



(Media brokerage, valuation and consulting)
Jr 080 johnsons research radio scrambler archive#

Jr 080 johnsons research radio scrambler license#
Hays had applied for a license to operate at 750 watts in the CB band – or even 75 watts – he would have been turned down. For one thing, the FCC no longer gives out individual CB licenses. And even if it did, it would not knowingly license a transmitter over four watts. So Mr. Hays in violation for having no license. The base fine for the offense is $10,000. The FCC boosted the amount to $15,000, in view of the repeat violation.ĭoes this make sense? Not to us. If Mr. Hays’s overpowered radio did not comply, and therefore was not covered by license-by-rule. That put Mr. Hays with operating without a license.įollow us closely here. The FCC takes the view that the license-by-rule regime applies only to CB radios that comply with the technical rules. Mr. Hays voluntarily disconnected and destroyed the device. But a few months later he was using another one, down to 75 watts, but still well above the legal limit. Hays had used an illegal device, called a linear amplifier, that stepped up his transmitter power to 750 watts. When the FCC showed up at his door and explained the rules, Mr. The power limit for CB radios is four watts. Mr. Wait a minute. You don’t need a license for a CB radio. Well, okay, technically you do, but it’s not something you have to apply for. Everybody with a CB radio is automatically deemed to have one. The FCC calls this “license by rule,” a legal fiction that simplifies life for everybody. Including the FCC, which long ago got tired of licking stamps to send out actual licenses.īut if CB licenses are automatically granted to all CBers, how could Mr. The FCC fined a man named John Hays $15,000 for operating a Citizens Band radio without a license. The FCC stopped sending out CB licenses decades ago – yet the lack of one triggered a $15K penalty.
