Seems excessive, how do you get something that someone doesn't have? He's got 30 days to respond means he can go to court.
Mark
How powerful was his transmitter? I mean 100 or 200 watts, yeah. But a Part 15 with a dipole? Or a 1 watt micro? My 30 watt would have been a contender. That's been retired now. I just bought a new Part 15 FM transmitter. I cannot imagine this kinda trouble...
Doug
OK so if found Guilty what probation? Maybe he'll never get a legal license for Ham Radio, Broadcasting?
He'll probably go off air for a few years and be right back on under an assumed name and a NEW location. Don't get me wrong if he is causing interference he deserves it. But I do have some various feelings I'll keep to myself at this time.
No, Legacy, he had a good operation. I remember him now. I was part of the 102.1 FM operation in Tampa, FL. It was Temple Terrace Community Radio. Doug Brewer built my first transmitter and sold me on the Comet Co-Linear. Doug built Lutz Radio, if I recall...
I was there a week before Doug Brewer got raided. That made me so angry, I bought the 30 Watt Veronica and dared the FCC to come get me! They never did. Five straight years. But that transmitter was not a KIT. It is PLL-locked and filtered! I guess no one complained...
Remember the California Pirate Radio Berkeley? Steve Dunifer? Those were kits. With and without filters! He sold mainly 7 to 10 watt units and amplifiers. Doug Brewer was quite involved with him as well. Those were the days...
Doug
I know I’m an advocate for Hobby Radio and thus I’ll try and keep my emotions aside and keep to the facts.
I’ve read about some very well maintained creative music and FREE speech stations in California. Many did well and were even applauded by the city and county officials but due to the letter of the law these guys were raided and treated like they were drug lords. Funny how Hobby Radio is associated in the same way as Drug Trafficking or something like this.
In Iowa a community Pirate station on 94.5 I believe it was had local bands play on air and had many younger students show their talents. The station played anything from The Cure to Big Audio Dynamite. The operator had a spectrum analyzer and even showed how his station looked on the analyzer which was Very Clean. In contrast some of the commercial stations had spurs on that same analyzer but this was aye OK with the FCC.
Lucky for him he was not banned from getting a broadcast license forever and was able to get donations and set up a legal LPFM station. This happens quite infrequently.
Best Of Luck to those wishing to get a Broadcast license for Hobby Radio now.
80 foot plus towers? 5 or 6 element beams?
Come on. These guys weren't skirting the edges of the rules, or even just plain breaking them, they were FLOUTING them.
It actually made me laugh when the article started talking about how the FCC didn't follow the 'due proccess' of the law when they were shut down & dismantled. They obviously weren't all that concerned about the law when they built their station.
The sad part of it is that if they had put the same effort and expense into buying a station, or waiting and applying for a license and THEN building, they might still be on the air today.
80 foot plus towers? 5 or 6 element beams? Come on. These guys weren't skirting the edges of the rules, or even just plain breaking them, they were FLOUTING them. ...
Just to note that as long as the maximum field intensity permitted in these paragraph sections is not exceeded ...
1) an 80+ foot tower is not prohibited by FCC §15.209 (AM)
2) a 5 or 6 element beam at whatever height above average terrain or height AGL is not prohibited by FCC §15.239 (FM)
Heh, somehow I doubt that their transmitters were operating at the nanowatt level.
"Heh, somehow I doubt that their transmitters were operating at the nanowatt level."
A-hem. Nope. Doug B had a hundred watts ERP to start. Same as I did. 30 watt into a 3.4 Co-Linear. But he put a new transmitter on line afterwards, Not sure what that was. Yeah. He flouted alright! I'm pretty sure he WANTED the FCC to bust him! Long story.
You have to hear it from him though. I haven't been in touch with him for years.
Doug
He currently has an Amateur Extra and had it at the time of his arrest. The beams were amateur radio antennas. The FM antenna was a wire collinear. He was under 1 year of house arrest with an ankle bracelet. He paid several thousands in fines. He's not going anywhere. He is along-time home owner in Lutz, FL. (Tampa Bay area) [edited by Moderator]
I would have thought that the article would do a better job in reporting all the facts, if indeed what wdcx is saying is true (and I have no reason to doubt it).
It did seem to lay the propoganda (about the big, bad FCC) on pretty thick. It talked about the lack of due process of the law by the FCC, without mentioning the laws that were being broken by the radio station.
Certainly, the antennas, or the tower, were not identified as being involved in amateur radio. It was left for the reader to assume that they were part of the FM station. Following along from that, there's no mention of where the FM antenna was located (perhaps on the tower, which is why it was dismantled and carted away, and the now identified amateur radio beam antennas left behind). There's also no talk of the power that was being run.