Here's one that's a bit odd....

[cyclops1970]

By the District Director, Denver District Office, Western Region,
Enforcement Bureau:

1. This is an Official Citation issued pursuant to Section 503(b)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended ("Act"), to Midas Auto Service Experts ("Midas") for violation of Section 15.5(b) of the Commission's Rules ("Rules").

2. Investigation by the Enforcement Bureau's Denver Office revealed that on April 7, 2006, a Part 15 device, located at a Midas store in Centennial, Colorado, was causing interference to aircraft approaching Denver International Airport on frequency 123.850 MHz.

4. On April 7, 2006, the Federal Aviation Administration's ("FAA's") Denver International Airport ("DIA") Spectrum Manager reported interference to aircraft approaching a DIA runway on 123.850 MHz. Later that day, agents from the Denver Office investigated the allegation and located the interfering signal on 123.850 MHz to a Midas store in Centennial, Colorado. Further investigation revealed that the source of the interfering signal was a Hunter DSP 400 Wheel Alignment System, which was acting as an unintentional radiator. The wheel alignment system was also found to be producing a signal on 108.500 MHz, a frequency the FAA uses for their Instrument Landing System.

"Please turn off all cellphones, laptops, and all other digital devices you may have with you including wheel alignment systems...we are preparing to land..."

 

[parkair]

That's amazing, I am a retired pilot. I use to fly into Oklahoma city alot. One week we were getting interference south of OK city and I reconized it as CB lingo ! (this was in 1992) I reported the interference as did other aircraft, next week it was gone. I have allways wondered what happen to the guy. He was probably one of those guys on channel 6 running 10,000 watts !

 

[C W Morse]

This is the thing that untrained radio operators don't understand! (And none of this is meant to be condescending). The things that seem perfectly harmless to the CBer may be causing harmful interference to important communications. The extra channels, the uncertified radios, the huge amounts of power that are almost de rigeur to the CB operator *can* cause the loss of life! In the case of the airport, a big CB linear may be causing an aircraft to miss an ILS approach (extreme example, I hope), or making the tower have to repeat instructions because there is a mysterious "buzz" in the pilot's headset. And it is for this reason that certain things are not allowed on CB. Experience has proven that transmitting equipment is not a consumer appliance, and that it takes, at least a modicum of training to promote safety, effective use of equipment and spectrum, and allow other radio users to gain commerce, safety, and even pleasure from their OWN radio privileges. Therefore, the "export" radios that some feel that they have just as much 'right' to use as they like, the increased power that creates more interference, and the penchant for using a CB radio as a long-distance "hobby" creates problems for other users AND are illegal for good reason. "I can't see why I shouldn't be able to 'work skip'", the CBer says. "I ain't hurtin' nobody" Yes! You ARE! True, the 4 watt CB CAN be heard 500 miles away, but not bad as the 4 HUNDRED watt station trying to do DX while a station he can't hear is trying to ask his wife if she needs anything from the store. And, worse, the 400 watt station gets some sort of ego boost because he "stomped on" somebody else's communications! That is a poor, lowly person who needs that sort of validation to equate himself! And, just like the airport scenario, with the buzzing headphones while the lives of families and children are in trust, it IS why there are those pesky restrictions on CB radios, and why Amateur Radio exists and attempts to give operators *some* idea of the consequences of their actions! So TAKE the tests and then know WHY things are as they are!

73