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The “10 meter” ruling for example of non functional/non working? How about this for a “example” of whats legal and whats not.
A brand new amateur radio linear amplifier could not have 10 meters working “out of the box”. ( I belive the rule has now since been changed).
The buyer would have to do a mod to make it work on 10 meters, the mod would said to have been provided by the manufacturer upon proof of a valid ham license. This rule was meant to keep CB 11 meter operators supposedly from buying amateur radio amps and using them for CB.
Ten meter amplifiers could not be sold per FCC regulations “out of the box”. The end user would have to make it functional and even then ten meter amps were only available legally as a part of a complete linear amplifier that featured all the ham bands.
It seems like this is a precedent to go by, unless another ruling is made by the FCC to clarify what is functional or non functional.
One could logically argue if he/she sold partially built transmitters where the end user would have to do some final (but simple) steps to make it functional…then based on precedent of the 10 meter amplifier
example…it would SEEM that would be the course of argument to take.
And since these linears were also sold used, there was no requirement to my knowledge that the 10 meter portion of the amplifier had to be disabled prior to sale. The ruling seems to apply to only new amplifiers from the manufacturer.
Another legal way around this is to “simply” build a kit, send it to the FCC to get it certified. And then when found compliant, the builder can assemble these kits and market them as FCC certified assembled. One “only” needs to submit a sample, pay the “modest” fee of $6,000 to $10,000 fee and wait for approval. They do not need to submit each one they assemble, just one or maybe two.
Disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, one should seek legal clarification from the FCC on what is and what is not and even then consult a lawyer who is well versed on FCC matters and rulings.
