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Years ago, when CB radio was all the craze, manufacturers would publish manuals with amplifiers tell you NOT to move a certain wire to a certain place because i
by gopowerranger 11y ago
Years ago, when CB radio was all the craze, manufacturers would publish manuals with amplifiers tell you NOT to move a certain wire to a certain place because it would change the frequency or boost the power beyond the legal limits of CB operation. This caused all kinds of havoc on those airwaves until the FCC clamped down on them. So, yes they can do that.
- Sanddancer 11y agoYep. Linear amplifiers are absolutely terrible at spewing noise all over the RF range. Growing up, I lived about a quarter mile from the freeway, and there were times where certain TV channels were absolutely unwatchable due to interference from these rather illegal setups.
- jrockway 11y agoCB users also like modifying their equipment to use the amateur bands. Sometimes the 10m band is essentially unusable because of interference from CB users. The end result is very similar to the WiFi situation, they ruined it for everyone. Now it's difficult for licensed amateur radio operators to buy amplifiers for use with low-power transceivers. The FCC has rules about what the minimum power input to amplifiers can be, and require manufacturers to go to great lengths to prevent the amplifier from working on CB frequencies. This reduces performance and reliability, and increases expense, all to prevent something no licensed amateur would do. That said, the FCC has only a minimal enforcement budget, so there are plenty of illegal CB amplifiers readily available on eBay. The rules only hurt legitimate American companies and users of licensed radio services.