FCC issues $34.9 million fine in NAL.

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JustLou

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I don't understand. How does the FCC have the power to fine a company in China?
 

AK9R

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While the FCC may have a hard time collecting this fine from a foreign company, they can certainly take steps to limit their activities on our shores.

From the Introduction to the NAL:

We find that C.T.S. Technology Co., Limited (C.T.S. Technology), a foreign manufacturer, illegally marketed nearly 300 models of signal jamming devices to consumers in the United States over more than two years....C.T.S. Technology also apparently misled consumers, falsely claiming on its websites that certain signal jammers were approved by the FCC for consumer use.
 
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I don't understand. How does the FCC have the power to fine a company in China?

They dont.
Its a feel good measure.
China will not enforce any judgements against nationals.
Nor will trade be effected.Chinese goods will continue to
pass through and be readily available to everyone.

Even if CTS is restricted they will just change names and
continue to market and distribute the products.

All the FCC has is a big dog with no international teeth.
 

zz0468

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I don't understand. How does the FCC have the power to fine a company in China?

I'm not sure that they do, certainly not directly. But there may be some pressure that can be applied elsewhere to get compliance. A judgement like this can be a death sentence for a corporation, due to the loss of business, and perceived devaluation of stocks, etc.

More than anything, I think the fine is meant as a statement selling these things will cause you serious trouble.
 

902

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In the old neighborhood, they called this a "message job." It's not so much that they're expecting payment any day, it's symbolic of the degree the Commission believes is destructive. And, it is. At one point, I was part of a group that enumerated the potential technologies impacted by LightSquared turning up operation near the GPS downlink frequency. There's much more at stake than navigation.

So what to do? Now that we know exactly how much the Commission hates these devices, we might very well be seeing higher fines and prison time on individuals who use jammers. After all, we rely on GPS-supported technologies extensively now and have all but dismantled other radiopositioning systems. Even VORs are on the block to be dismantled at some upcoming point. The only thing that exists is WWVB for time synchronization and it's less-desirable because of atmospheric and environmental noise.

We all wanted free trade (I'm a bit of a protectionist, myself, so take that to be facetious). This is what happens.
 

balibago

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p25 jammer

I'd love to see the Chinese come up with that jammer that fools encrypted p25 radios into transmitting in the clear.
 

F-CYYZ2

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They should do something about this too... look at the frequencies these radios are using 465-520-Mhz. They are using the same band as Digital ATSC TV channels 14 through 23.

Puxing PX 777 UHF 465 520 MHz Ham Radio 4W Earpiece 6952131701278 | eBay

It doesn't take much power to interfere with ATSC so having some kid nearby using these radios could be very annoying if you're watching TV.
 

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902

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They should do something about this too... look at the frequencies these radios are using 465-520-Mhz. They are using the same band as Digital ATSC TV channels 14 through 23.

It doesn't take much power to interfere with ATSC so having some kid nearby using these radios could be very annoying if you're watching TV.

Depending on where you are in the U.S., much of this frequency band (up to 512 MHz) may be used by public safety and business/industrial licensees for land mobile communications. It is heavily used in several metropolitan areas where it was implemented as relief spectrum for agencies who had zero opportunity to implement lower frequency radio systems.

A very long and convoluted story short, Congress mandated the return of these frequencies from public safety in exchange for the 700 MHz upper D-block so that the frequencies could be sold at auction. It's an unworkable solution because the mandate failed to account for the television licensees (they don't have to do anything) nor the business/industrial licensees (who were not included in relocation or funding). Nice on paper, but there's one problem: relocate to where? (Remember, the frequencies were relief spectrum to begin with.)

Being a big fan of the situation (LOL), I'm kind of amused that this is coming out onto the market. Maybe the Congressman who demanded the kickback... um... I mean giveback (that doesn't sound any better to me) got a contribution from the importers of this peach.

More seriously, this thing is going to get turned loose on not just ATSC frequencies, there are public safety frequencies in there, too. Maybe that's the strategy to devalue these nasty LMR systems so much by importing this crap that everyone will want to hop aboard the subscriber train on the big nationwide network (which will require synchronization derived from GPS...).
 

w2txb

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