Artisan mentioned......Some don't want to be beaten over the head by the radio police every time they talk about what they're doing.
This in regards to operation with Chinese transmitters etc. and forums loosing participation.
A forum I assume if the general theme is legal operation as this forum is, and Michelle's Facebook group is, and Bill's is, then if talk starts to promote illegal operation like using 1 watt Chinese transmitters and you are getting over a mile and a half to two miles, and describing your set up with an outdoor antenna and then leaving because the radio police step in, what is a moderator or admin supposed to do? If you talk about it, it is in a way promoting it isn't it? There are other forums, at least one I know of.....a Facebook one just called hobby broadcasting (but there's not much action there either and it has been suspended for the last year), that allow anything to be talked about.
Lets take this one, if posts start to be about illegal operation and people start talking about their set up with the Ramsey 1 watt, or the Chinese ones that are available on Ebay and Amazon at 1 to 7 watts and up, or demonstrating with a drive around with AM getting 6 miles or more where the legality is questionable, or one saying to another don't worry about the FCC or ISED. When should the "radio police"( I guess I would be one of them) step in and say this is outside the scope of the forum or question an operation without scaring everyone away?
@mark You have a tendency of starting a new thread in response to another thread and it sometimes throws me off because I'm unsure what your referring to because the background of the subject lays is in what ever thread you came from!
Pirate broadcasting is still "hobby broadcasting", it's just not part 15, however if the discussion is in a part 15 forum, and as you say "When should the "radio police"( I guess I would be one of them) step in and say this is outside the scope of the forum or question an operation without scaring everyone away?"
Well, if it's specifically a part 15 forum then I think it should be pointed out immediately. Yes, it can and does run people off.. that's why this sites activity gradually eroded away. People don't want to be told that their installation they've been operating under for years is illegal. But what other option do you have? You could change the name of part15.org to something like "hobbyAM.org" or whatever I guess, but you can't condone illegal installations on a site called "part15.org" - that would be a contradiction.
When it comes to other sites, well I don't know. Guess it depends on if your an active member or not, in most cases I guess it's best to keep your nose out of something that doesn't concern you. (I'm not saying you, as in you, I just mean that if that Facebook group or whatever is not specifically a part 15 forum, or if you are not a regular participant - then leave it be, especially if no one else in that forum is pointing out the legalities. That's my opinion.
You know I say that - but I occasionally have stuck my nose in places it doesn't belong before, but usually not.
I just made a comment about radio police, with no judgement associated with it. @richpowers is quite correct in that people don't like to be told that what they're doing is not legal.
But of course, in a Part 15 Forum, you have to do that, as both @mark and @richpowers point out. We're here to inform and promote legal operation.
There have always been those who have pushed boundaries, in terms of laws and regulations. But I think it's a sign of the times that more and more appear to be taking no notice of what is legal and what isn't. I mean, if politicians do it and get away with it, in fact, openly boast about it, then why not the ordinary individual?
Add to that that there's a cost to being legal, particularly with Part 15, and to a lot it's a no-brainer. Spend hundreds of dollars on a legal Part 15 FM transmitter to get range of a few hundred feet, or spend a lot less to get something (usually from China) that will sound almost as good, and go a lot further (often measured in miles)?
Add further to that the fact that some of these Chinese transmitters are dubiously 'certified' (and even have the associated labelling for such), and are easily available on Amazon, e-bay and elsewhere (which at least gives them the air of legality), and you get what is happening today.
I started the new topic as it was a different subject. But as for the radio police I myself scared someone on away from here a while ago. Someone was claiming he was getting several miles with his Procaster 25 ft up on a metal pole. The pole was mounted in the ground beside the house, or a building, I don't know if it was his house. I commented and asked to see the set up and pointed out from the picture that what he had been doing was not a legal set up. He said it is but I then said that you have the Procaster clamped to the metal pole with the brackets and screws. The case is metal and the case electrically is connected to circuit board ground and you in effect have a 25 foot ground. That explains the few miles you are getting. I think there was some other posts on that thread agreeing with my observation but by pointing this out to the poster I guess I scared him off as he was never here again. I didn't want to do that but I felt my duty to point it out as that probably never occurred to him. But what can you do? Yeah, no one likes to be told they are not legal.
@mark I know exactly how you feel. I'm not an avid poster on Facebook but I do visit it and occasionally say something similar and like you there will be other posters that confirm my observation -- but sometimes after it makes me cringe when I realize my post ultimately drove that original poster out, and I tends to make me feel guilty, especially when I just popped in out of the blue just to tell him his installation wasn't legal.. Somebody else that's a frequent poster there would have probably said something if I hadn't, so I sometimes ask myself " now why did I do that?" - Which I think is how you feel. Both right but wrong at the same time!
You weren't wrong, but if, like me, you rarely participate on Facebook except to call somebody out.. well, I don't know, I kind of regret doing it sometimes. I really don't want to come across known only as a "radio cop". That just makes me wrong even when I'm right.