<The grow ops up here are far too big to be selling in state, which means they
are selling out of state, which means they are illegal. So the FCC is placing
the Amateur in the position of possibly dealing with a drug offender... The
real issue is the RFI, not what is being grown, or warmed, or lit... Just the
RFI, but it is still the Amateur that has to knock on the door, and explain
what is happening to whoever answers...>
The "normal" process for most types of interference is that the FCC wants to
see reasonable efforts made to try to resolve the problem directly between the
involved parties. But its staff very much recognizes that grow operations can
be different, so it gives ARRL and the amateur considerable flexibility and the
FCC will do what the amateur and/or the League feel is safe for the amateur.
This can include a letter from the FCC indicating that it is has received a
complaint of harmful interfere to nearby radio reception, although the ham that
has the big tower may be the first one that comes to mind. But the Commission
is reasonable about this sort of thing and sensitive to the fact that some
neighbors can be dangerous.
The indoor gardeners are often more cooperative than you might think. If they
are an illegal operation, often exceeding the number of plants permitted to a
user to grow, they really don't want to incur much attention. We have pointed
out to a few of them that cannabis may be legal under state law, subject to
limits on the number of plants, but it is still not legal under federal law,
and we don't know what interagency agreements between the FCC and other federal
agencies may exist, so local solutions to local problems are truly best all
around. Most get the point. They are also afraid of "rippers," the people
that would enter their home and take a valuable cash crop. With the change in
on/off times as a crop is encouraged to be ready for harvest, not only can
rippers guess what is growing in a house; they know when it is ready for
harvest.
<In a perfect world, I would report RFI to the FCC, and they would send down a
field engineer in a timely manner, locate the RFI, and fine, or warn the
perpetrator, then followup with the operator of the device a few weeks later,
to ascertain compliance levels. This would force an overall reduction in the
amount RFI, over time as consumers went after the installers, and the
manufacturers.>
That ideal scenario has never been the norm, at least not in my decades of
experience. Even before the field-office shutdowns, getting FCC field staff out
on amateur cases has never been anything but the rare exception. Things are
actually better now because of the informal process ARRL has worked out with
FCC staff to allow it to use the resources FCC can direct towards amateur radio
effectively.
<This is why I say, there is some reasonable level of RFI that the
amateur is going to have to accept.>
There is no level of "harmful interference" that an amateur will have to
accept. There is an unspecified level of noise that an amateur will have to
accept, but this, too, has always been so. Noise happens, and brief noises will
have to be tolerated, and if a new noise comes along to a ham that used to be
very quiet, but at a level that most hams in residential environments have to
deal with, if pushed hard to make a decision, the FCC will almost certainly
decide that a noise level most hams live with is not harmful interference
according to its rules.
This is not as dismal as it sounds. ARRL is well aware that many hams do enjoy
low noise levels, and with our staff's taking on a lion's share of the work to
resolve and document cases, the FCC has been willing to not draw that line in
the sand and continue to "encourage" neighbors and manufacturers to resolve
cases that it might not decide to be actual harmful interference. HQ staff
don't put the FCC in the position of having to be dishonest about it, but they
work with us to resolve all interference if they can, in part out of
appreciation of the difficulty of ARRL staff walking the lines between
emissions limits, harmful interference and the social aspects of neighbors --
and amateurs -- that are not always reasonable.
Ed Hare, W1RFI
________________________________
From: RFI <rfi-bounces+w1rfi=arrl.org@contesting.com> on behalf of Dave (NK7Z)
<dave@nk7z.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2022 1:24 AM
To: rfi@contesting.com <rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] Solar Panel RFI Awareness At Dayton
If only the FCC enforced their own rules, I would agree with you...
There is very little proactive enforcement happening up in this area,
and I suspect elsewhere...
RFI is rampant, and getting worse, not better. It is a mindlessly
simple task to locate a grow operations in most cases. Yet the Amateur
is the person on the front lines in location, and in first contact with
the offender, exposing the Amateur to possible liability, and possible
assault.
The grow ops up here are far too big to be selling in state, which means
they are selling out of state, which means they are illegal. So the FCC
is placing the Amateur in the position of possibly dealing with a drug
offender... The real issue is the RFI, not what is being grown, or
warmed, or lit... Just the RFI, but it is still the Amateur that has to
knock on the door, and explain what is happening to whoever answers...
The FCC is ham stringed by not enough funding, so we are the front
line... RFI enforcement has switched from proactive to reactive as a
result of lack of funding-- unless you are a cell provider... Then one
call gets instant action, and-- god forbid you even think about starting
a pirate FM station...
In a perfect world, I would report RFI to the FCC, and they would send
down a field engineer in a timely manner, locate the RFI, and fine, or
warn the perpetrator, then followup with the operator of the device a
few weeks later, to ascertain compliance levels. This would force an
overall reduction in the amount RFI, over time as consumers went after
the installers, and the manufacturers.
That is just not happening. Thus the problem gets worse, not better.
This is why I say, there is some reasonable level of RFI that the
amateur is going to have to accept. Be it right or wrong, that is the
way it is working, and for the foreseeable future going to work. This
is very unfortunate.
73,
Dave,
https://www.nk7z.net
On 5/25/22 11:26, Jim Brown wrote:
> On 5/25/2022 1:38 AM, Dave (NK7Z) wrote:
>> Respectfully I am saying that at some point there is a level at which
>> the FCC will say too bad, live with it. That level will be above what
>> things were before the solar installation arrived.
>
> FCC Rules say that if a product interferes with licensed radio operation
> that use of it must be discontinued.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
> _______________________________________________
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> RFI@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
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