FCC to start investigating Amazon and others

[wa8pyr]

I get the desire to have an affordable first radio. My first amateur radio was very expensive, at the time, a almost a full month worth of paycheck. There needs to be a middle ground here where entry level radios are affordable, but the Chinese junk gets filtered out.

There are several models from Yeasu, Kenwood and Icom which are quite reasonably priced, do meet FCC Part 97 requirements for spectral purity, and are approved under those rules. They make very nice first rigs.

The story referenced in the OP's post specifically calls out "radio frequency jammers" which are exactly that and available on Amazon. They have no socially redeeming value whatsoever.

 

[ssilicon]

The lowest common denominator will always drive the market. The USA has gone from being king of production to king of consumerism. So long as the desire is to consume and not produce, cheapest garbage pail products will dominate the marketplace. Nothing new, anyone remember when Japan dumped subsidized TVs, radios and stereos onto the market in the late 1960s and early 1970s? US companies could not compete. Zenith sold out to LG of Korea, Quasar to Matsushita, and others just went out of business or sold their nameplates to foreign competitors (RCA and GE to Thomson). The ship has sailed and there is no turning back. What electronics are made in the USA? Very little.

It would have been nice if there had been tariffs to offset the dumping... but no. Nah, that would have been to beneficial to the economic health of the US; can't have that if it interferes with back room deals and the enrichment of dirty politicians.

 

[ssilicon]

There are several models from Yeasu, Kenwood and Icom which are quite reasonably priced, do meet FCC Part 97 requirements for spectral purity, and are approved under those rules. They make very nice first rigs.

The story referenced in the OP's post specifically calls out "radio frequency jammers" which are exactly that and available on Amazon. They have no socially redeeming value whatsoever.

How long before those brands (Yaesu, Kenwood, iCOM etc) are also made in China? I bought a Yaesu 991A several months ago. The radio is still "made" in Japan, but the microphone is made in China. I quoted made because what does that even mean? I'm not up on the specifics, but I know that here in the U.S. a product can be put together in a U.S. factory, but quite a surprising amount of the parts / materials can be globally sourced, and still be legally represented as made in USA. Like I said, I don't know our own laws that well on the subject, and have even less idea of how Japan handles that type of thing. And even saying all that, what is today can be completely different in the future.

 

[ssilicon]

I was reluctant to jump into this but must say most of our new club member's first radio was a Beofeng.
They have all since upgraded to radios from one of the Big 3. But if it wasn't for CCR's, our membership would be less than half what it is now.
All kidding aside.

Yeah, and CCRs are also fairly commonly owned by long standing hams too (though they do have their big 3 or whatever stuff too).

 

[trentbob]

The bottom line is there was an overwhelming electoral and popular vote to change things.

It's going to take some time guys but I think you'll see different views from the FCC. It's pretty rudimentary. It's not going to happen overnight, it'll take a while.