[IP] more on Public radio seeks recall of FM devices used in cars
Begin forwarded message:
From: David Josephson <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 28, 2006 3:27:50 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Public radio seeks recall of FM devices
used in cars
Dave, an engineering/politics comment for IP if you like.
I am almost spitting tacks after reading this.
For decades J.C. Whitney, Radio Shack and other "electronic"
vendors have sold FM modulators. Now all of a sudden when satellite
radio is starting to pull listeners away from terrestrial
broadcasting, does anyone, let alone National Public Radio,
actually care about it?!?
As mentioned by another poster, the reason is that FCC has
established practical rules for such devices, and both Sirius and XM
seem to have deliberately brought equipment to market that not only
breaks those rules, but according to some reports have made
deliberately false filings with the FCC to get authorization for
modulators with much higher output power than is permitted.
A bigger problem is that FCC no longer has the resources to do much
on its own. We have written here about the spectrum auction debacle,
and there are many others (watch for a tremendous fight in the next
two years over spectrum vacated when the analog TV transmitters go
dark in February, 2007 -- FCC issued its first Report and Order on
this, last week.) In the case of unlicensed low power radiators such
as FM modulators, the requirement for compliance testing has evolved
from a nuisance to a charade. Anyone may upload a boilerplate list of
procedures and become a "listed" test lab for low power unlicensed
devices, without any on-site review or accreditation. Is it any
wonder that some might be willing to report fudged test data?
--
David Josephson
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