Most NOUO’s start with something along the lines of “the FCC received a complaint of an unlicensed station on xx.x MHz.” Let’s say someone heard my part 15 signal and thought I was a pirate and decided to call the FCC about it. Then the FCC sent an agent, the agent measured the output of my certified transmitter and I was at or less than 250 uV/m at 3 meters. What would happen? Would I get notified the FCC came? Would anything be posted to the FieldNotices page?
Nothing would happen. You would never know they came by.
but since I don't actually know what would happen then my answer would be just as hypothetical as the question.
Neil
i have heard of stations being visited who were slightly higher that that and still get a pass. one station i know of was pushing 400uV/m @ 3m meters and got a pass.
there is a certain percentage you are allowed to deviate it varies from agent to agent. this station i referneced was investigated by the denver field office.
chances are if you are using a certifed transmitter that is unmodified that is slightly over powered you will get a pass. if you are grossly over powered (which again is subjective to the investigating agent opinion) then you will likely get cited.
Also at least in this area, the FCC would investigate a "suspected pirate" on the schedule of where the agents might be. Typically they might come out a couple of times to make measurents especially if the signal is non-compliant. The equipment they use today is very cool. They employ mapping with Google Earth to extrapolate levels compared to the limits and so on. They actually use a fudge factor in favor of the operator so there is no mistake. BTW, in the case of FM, I have seen an agent's sworn statement alluding to a level of 150 uV/M have a average range of 1,000 feet.
also even if you are legal you can't interfere with a licensed station meaning technically you need to be out of their protected (50dbu fringe?? or 60dbu primary?? forget which) contour or the fcc can shut you down. plus its just bad engineering to be within even the fringe contour of a station because their fringe will signifigantly cut your range down. just something to bear in mind. recently i had to move from a frequency i had for 3 years because a licensed translator got shoehorned in and their 50dbu overlapped my coverage area so i had to move to a different frequency.
Neil's answer would be hypothetical for which reason he had no answer.
That doesn't stop me, as I eagerly enter hypothetic space...
If I were an FCC inspector, hypothetically, I would judge by honesty.
If a guy said, "I'm running twice the power allowed in the rules and I accept whatever you decide."
At first I'd stall by saying, "I see."
If a guy then offered me a snack, coffee, maybe an invite to sit with the family at the table for chit chat, I'd say, "You know, I don't see a problem here. You're good people. Can you crank that transmitter up any more?"
If a guy said, "Up to 500 milliWatts I think."
I'd say, "Do it. Have a good day."
And that's all I gotta say about that.
Carl is a good inspector!!
Now let’s go on.
Hypothetically ofcourse!
I was a FCC inspector and 1 month later I was at the same location.
The guy said, "I'm running now 510 milliWatss, your colleague, eh wat was his name eh …………. Carl adviced me to make 500 milliWats”
At first I'd stall by saying, "I know, but didn’t he see your antenna?"
“No he didn’t, but its about 12 feet tall”.
If a guy then offered me a snack, coffee, maybe an invite to sit with the family at the table for chit chat, I'd say, "You know, I don't see a problem here. You're good people. Can you crank that antenna up any more?"
If a guy said, "Up to 30 feet I think."
I'd say, "Do it. Have a good day."
Hobby activities might be the same as living hypothetically.
We have our hobby radio stations which really broadcast, some of us run a hobby business to make the radio game even more life-like.
I know guys that run hobby railroads and the only reason why they can't carry real passengers is that passengers are too big.
I was a hobby congressman for awhile, but I didn't know enough about the job description so I never did anything.
Now Rob Veld gives me a new idea... I could be a hobby FCC inspector and really do some of the stuff we've talked about in this thread!
I could even do hobby inspections by "remote viewing," often talked about on Coast-to-Coast-AM.
From here all of your stations look like a little more power and several more antenna feet would be acceptable.
I'll look the other way.
"So purely hypothetical, a FCC agent was invited by a commercial broadcaster, he get a drink, he get a snack, even he get a diner. And then a small talk. Radio station x give us some inference, etc. etc. Now what do you think it would happen?? Rob V.
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Would an ethical FCC agent knowingly accept such a drink / snack / dinner from anyone with a system subject to FCC jurisdiction -- let alone how that agent would allow such favors to affect their evalation of the installations of other operators subject to FCC jurisdiction?
Woudn't the honest answer to each of those two possibilities be "No"?
We should know if it would be unethical to offer hospitallity to an un-announced, unscheduled, not-by-appointment visit of an FCC inspector.
Greeting rudeness with grace might be wrong?
Let me remind you of a South Florida ham radio operator who submitted to an inspection that was pre-scheduled. He greeted the agents at the door in the nude. In five minutes they were gone.
It will be 1 above zero tonight.
The greeting method mentioned by John WDCX might result in a frozen HAM.