FCC Cracks Down on RFI Testing, FM "Pirate"

The FCC has told foreign manufacturers of devices that generate RF energy that they must comply with equipment testing rules or face the possibility of being prohibited from selling their products in the U.S. According to Newsline, these products range from lighting equipment to devices for the so-called IoT, or Internet of Things. The notice follows enforcement action in May against a company whose lighting fixtures reportedly interfered with AM and FM broadcast signals.

In another enforcement action, the FCC has warned a New Jersey ham to stop making unlicensed transmissions in the FM broadcast band. According to the Commission, Winston Tulloch, KC2ALN, of Paterson, New Jersey was monitored by FCC officials illegally operating a broadcast station on 90.9 MHz. It noted that while FCC rules permit unlicensed signals on the band whose field strength does not exceed 250 microvolts per meter at 3 meters from the antenna, the signal strength its agent measured was 176,526 microvolts per meter at 231 meters. Tulloch was given ten days from the date of the June 8 letter to respond "with any evidence that you have authority to operate granted by the FCC." It says further enforcement action will be determined in part by the nature of his response.