Reply to post: Re: Nonsense

Radio gaga: Techies fear EU directive to stop RF device tinkering will do more harm than good

whitepines

Re: Nonsense

I'm of the opinion a few high profile arrests and trials stemming from someone "just using that firmware that makes my radio work better since it doesn't harm anyone to remove the limits" might do the trick, provided there was proper press coverage stating why the trial was happening. We've got the technology to track unlicensed users down fairly quickly, find someone stomping on a military allocation to watch their cat videos and watch the sparks fly!

Right now it's perceived as no worse than piracy, i.e. some kind of victimless crime (see erosion of law due to widespread disregard for bad copyright / DRM laws) when in fact there really is a victim many times for RF interference -- the licensed user of the spectrum being directly impaired in their licensed use of that spectrum.

The RFI from cheap chinese ballasts in the US is so bad, I'm told, it obliterates parts of the AM broadcast band. I can't imagine the ballasts here are much better, since they're coming from the same factories in Asia. Do something about unintentional radiators first, arrest a few of the most egregious "illegal firmware" users*, and watch the problem sort itself.

* I hesitate to say "illegal firmware", but when you're talking about compiled software that is designed to cause your hardware to emit substantial RF on frequencies that you have no license for, it's pretty much illegal to use by definition outside of a faraday cage. Sadly I'm not sure politicians would understand that; it's a semi-miracle we still have the Amateur service allocations.

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