Wording of Identification
Posted on February 4, 2012
There is only one rule defining voice content broadcast on a part 15 “intentional radiator” type station, all other rules distinctly describe technical allowances.
There is only one rule defining voice content broadcast on a part 15 “intentional radiator” type station, all other rules distinctly describe technical allowances.
The exceptional rule is not grouped with the Part 15 section of the rules, but is in Part 73 – RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES
Sec. 73.3550 Requests for new or modified call sign assignments.
(1) Users of nonlicensed, low-power devices operating under part 15 of this chapter may use whatever identification is currently desired, so long as propriety is observed and no confusion results with a station for which the FCC issues a license.
At the time I found that rule we had already been operating for two years as KDX, and our reasoning went through a few contortions before adding a number “1” making our part 15 call sign “KDX1”, definitely not an ordinary licensed station.
Those contortions of thinking that lead the way to that change was our finding that “no licensed station has been assigned the call sign KDX”, “In the present time licensed stations are assigned four-letter call signs, whereas a few legacy three-letter call signs still exist”. The letter ‘K’ is typically used for stations west of the Mississippi, but at least one exception ‘KDKA’ was assigned before the dividing between ‘K’ and ‘W’. There are also a few legacy ‘W’ stations west of the River. But after tossing around all these thoughts, we decided that ‘KDX’ sounded too much like a licensed call-letter.
Now that I’ve shared the whole story about why we are KDX1, I move on the the new question I am actually here to discuss…
In our sign on announcement we say that we are a radio station operating under “provisions” of the FCC Rules Part 15. We obviously can’t say “Licensed,” so I wanted a word that most exactly reflected what the part 15 rules allow or enable.
Those would be usable words as well… “Under Allowance of FCC Rules Part 15” or “as Enabled by FCC Rules Part 15.”
Maybe “As Permitted….” but I don’t like that because it implies a “Permit”, which is in the same class as a “license.”
Let me know what you think about wording what our kind of “unlicensed legality” actually is, boiled down to a single word.
