Jim, ARRL has in terms of product reviews, etc taken the position with respect to Part 90 certified radios with scanning receivers that are sold to hams is that it is fine because the Part 90 certification for the radio covers the scanning receiver and there is of course no Part 97 equipment authorization requirement. What perhaps John had in mind when he sent this around is that the FCC's policy on marketing radios that may be useful and marketable to hams and apparently in this case land mobile eligibles (not rules, but policies only, and policies which are very vague and in my view completely unenforceable), is that marketing of ham radios should be limited to hams and to eligibles in other services for which the radios were certified by FCC. In other words, marketing those radios to the general public could be viewed by FCC as a no-no, but of course there is no point of sale control anywhere in the FCC rules for Amateur or Part 90 equipment, and it doesn't seem that there is much chance of an FCC enforcement action for the sale of this radio, even if they are touting it as a sort of FRS radio. Post-sale enforcement relative to purchasers has never happened. 73, Chris W3KD Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD@ARRL.ORG -----Original Message----- From: James F. Boehner MD <jboehner01@yahoo.com> To: 'arrl-odv' <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Wed, Apr 25, 2012 8:41 pm Subject: [arrl-odv:20734] VHF/UHF Chinese Radios Being Sold To General Public The Baofeng, Like the Wouxun, is FCC Part 90 certified. It comes preloaded with a number of frequencies. I do not remember if any of them fall in the amateur radio bands. They are widely sold at hamfests. I have two. At $45-60, they are great “throw away” radios. Programming software generally comes with the unit or can be downloaded. The programming cable is cheap, and the units are easily programmed. A popular internet site that has a very wide variety of the Chinese radios is: http://www.409shop.com/ '73 de JIM N2ZZ ARRL Vice Director Roanoke Division ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio™ From: arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Grant Hopper Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 12:18 PM To: JRS Cc: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:20729] Re: Houston, We May Have A Problem - VHF/UHF Chinese Radios Being Sold To General Public Good catch John! The ad copy really makes it look like these are ok for the consumer to use anywhere in the range. I suspect we will not be the only radio service that will experience problems. If the FCC does step in, hopefully they will take the time to track down the purchasers. 73, Grant, KB7WSD On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 7:31 AM, JRS <jrs@hamradio.us.com> wrote: See: http://www.meritline.com/mini-walkie-talkie---p-77512.aspx?hq_e=el&hq_m=2430... These radios are advertised in English and are claimed to be shipped from China. 73 ----------------------------------------------------- John Robert Stratton N5AUS West Gulf Division Vice Director West Gulf Division Legislative Action Chair Office telephone: 512-445-6262 Cell: 512-426-2028 PO Box 2232 Austin, Texas 78768-2232 ----------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org http://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv -- 73, Grant Hopper, KB7WSD Vice Director, Northwestern Division _______________________________________________ rrl-odv mailing list rrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org ttp://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv
