alt Hacker NewsHow does the FCC enforce this sort of thing? Are they listening in to certain frequencies nationally with the ability to triangulate a handheld down to actually identifying someone?
Replies
fodmap • yesterday at 8:03 AM
Most of the time they get a complaint, and they investigate.
https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/guides/fcc-enforcement-...
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martheen • yesterday at 7:58 AM
Someone complained, they send someone to check and triangulate, verify that the operator doesn't have the license, then issue a warning or fine.
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l23k4 • yesterday at 9:53 AM
Unless you're going out of your way to force them to react, they do not.
They mostly don't. They send scary letters and maybe eventually fine someone. They have a handful of triangulation vans for the entire US. The barely respond to complaints that are revenue impacting and generally don't respond to complaints from hams that a non ham is using their equipment. Once a quarter they make an example of someone so that it appears they enforce things. The people they make examples of are usually trying really hard to troll them or doing something highly disruptive and these will end up on a few websites and magazines.
People tinkering and staying away from ham bands will generally be fine and for the cheap ham gear that made easy by design usually by doing a factory reset or worst case having to clip a diode to widen their frequency ranges. Most ham gear is designed to be highly hackable.