Unlicensed Handi-Talkies?

More Letters

Since Robert Gonsett's CGC Communicator is no longer posting long format items, we've agreed to take on some of the task. Constructive comments relevant to the San Diego broadcast technical community may be sent to the chapter e-mail address. As always, we solicit your news and feature items.

Following is a message sent to Communications General Corporation (CGC) by a senior FCC official:

Was catching up with reading some previous amateur bulletins and came across the text below the line from the November 27 Newsline.... I was unaware that the FCC was proposing to remove the licensing and/or frequency coordination requirements for HT's operating on certain Business Band frequencies. I do not recall you mentioned this, but could have missed this. I would agree that many of these units are unlicensed, as I know our area high school bought a bunch of them for its internal operations (football game management, hall patrol, etc.) and seemed absolutely unconcerned about frequency coordination or obtaining a license.

There is probably much more unlicensed wireless microphone operation on both Business Band and Broadcast Auxiliary frequencies than the HT's. Nearly every church, school, conference meeting facility, night club, auditorium, concert hall, convention center, sound equipment rental firm, motion picture production facility, theater company, and barbershop quartet club seems to have one or more wireless microphones. Our local music & sound equipment dealers, and national catalog houses display offer many models. Every "broadway" show or musical that plays Washington uses dozens of them.

The manufacturers of the complex wireless microphone systems used for major stage productions (systems that cost $50,000 and up) have told me that the FCC's licensing requirements are just too complicated and unrealistic. However I am unaware of any serious interferences to TV reception reported from these units. I would think these microphones would be good candidates for deleting the licensing requirements.

The Amateur Radio Newsline story:

Those cheapo HTs may become unlicensed.

Licensing of most handheld radios may be eliminated. This after the FCC says it has received a large number of inquiries from the public concerning the licensing requirements for one watt and two watt, handheld portable radios that are becoming increasingly available from retail and mail order sources.

The agency describes the radios in question as being mostly single channel or two channel handhelds. It says that these radios are low cost and operate on one or more of six low power frequencies assigned to the Industrial and Business Pool.

Under Section 90.175 of the rules, all six of these frequencies require frequency coordination prior to FCC licensing. The agency says that some of the advertisements for these radios do state that an FCC license is required or that the radios are for business use and require coordination.

Unfortunately, says the FCC, many other adds imply that the radios can be used by anybody and make no mention of the licensing requirement.

The Commission says that equipment manufacturers have indicated that only a small percentage of the people who buy these radios actually apply for a license. It also notes that it has already proposed in a separate proceeding to delete the frequency coordination requirement for 154.570 MHz and 154.600 MHz, and to exempt three additional 150 MHz low power frequencies from the frequency coordination requirement. It's now asking whether the combination of its proposal to eliminate the coordination requirement for these frequencies and the circumstance that most users of these frequencies probably are not licensed should lead it simply to eliminate the requirement that they be licensed.

Previous Story |  Back to Top |  Home Page |  Next Story
Archives |  Contacts |  Jobs |  Calendar |  Subscriptions 
Members |  Links |  Sponsors |  EAS |  Search |  Home 

Web site contents ©1998 Society of Broadcast Engineers Chapter 36 San Diego. For more information, to become a member or a sponsor, or to make suggestions or comments, e-mail sbe36@broadcast.net. Write to P.O. Box 710702, San Diego, California 92171-0702.  

Edited by Gary Stigall. Updated 22-Dec-98.