I knew this was all over the internet but did not realize it made it to this forum. The original citation included a Uniden Grant LT untouched. They sent out two sets of field agents to investigate me. In depositions it came out that an amateur from the midwest was to blame. We even went to mitigation. The FCC was a no show and the US Attorney was 45 minutes late. I can't tell you how angry the mitagator was. We finally had a court date and the case was thrown out. The judge went on to say that the FCC lists on the internet of illegal cb radios is not valid. The current batch of 10 meter amateur radios are not as easy to modify as they were years ago. These radios fall under part 97 and part 15 not part 95. We did not get our court costs which were over $100,000. I am a little guy. I was very fortunate in that Ranger, Connex, and Galaxy had my attorney on retainer. I believe my attorney was surprised how far my case went. I rarely fly but have been put on the Homeland Security List. In my opinion the FCC is just another rogue wing of our great federal government.
-
You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
1 STOP CB Shop Fined $7,000
- Thread starter C W Morse
- Start date
1 stop cb shop fined!
Wanted to also let the group know that Ramko in
Ohio was one of the wholesalers that the FCC was trying to fine for over $100,000 if I recall. Cbs are Cbs and 10 meter radios if unmodified into the country are legal to import and use by licenced hams. End of story. Illegal cbs do exist and they are imported into this country already able to transmit outside of the cb band.
Wanted to also let the group know that Ramko in
Ohio was one of the wholesalers that the FCC was trying to fine for over $100,000 if I recall. Cbs are Cbs and 10 meter radios if unmodified into the country are legal to import and use by licenced hams. End of story. Illegal cbs do exist and they are imported into this country already able to transmit outside of the cb band.
Only thing is those so called 10 meter radios, are pretty much useless on anything but CB. They're only titled as "10 meters" so they can fly under the FCC's radar and offer more power and more frequencies than what a certified CB can offer. The 10 meter exports are illegal to use on CB but that is what they are specifically geared for.
And if that wasn't true then they would not have multiple bands of (coincidentally) 40 channels, have echo and roger beeps (which no ham uses except maybe those recently imported from the CB band) and in the case of the Ranger 2950/70 et al. would not have the ability to display the CB channels complete with the "A" channels by simply pushing a front panel button. They are NOT 10m radios by design but rather they are 10m radios only for circumvention of the law. Why does Galaxy, Ranger etc. not make a monoband 15m radio? What about a single band 20m radio?
As per usual the FCC is talking out of both sides of its mouth. On one had they say the 10 meter radios are illegal. On the other hand they make no attempt to nip it in the bud by placing the equipment on a banned customs list for importing into the USA. They can curb the flow of Cuban cigars for the last 40 years but let this and tons of other non certified transmitter equipment come right into the country.
I can only assume they really don't care and it's all about the money. How much can they make if they seize a load of "10 meter" rigs that can't be sold here? How much do they make if they do their job and keep this equipment off the market? Not nearly as much as they do handing out their 10 to 100 grand fines for not doing their job in the first place. Allowing the market to become flooded with illegal temptations makes a bigger profit you can chase after at your own leisure.
I can only assume they really don't care and it's all about the money. How much can they make if they seize a load of "10 meter" rigs that can't be sold here? How much do they make if they do their job and keep this equipment off the market? Not nearly as much as they do handing out their 10 to 100 grand fines for not doing their job in the first place. Allowing the market to become flooded with illegal temptations makes a bigger profit you can chase after at your own leisure.
The radios are legal, but the FCC doesn't want to change the rules because the change would interfere with HAMs, who want ambiguous and unclear rules so they can do whatever they want. I would say that the majority of HAMs have equipment which is illegal to sell (FCC says if any radio is modified to work on a band which requires certified equipment it is illegal to sell, though it might be legal to use) irrespective of who makes the radios. What needs to happen is for the FCC to change the power levels on 11 meters. With the paucity of CB radios, especially in some areas, there is really nobody to talk to at 4 watts. Raising the power levels would decrease the use of amps, and also result in a cleaner signal.
While 10 meter radios might be the most popular, Ranger also makes a single band 6 meter radio. Ranger would probably also make other single band radios, if there was a demand and profit.
While 10 meter radios might be the most popular, Ranger also makes a single band 6 meter radio. Ranger would probably also make other single band radios, if there was a demand and profit.
It's the man(woman) cracking down on exports. Why are they doing what they're doing and with what intent. Many moon's ago I used to perform auto inspections in which the DMV would periodically send out DMV officers in regular street cloths(disguised as farmers)to see if we were performing the inspections properly. Somehow I could always smell a rat but other licensed inspectors in the area weren't so fortunate. I did inspections within the letter of the law while others didn't.
