A ham in Georgia has been fined $1,000 by the FCC for failing to identify his station. According to a Forfeiture Order issued on July 29, David Tolassi, W4BHV, was cited for making unidentified transmissions on 14.313 MHz. The FCC said its agents tracked the signals to Tolassi's Ringgold, Georgia home and heard him transmitting for more than 15 minutes without identifying. FCC rules require an ID every 10 minutes and at the end of a contact.
The FCC launched a new Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) on June 20, which it says will improve the "resiliency and performance" of the online-commenting system, according to the ARRL Letter. All old files and documents from 1992 to the present have been moved to the new system, where they should continue to be accessible.
FCC
Chairman Tom Wheeler told the House Subcommittee on Communications and
Technology that the Commission is adopting a
"smarter" approach to combating pirate broadcasters. According to
Radio World, Wheeler told the
committee that it has shifted from what he called its previous
"whack-a-mole" approach to focusing on "the worst actors,"
specifically repeat offenders who cause interference to licensed broadcasters,
those who run high power and those who run advertisements." Wheeler said
the Commission has started more than 300 enforcement actions against pirate
broadcasters in the past three years.
The
ARRL says the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) has clarified
that all RF LED lights are subject to
Part 15 rules for "unintentional radiators" and must be tested to
assure that they comply with those rules. Manufacturers were also reminded that
"lighting devices are required to cease operation if harmful interference
occurs."
