But if radio wave can bounce off the "I forgot what it's called"-sphere. And can originate and travel all over the world. Then how on earth (pun intended) does the FCC find and give citations to people that are using HAM radios illegally or are not complying with HAM radio rules?
By the way. What are some of the fines the FCC can impose on someone other than revoking your license?
What about aliens? If signals are sent from another planet, does the FCC try to track them down to give them a citation too?!|||Basically, BobbyP's answer is correct, that the FCC can hone in on a radio's signal by triangulation, and then, when they have the signal source found, they can obtain a search warrant and both confiscate the radio and arrest the users and owners of the radio and of the property it is located...
But, they don't really care about illegal signals enough to begin searching for their locations until a signal begins to interfere with some other citizen's legitimate lifestyle.
For example, if the signal generated by your radio produces enough interference to television reception, or produces ANY amount of interference near to a hospital or other EMI-sensitve, tax-paying, or tax-utilizing facility, then the FCC will be a lot more likely to start hunting you down than if you were transmitting from out in the middle of nowhere.
Or, if the contents of your transmission are considered by enough people to be intoloerable, then they will be more likely to start hunting you down.
Then, they simply find out what frequency your signal is, they await your next transmission, they find out in what direction your signal is originating, and then they move however many miles in that direction as they feel they need to, then they reawait your next transmission, and they move in on you in that fashion.
The fines that the FCC can impose on anyone can be astronomical -- if they already have a license and don't follow the rules.. BUT, if someone doesn't already have a license, then the FCC cannot impose fines. Then, the fines have to be ordered by a court of law. The FCC can ASK you to pay those fines, but, if you don't want to and if a jury can understand your need to have used your radio in the way you did, then you won't have to pay a single thing, and you might even be able to sue the FCC and get money out of them.
This is because athough it is illegal to operate an amateur radio beyond the Citizen Band Range in an automobile, sometimes CB radios and cell phones cannot reach the proper authorities in emergency situations, so even the FCC has realized that not all unauthorized transmissions are in the slightest bit illegal.
And, yes: if the FCC could detect signals from another planet, you can bet that they would be amongst the MANY who were interested in tracking them down.. right alongside SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence).|||However, the FCC has been known to track down radio operators even in foreign countries like Canada, Mexico, Viet Nam, and Europe, and has obtained permish from those countries to arrest and extradict the broadcasters to the USofA. So, Ken's answer isn't all that accurate.
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|||I think saying "pretend to be an amateur from another country" is just nonsense. To operate in the USA, the foreign ham needs to be able to prove that he is licensed in the other country. Do you think this argument would fly if the highway patrol pulled you over and you did not have a license?
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|||The rules clearly state that You can violate the rules only in cases of emergency.
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|||The FCC can impose heavy fines for operating a HAM radio without a proper license.
They catch illegal operators by finding their signal, using triangulation.
Once located, they can move in and make an arrest.|||bobby and Robert G ore correct, but it is usually the legal hams who report the illegal ones first. There are too many legal amateurs in the USA and outside it for the FCC to keep track of. If a legal ham starts acting up the other hams often settle him down after a week or two. Look for the ARRL site for more info.
Extraterrestrial signals are probably too weak to be heard on the amateur bands. You have thousands of legal Earthside operators pumping out anything up to 500 watts or so into the bands so Snodge Grumplit from the planet Flutceop hasn't much of a chance. He/she/it might have a multi gigawatt signal with the best antenna ever designed directed straight at the Earth from not very far away (cosmically speaking) and still might be ignored.
In any case all he/she/it has to do is to pretend to be an amateur from any country other than the USA and the FCC has NO jurisdiction. None whatsoever.
Do you imagine there are no amateur radio operators in Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden etc? As long as they comply with local regulations they are legal.|||Hi,
since the Bush administration took power they have tasked the Air National Guard to conduct search and destroy missions using anti-radiation missles.
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