> Maybe the FCC should delegate "type acceptance" to the ARRL (aren't we
supposed to be self policing?) before any radio could be sold in the US. I
suspect that this would fix the problem for the rest of the world as well as
manufacturers could not afford to market a product without the demand
created by the US.
Having been involved with this stuff for years, I can describe how it works.
The FCC only requires a radio manufacturer to be sure the radio passes a few
tests that mean almost nothing. The requirements don't have any specs at all
in certain critical areas, and the specs that are there aren't stringent
enough and often aren't even meaningful.
The manufacturer mostly just checks harmonics and out-of-band spurs, like
they do all these switching power supplies and computers we hear and hate.
The FCC "takes their word for it", and doesn't even require paperwork. The
average 4-watt $39.00 CB radio undergoes more testing than a $5000 200 watt
radio. Even amplifiers are tested more thoroughly and require filing
technical measurements and paperwork!
The real burden is shifted to us, because a radio that fully meets all FCC
requirements can be (and often is) illegal for us to use!
It is all in our laps. If we sit quietly and accept what we are buying and
using, it will just continue to get worse. We need to get offending
manufacturers and the ARRL's attention! We also need to correct the radios
that are fixable, as burdensome as that is. Surely the guys who spend
thousands of dollars on amplifiers and hundreds of hours on antennas can
spend a few minutes and a few dollars doing some mods, and quit pretending
their radio is the only radio manufactured of a certain model that is "OK".
73 Tom
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