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Why does one need a license to run a radio?

by Kinnard 10y ago

gravypod 10y ago
It depends on your country but for Americans the FCC places restrictions on communications (what you can say) and band plans (where you can talk). Why they would do this is many fold and if you'd like to hear why the government might want to do this I'd need to write in longer form them a comment.
mhink 10y ago
I could be wrong on this (it's been years and years since I got my ham license), but I think the licensing of individual operators is intended to _ensure_ that ham radio is preserved for individual operators. The idea being that keeping the band available for... say, emergency communication, is in the public interest. Also, for what it's worth, transmitting on CB (Citizens' Band) radio doesn't require a license, but I think it's restricted to very low-power bands.
- bigiain 10y ago
  CB radio is legal (in Australia and the US at least) thanks to "class licences". A manufacturer can sell equipment that meets certain limitations (eg: 5W max transmit power for 27Meg CB, from 26.965MHz to 27.405MHz), and customers can then buy and use them under the manufacturers "class licence". This is the same for heaps of other radio transmitters - your wifi, you garage door opener, your baby monitor, your bluetooth headphone, the video downlink on your quadcopter, the zigbee network for you lightbulbs etc. All of those run in specific frequency bands with capped maximum transmit powers (if legally sold. My local .au rules say 2.4GHz analog video is limited to 100mW, it's cheaper to buy 600mW transmitters from China than legally class-licenced gear locally, so a lot of people do - much to the disappointment of neighbours who's 2.4GHz wifi reception turns lousy when a 600mW video Tx gets powered up nearby...)
bigiain 10y ago
Mostly so that someone else "running a radio" doesn't get to degrade your tv reception, or your mobile phone connection, or your local police/fire/ambulance service communication, or air traffic control's ability to safely manage airplanes, etc. The radio spectrum is scarce - and while there's a lot to criticise about how governments "hand out" chunks of that spectrum to telcos, commercial radio networks, tv networks, et al - there's clearly a public-interest-need to be able to slap down _hard_ people like this: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/lonewolf-radio-hoaxer-hacks-melbourne-air-traffic-control-afp-20161107-gsk12o.html http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/lonewolf-radio-hoaxer-hack...

Why does one need a license to run a radio?

by Kinnard 10y ago

Why does one need a license to run a radio?

It depends on your country but for Americans the FCC places restrictions on communications (what you can say) and band plans (where you can talk). Why they would do this is many fold and if you'd like to hear why the government might want to do this I'd need to write in longer form them a comment.

mhink 10y ago

I could be wrong on this (it's been years and years since I got my ham license), but I think the licensing of individual operators is intended to _ensure_ that ham radio is preserved for individual operators. The idea being that keeping the band available for... say, emergency communication, is in the public interest. Also, for what it's worth, transmitting on CB (Citizens' Band) radio doesn't require a license, but I think it's restricted to very low-power bands.

bigiain 10y ago
CB radio is legal (in Australia and the US at least) thanks to "class licences". A manufacturer can sell equipment that meets certain limitations (eg: 5W max transmit power for 27Meg CB, from 26.965MHz to 27.405MHz), and customers can then buy and use them under the manufacturers "class licence". This is the same for heaps of other radio transmitters - your wifi, you garage door opener, your baby monitor, your bluetooth headphone, the video downlink on your quadcopter, the zigbee network for you lightbulbs etc. All of those run in specific frequency bands with capped maximum transmit powers (if legally sold. My local .au rules say 2.4GHz analog video is limited to 100mW, it's cheaper to buy 600mW transmitters from China than legally class-licenced gear locally, so a lot of people do - much to the disappointment of neighbours who's 2.4GHz wifi reception turns lousy when a 600mW video Tx gets powered up nearby...)

bigiain 10y ago

Mostly so that someone else "running a radio" doesn't get to degrade your tv reception, or your mobile phone connection, or your local police/fire/ambulance service communication, or air traffic control's ability to safely manage airplanes, etc. The radio spectrum is scarce - and while there's a lot to criticise about how governments "hand out" chunks of that spectrum to telcos, commercial radio networks, tv networks, et al - there's clearly a public-interest-need to be able to slap down _hard_ people like this: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/lonewolf-radio-hoaxer-hacks-melbourne-air-traffic-control-afp-20161107-gsk12o.html http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/lonewolf-radio-hoaxer-hack...