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Wild. How soon until the standard housing lease boilerplate contains clauses like “you may not transmit any electromagnetic radiation at all under any circumsta

Wild. How soon until the standard housing lease boilerplate contains clauses like “you may not transmit any electromagnetic radiation at all under any circumstances whatsoever” as a means of landlords trying to cover their booties? More seriously, I’d be mighty concerned if I were a landlord and saw someone putting up a ham antenna, regardless of whatever licensing they claimed to have. It’s a bad day for public radio.

techjamie 2y ago
General license HAM operator here. The good thing is that HAM licenses are trivially auditable as the FCC provides a direct lookup on anyone licensed so anyone at all can verify their status. HAM bands are typically enforced by fellow operators who will work to triangulate and locate people who shouldn't be on it. There are even organized competitions where they practice locating devices.
- grendelt 2y ago
  (Just ham not HAM)
  - fortran77 2y ago
    Us real hams (20 wpm extra since 1977) know how to spell it. I'm always amazed how "ham" became "HAM"
    - evilduck 2y ago
      I think the habit arises from people assuming ham was also short for something like AM and FM is, or in computers, since PC was an initialism, Mac should get the same treatment too.
- buescher 2y ago
  if you really want to get them riled, spell it H.A.M.
  - ProllyInfamous 2y ago
    —7.3—
csunbird 2y ago
Most of the contracts should already mention “No illegal activities”, which should cover this, right?
- qwertox 2y ago
  "How could I know this is illegal, if it was sold on Amazon and had great reviews?"
  - nkrisc 2y ago
    If that’s your defense in court, good luck.
  - imchillyb 2y ago
    The same way you would know that flying a drone, today, without a license is illegal in the USA. We are required, in our society, to keep ourselves informed. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking laws in the US.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
kstrauser 2y ago
"Your honor, I'd like to enter as evidence for the prosecution exhibits A, "Ueber das Gesetz der Energieverteilung im Normalspectrum" by Max Planck; B, a Wi-Fi router; C, this cheap crappy USB charger; and D, their kitchen lamp.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  And as Exhibit E, their housecat.
ssl-3 2y ago
Such a clause would eliminate 99.999%+ of potential tenants: Almost everyone has a cell phone, and also a microwave oven, and all of these things deliberately transmit electromagnetic radiation. (And then we have the countless unintentional radiators to contend with.)
- ldoughty 2y ago
  It also rules out people who use any form of light in their household... including candles. But I do believe the author was jokingly referencing landlords adding generic catch-all clauses without understanding the issue, and understood it went to such lengths, and found that funny. (I did)
  - wongarsu 2y ago
    You don't even need a light. The tenant themselves would emit lots of infrared radiation. Not to mention the black body radiation from any other items on the property that are hotter than absolute zero.
  - giantg2 2y ago
    Or people themselves (IR).
- exe34 2y ago
  these rules aren't there to rule you out, they want you to pay their mortgage after all. the rule is to get rid of you by terminating the contract if you cause more headaches than your rent money is worth.
akira2501 2y ago
What they don't want is absentee or paid off landlords affording pirates an additional layer of protection. The article even points this out, if the building owners cooperate, and help the FCC end the broadcasts, it's highly unlikely the issue would be perused to that level.

techjamie 2y ago

General license HAM operator here. The good thing is that HAM licenses are trivially auditable as the FCC provides a direct lookup on anyone licensed so anyone at all can verify their status. HAM bands are typically enforced by fellow operators who will work to triangulate and locate people who shouldn't be on it. There are even organized competitions where they practice locating devices.

grendelt 2y ago
(Just ham not HAM)
- fortran77 2y ago
  Us real hams (20 wpm extra since 1977) know how to spell it. I'm always amazed how "ham" became "HAM"
  - evilduck 2y ago
    I think the habit arises from people assuming ham was also short for something like AM and FM is, or in computers, since PC was an initialism, Mac should get the same treatment too.
buescher 2y ago
if you really want to get them riled, spell it H.A.M.
- ProllyInfamous 2y ago
  —7.3—

csunbird 2y ago

Most of the contracts should already mention “No illegal activities”, which should cover this, right?

qwertox 2y ago
"How could I know this is illegal, if it was sold on Amazon and had great reviews?"
- nkrisc 2y ago
  If that’s your defense in court, good luck.
- imchillyb 2y ago
  The same way you would know that flying a drone, today, without a license is illegal in the USA. We are required, in our society, to keep ourselves informed. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking laws in the US.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]

kstrauser 2y ago

"Your honor, I'd like to enter as evidence for the prosecution exhibits A, "Ueber das Gesetz der Energieverteilung im Normalspectrum" by Max Planck; B, a Wi-Fi router; C, this cheap crappy USB charger; and D, their kitchen lamp.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
And as Exhibit E, their housecat.

ssl-3 2y ago

Such a clause would eliminate 99.999%+ of potential tenants: Almost everyone has a cell phone, and also a microwave oven, and all of these things deliberately transmit electromagnetic radiation. (And then we have the countless unintentional radiators to contend with.)

ldoughty 2y ago
It also rules out people who use any form of light in their household... including candles. But I do believe the author was jokingly referencing landlords adding generic catch-all clauses without understanding the issue, and understood it went to such lengths, and found that funny. (I did)
- wongarsu 2y ago
  You don't even need a light. The tenant themselves would emit lots of infrared radiation. Not to mention the black body radiation from any other items on the property that are hotter than absolute zero.
- giantg2 2y ago
  Or people themselves (IR).
exe34 2y ago
these rules aren't there to rule you out, they want you to pay their mortgage after all. the rule is to get rid of you by terminating the contract if you cause more headaches than your rent money is worth.

akira2501 2y ago

What they don't want is absentee or paid off landlords affording pirates an additional layer of protection. The article even points this out, if the building owners cooperate, and help the FCC end the broadcasts, it's highly unlikely the issue would be perused to that level.