Who says you're going to transmit with it? What if you use it just as a receiver? I knew a guy who spent a lot of money (back at the time) on a 2M rig - and he didn't have a license yet - BUT - he wanted to hear what amateur radio sounded like, and the money spent was an incentive for him to study and take the test. He liked what he heard and never keyed-up until the paper came in the mail; so some people can and should be trusted. Apparently, there's people here with WAY too much free time on their hands that they have to piss-off the FCC and screw with QRZ. I hope they get banned from this website for such a juvenile stunt. Hams already have a bad 'holier than thou attitude', and this proves it even more. So sad. Why don't you go out and teach a neighbor kid about radio and don't worry about what's for sale here?
I thought there was an exception for sale of these items between hams. If I have a homebrew (or modified ) HF amplifier it doesn't have the requisite type acceptance to be 'marketed' per se but has never been a problem in the past. Any modified gear loses type acceptance and is therefore not 'marketable' under that test but to enforce the 'marketability' standard on ham-ham sales would kill one of the foundations of our hobby: experimenting with equipment. Does the intent of Part 97.315 not also apply to other modified/non type accepted equipment. Edit for correct section of part 97 rules.
Let's face it ... Whoever brought this up in the first place doesn't have a life and should look inward to get one... The FCC is just a small spoke in the huge wheel of government out of control and picking on the little guy. If there were corporate interests and large amounts of money involved I'm sure we could sell anything we wanted any time ...someone brought up a good point; why waste resources with trivial things no one cares about and instead go after the real bad guys. Lord knows, there are enough of them out there. I guess this is all the average American can expect these days... Rich - W1RV PS I consider QRZ a very valuable service; Whiners please don't mess this up for the rest of us (the vast majority of hams.)
Illegal radios "The law says, you can't manufacture it, you can't import it, you can't sell it. How are you going to obtain it?" The answer is obvious......Steal it!!! then it will be legal. More seriously, I do not see what the hubub is about ham radios being able to transmit on CB. My two lines of thought. 1. Why not make them work or allow them to be modified to work on CB? Make the radio transmit only the allowable power. If it is modified to transmit more, give them a citation. Money has a way of modifying behavior. I would love to have a one radio does it all. Make it operate appropriately on each frequency and leave it alone. Ham is for grownups. 2. CB's are cheap. Just buy a CB and play nice. I am in favor of disciplining the user rather than limiting access. A major part of the HAM lure for me was the hobby's ability to self regulate their behavior.
Illegal radios By the way..... I find it interesting that the FCC jumped all over this and as quickly as they did. When I asked them for info on how to obtain a vanity call sign, I got nothing. NOTHING
Because of these radios and related equipment,I have to live with the following; 1. 27.535 operation out of band. 2. Modified equipment. 3. Worst of all Fred, Joe and Pete splatter 10 meters and only have a siganl strength of S9. What's wrong with this picture? 1. Out of band operation. 2. Power mikes and think it's cool to be able to talk 2 feet from the mike.. 3. And possibly excess power for the intended use. 4. I have to put up with it while they get away with it. Convince me that selling this equipment dosn't violate my legal right to the use of my equipment and band use without interference beyond what is normal! If they could be caught and equipment taken, the lesson will 'propagate' and should have an effect on this situation.
The Commission can't win; some radios are so popular among freebanders that it considers them too hot to touch. However, the Commission does allow Amateurs to own and sell CB's modified for 10 or 12 meters. Selling them to other Amateurs has not heretofore been a problem, either. Cortland KA5S
QRZ is a great resource for hams, and as far as I know the most popular and most used internet website for amateur radio. That's exactly why it shouldn't be in the business of facilitating the sale and distribution of these (illegal) junk radios. The point isn't whether you agree with the law. If you don't, you get it changed. You don't just break any law or regulation you don't agree with unless you are a scofflaw, like the people who have bought these illegal radios and now want to (illegally) sell them. I can't believe that people want to see someone banned for reporting what they thougt was illegal activity. Fred says it's about rights (it's not). Any person has the right to report something they think is illegal, and make that report without fear of reprisal. If QRZ allows these illegal sales to go on here, what's the difference between QRZ and Copper? QRZ isn't selling it themselves??? If I let juveniles smoke cigarettes in my home, I'm OK as long as I didn't give them the smokes, right? That's a pretty poor argument, IMHO.
Have to agree.....just ban them Just ban them, just like banning CB Amps or free band CB's. Treat them as the same thing, inferior, low quality and illegal for the most part. Owning one is not illegal maybe, using it is. Not going to get into some blown out of purportion argument with those self appointed lawyers in the crowd. Fred, you ban them and no one will question the decision. There are plenty of places where if someone wanted to they can buy junk, it is a free economy after all. I have to ask though, would any respectable Amateur intentionally operate out of band, splatter or over deviate on purpose? Of course the answer is no and those irresponsable Amateurs who do so are a small minority. It's that small minority that buy these cheap knockoffs or otherwise illegal gear. I looked at these cheap vhf/uhf handhelds quite a while back and decided they were not worth paying good money for. This was before the question of legal or not was raised. Would be curious how many were sold and ended up in the trash after 6 months. I expect most are in a drawer collecting dust by now and have been replaced by a well built brand name radio. Ron, KL7YK
Then according to that, all my homebrew transmitters are illegal, and my converted AM broadcast transmitter is illegal because there is no FCC certification, and since I modified the BC transmitter its grant of type acceptance must no longer be valid. I recall some time ago, the FCC had a regulation so worded that technically it was supposed to be illegal to sell a receiver if it was capable of picking up 11m. This put general-coverage receivers on the banned list. I never heard of any attempt to enforce it. Just because someone makes a complaint with the FCC doesn't make it anything more than a complaint. Read the weekly FCC enforcement news on the ARRL website. People get letters from the FCC all the time advising them that someone has submitted a complaint against them. That is not the same thing as a notice of violation. It's just an allegation. Sometimes the FCC requires a written response while at other times they simply send an advisory letter. I'd say if you are not actually trafficking in free-band radios, let it go into the round file. For my opinion on this whole situation, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxmUKVrT0iI
Hi Fred, thanks for THE ZED !! get it? ....eh?....fred ~ zed?? Fred rhymes with zed........well anyway, here's the poop from Inspector 12. I agree with your various positions mocking the legal lunacy inherent in the system. If the current rules stay in force, then I have also agree with the idea of banning sale/importation of the particular radios that are deemed hybrids for open 11-10 meter usage. All of the dozens of models which have the a-b-c-d-e band switches for gettin' them extry channels These have no strait up legal certification for any use in the U.S. Yet the radios come in. And there's dozens and dozens of sellers out there. The FCC makes a token bust of some truck stop or CB shop every once in a while so they can claim that they've done something about the "problem." So 99.9999% of the time the heads are turned while the almighty American dollar continues to circulate. The people buy, sell and trade stuff. And life is good. Even more so with the Used Items sales and trades. If one of these radios is already here and in private hands....and again they're legal to possess, then why should a resale be prohibited...anywhere? Apparently paybay and The ZED have been muscled into a compliance ....maybe...(in the zeds case), yet everyone is free and unmolested to publicly sell them on Craiglist or an ad in any newspaper and no doubt dozens of other places. nutz next Sum that up: I could agree with the banning of the hybrid radios. However Fred you choose the RCI 2950 Series rigs as your example and I wish to take exception to most of your comments about them. Although ridiculously easy to modify and enable 11 meter operation, these RCI radios are "set" for 10 meter operation only and have always been marketed as 10 meter amateur radios. They MUST be modified to go anywhere else. These particular radios should be removed from the banned list. These RCI's become little different from most every modern solid state ham rig ever offered, in that a clip of a wire here, or a unsolder-a-diode there, and you're all over the spectrum just like that. And these rigs become opened up to spectral areas far beyond any weenie little 11 meter area that some folks like to additionally whine and stress over. I will also take issue with ya Fred about any suggestion that these are poor, obsolete or even unpopular radios. Even the "channeled up" hybrids. There;s a veritable "galagy" of these kinds of radios on the American market and there are hugely popular. The truckers alone keep this radio niche in business and it's big business. I have an RCI 2950 in my vehicle right now as a 10 meter rig and have owned several others over the years. They are very decent and well made radios that are an excellent value for their cost. Very decent performers on SSB with the 25-30 watts. There is a huge trade in these radios as well evidenced in the circles that these radios travel. Internet CB forums and hundreds of sales sites. Truck stops. There are still many stand alone CB & repair shops around. So you have to really consider that all these hybrids and the RCI's ect....are seen as...and really are.."supercharged" CB's. They have more power and features than ordinary CB's....so that's exactly why people want them...duh. And the vast majority of CB'ers across the country are using some sort of turbo CB like this. The use of stock 4 watt CB's is practically passe. Let the babies have their bottles. It does not morally bother me in any way that there exists a rule in the U.S. which sets certain operating limits on the Citizen's Radio Service...and then large numbers of radio hobbyists (including around the world * see "radio waves have no borders") stretch some of the operational limits a little bit using certain manufactured radios that chance to appear on the streets on Anytown, U.S.A. The only other radio hobbyist alternative being to obtain legal ham gear, modify it, then use in the aforementioned CRS...which happens elmucho anyhow FINAL INSPECTION Fred my man, this is ham radio operator site. A CB forum is not being hosted here. We here is pure pork. So be it. There are probably more CB forums on the net right now that ham ones. "They," have their own sites. This site focuses on ham radio only. So let the hammies sell their ham stuff to whoever makes it here as a registered member. Go for the common sense thing. Decline to offer sales of strait-CB gear and hybrids if you like. But I strongly favor allowing the RCI 2950-2970 to trade unconditionally, already modified would be okay on USED rigs. This is not unlike allowing modified ham rigs for sale freely. There will surely be some would like to see everything brought in. Does anyone list CB's in the Miscellaneous Forum? I think I've seen FRS/GMRS stuff there. I guess you're already allowing CB's in the MF Fred? Only keeping them out of the Ham Gear For Sale? That is reasonable. So "we're" already selling CB gear here on the zed. Fine business. I can't see "discriminating" against the CB hybrids and them linneeears though. Gee willikers. So allow the sale of any possible piece of radio gear, Or make it ham only on the stuff. That's includes the couches and the lawnmowers. You mean you WANT to be able to sell your toaster in the Misc. Forum still ?? But just keep out those pesky evil CB boxes we hate so much !! Oh....yum....have your cake and eat it too eh? Sell everything or ham only. And ham only should include the RCI 2950-70 Capt. BBQ
Banning the sale of such radios on QRZ is not addressing the root problem, but just throwing the issue over the proverbial wall for someone else to encounter. It's easy to overcome the problem by NOT BUYING the radio. A sale involve three components, a buyer, a seller, and a product. Take the buyer away and you don't have the sale. Worried about a non-ham buying said item on QRZ? Then, set the buy/sell forum for member login access only. Least then, only licensed hams have access. But even that move is counter productive. What if the sale is actually exporting the radio to another country where the citizen is authorized to use it? Is it right for Fred to be forced to limit those sales, too? Fred & Associates already have their hands full enforcing the mostly liberal terms and conditions of this forumn. Why should they have to add more to their plates to address, "radios that aren't bring down skyscrapers, causing global warming, or stopping people's pacemakers?"
2.815 deals with linears. There is an amateur exception to the rule: 2.815(d): (d) The proscription in paragraph (b) of this section shall not apply to the marketing, as defined in paragraph (b) of this section, by a licensed amateur radio operator to another licensed amateur radio operator of an external radio frequency power amplifier fabricated in not more than one unit of the same model in a calendar year by that operator provided the amplifier is for the amateur operator's personal use at his licensed amateur radio station and the requirements of ยงยง97.315 and 97.317 of this chapter are met.
