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Re: [RFI] US Regulatory Bodies [was Re: Another Solar Panel RFI System]

To: "w3dq@arrl.net" <ericrosenberg.dc@gmail.com>, "rfi@contesting.com" <rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] US Regulatory Bodies [was Re: Another Solar Panel RFI System]
From: "Hare, Ed, W1RFI" <w1rfi@arrl.org>
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2022 12:19:38 +0000
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
<FCC Rules for RFI benefit big biz, not us.>

Actually, Jim, I'd say both, along with the public good.  It simply would be 
cost prohibitive to have rules that prevented all possible interference. 
Equipment would simply cost too much, which would impact business and consumers 
alike.  I bet that most amateur equipment would not pass the FCC limits for 
conducted emissions below HF. (I may take a look at that at some point.)  If 
FCC were writing rules only for manufacturers, there'd be no rules. 🙂

So, the FCC writes rules that balance all the factors.  A good way of looking 
at this is that the regulations intend to reduce the likelihood of harmful 
interference to a low-enough incidence of occurrence that it is practical to 
address interference on a case-by-case basis.  The existing rules also ensure 
that if interference does occur, the source is generally local, not many miles 
away.  This makes it possible to identify the source.

FCC also does address interference on the basis of of harmful interference, 
which is actually a much-better approach because FCC can act without having to 
rely on actual measurements of emissions in each case.  This minimizes the need 
for inter-bureau coordination.  If we hang our hats on the emissions peg, every 
RFI case would have to go through the FCC Lab and from a practical perspective, 
that simply won't happen.

Ed, W1RFI
ARRL Lab



________________________________
From: RFI <rfi-bounces+w1rfi=arrl.org@contesting.com> on behalf of Eric 
Rosenberg <ericrosenberg.dc@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2022 8:52 PM
To: rfi@contesting.com <rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: [RFI] US Regulatory Bodies [was Re: Another Solar Panel RFI System]

Jim's mistaken on this one...

The FCC is an independent Government agency overseen by Congress (the 
legislative branch of government). Their  jurisdiction includes the private 
sector and state and local government

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is part 
of the Department of Commerce (along with other organizations, including NOAA, 
NIST, Patent and Trade), which is part of the executive branch of government. 
Its jurisdiction is the executive branch agencies

The President can assign tasks and responsibilities to Executive Branch 
agencies but not the FCC.

How do I know this? I've been in NTIA's Office of Spectrum Management for 
almost 20 years.

Decimated is a somewhat extreme description of what started in the Clinton 
administration.

Both agencies have suffered from significant retirements and departures 
(private sector pay is noticeably higher than the civil service), difficulty in 
recruiting (no one seems to teach RF engineering, a significant plus in our 
arena), and yes, politics does play a not insignificant role in policy 
development and implementation.

Welcome to today's real world, *very* different at many levels than what we 
experienced starting in the 1980's. Think of it as comparing a Heathkit to an 
Elecraft or a  Flex.

If anyone is interested in continuing this discussion, feel free to email me 
off line, not on this reflector, please.

73,
Eric W3DQ

----------- original message -------------

Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2022 10:32:19 -0800
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com<mailto:jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>>
To: rfi@contesting.com<mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] Another Solar Panel RFI System

On 12/18/2022 9:09 AM, David Eckhardt wrote:
> This is the only outlet I'm aware of where we can keep up with the efforts
> of ARRL (doing the job FCC should be doing) and the stance of the FCC.
> Remember, ARRL has both ears and eyes of the FCC with this issue.   I'm
> glad we have this conduit to both.

YES! And we can be thankful that W1RFI and our other representatives at ARRL 
understand that the politics and economics of the problem are at least as 
important as the technical ones.

The FCC is under the Executive branch, and was decimated 40 years ago in the 
name of "small government" -- translated as less regulation of big
biz that served to protect consumers (us). It has worked as intended.

FCC Rules for RFI benefit big biz, not us.

73, Jim K9YC

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