact that many newer hams have come up to the ranks of ham radio because of the very fact that they were already using or owned ham gear elsewhere. (lets just call it and call a spade a spade or admit that there is a freakin elephant in the room,,,, okay, okay dont ask dont tell.... I will walk on my side of the street and stay clean, leave the others to do what they do but lets keep it in the closet so it doesent affect me?) Every manufacturer seems to have some readily avail backdoor work around that seems to be designed into the rig. Understandably many radios are sold in the international arena that it makes sense to have a basic chassis that is frequency flexible for various markets, but I think that the simplicity and flexibility also is a necessity from a competitive sales standpoint that has always been never spoken.
Now with SDR we are entering interesting territory!
Honestly I would definitely take into major consideration one radio over another on the basis if it did or didnt have a wideband general coverage receiver capability. The ability or ease of transmit modification likely would play a part in my consideration but to a much lessor extent further down my list of considerations or comparisons. However, it still would be a consideration that would weigh one purchase over the other. WHY? I really am not sure? Maybe its a control thing or greedy thing or a not supposed to be able to do or have thing.
I did at one time hold an USAF Mars callsign. Frankly most operations are close enough out of band that most radios could operate on the federal freq without any mod required, So yeah the elephant is that we all really want this but many dont use it and those that do or will use it , can use it and will get away with using it as long as they dont admit that they use it for whatever possible utilitarian purpose that they find to use it. It will be the dumbass few bad seeds that will use it in a malicious and irresponsible usefulness that will bring the negative attention upon it and everyone will lose the freedom to be a scofflaw and no longer have the right to have the capability or ability to potentially do what they arent suppossed to do in the very first place even though it isnt enforceable anyways? Whatta Country!!!!

 

I think we are expecting to much from FCC enforcement. A company called Rugged Radios has been selling commercial band radios for years with no real disclaimer that they must be licences. I even called them and asked the question directly and was told that I would not have to worry if I purchased one because there is no enforcement.

They are actually correct. These radios have been openly advertised in magazines and on television with no word from the FCC.

 

Perhaps this, http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/2-meters-…-the-new-cb-band-of-interference.633854/
or this, https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ktaxon-B...Dual-Band-CTCSS-Two-Way-Radio-Black/318885511,
is what they should be worried about.

I know that they are used by a lot of Walmart employees in several areas of the country.

 

Hi ALL!

I must say that this has always been a concern of mine. Back in the late 80's I thought it was bad when I found out that a person could take a certified Ham Radio, snip a diode or the little red or blue or green wire and open it up to general coverage transmit (limited by the range of the transmitter components). It made for a easy MARS mod. When they started doing it with HT's I couldn't help but wonder where all this might lead. Well, although I do not know about the details first hand, I had heard from a grapevine (in the mid 90's) that a company had personnel buying popular brand Amateur Radio HT's and doing the "MOD" to allow transmitting on the public service frequencies. I suppose that to them, the Ham radios were much cheaper than the commercial public service radios. This came to a halt when it was found that the Amateur Radios were not FCC certified to operate on the public service frequencies. I was glad to hear the company ceased operations with the mod'd Amateur Radios. Here we are 23 years later and I can see radios that come out of the box capable of transmitting on Amateur Radio frequencies being sold online and advertised as "walkie talkies" or "great for hiking, cycling, and camping" without any mention that it is illegal for a consumer to use this radio on any amateur frequencies without a FCC issued Amateur Radio License. To make matters worse, these same radios can operate on public service channels. Last year a man was arrested and fined for interfering with county public service frequencies in our state. I am assuming he was using one of the cheap HT's. The local news channel did not go into detail on how he was interfering. Something does need to be done about these radios but I don't know the answer. Maybe somehow the FCC can band the sale of these in the USA?
Think about this....... you are making a contact on 2 meter SSB, the station is very weak but you can still hear the operator giving his call and grid. You can't get it all and you ask for the operator to repeat his call. He starts to say it, his signal picked up some and all of a sudden, some kids dad calls using 144.2 FM for little Johnny to stop fishing and come back to the camper. Johnny does not want to quit fishing right now and gets into an argument with his dad. By the time they are done the band has changed and you lost the 2m SSB contact. This kind of thing happens on 10 meters when the band is open. I am down low in frequency operating CW and a couple drivers start talking over my QSO on 10 meter AM. I even had some fella try to entice me to "come down on AM" to talk to him. He said " hey ditty dumb dumb ditty, come on down here on AM and talk to me". Needless to say, I lost my weak DX contact, shut my rig down and went for a walk. These are the kind of things that happen when radios that are capable of working on 12m, 11m, and 10m with a turn of a switch are sold to people that don't know or care to know if they are doing something illegal when they start transmitting. Well, I guess I got on the soap box. I try not to do that but felt the necessity to tell you of my experiences and thoughts. I'll say best 73 for now and hope to catch you down the log someday! Hopefully we won't get any interference.

 

10/3/18 quoting ARRL:
ARRL maintained. “We will keep our members informed as our discussions with FCC on this subject continue.”

Nothing but crickets since then. Great job ARRL, NOT!!
I get better and more lobby support from the NRA.

 

This was an FCC FAILURE FOR ALLOWING THE RADIOS TO BE MARKETED IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE IN VIOLATION OF THIER OWN REGULATIONS. The federal government has the duty and responsibility to faithfully exercute thier duties, including the Interstate Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, and they failed AND they continue to fail since these very same “illegally marketed” radios are still, 6 months later from the Enforcement Notice, being sold all over the internet. ANOTHER FAILURE BY THE FCC. .... and I’m supposedly the criminal now for owning one?... I don’t think so.

 

THere are some warnings in the reviews, but one says Element 1 of the ham radio tests. It was posted in 2018. They should have posted Element 2.

 

"Support encryption CTCSS function"

 

That's just mangled English or written by someone who doesn't know what CTCSS is.