New FCC Ruling effect on Lavaliere?

[John Nantz]

Paul -

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

Do you not get compensation? Every licensed user in the UK surrendered their equipment and the Government gave us a very civilised package to go out and buy new gear - I got what I consider very good levels of compensation, and bought less, but better equipment. Surely the FCC will do the same?

Whoa! I LIKE this!!! Unfortunately, I've never heard of something like that happening here and I'm sure our FCC and government would never go for it, either, because it would cost money.

[John Nantz]

Paul - If I had to guess, the registration would vary depending on a few things:

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

The UK figures eventually showed that about 10% of the product sold was licensed. I'd guess the US situation would be similar in percentage terms, but obviously higher in quantity due to the population size.

In the UK we had a couple of professional associations who lobbied Government very hard - do you have the same thing.

For the professional users who work for, or own, a company, their registration percentage would probably be higher than the joe average consumer because they are in the business, have more to loose, and know the rules better.

At the other end of the spectrum, Joe average, buying some used gear off eBay, (just guessing here with no valid research) most likely wouldn't come with registration documents and it'd be treated like any other piece of kit.

Pilots and aircraft owners tend to be a very "by the numbers" group and when we had the plane we had a (if my memory serves), Ship / Aircraft Radio Station License. The license application had a lot of boxes to check for things like the radio(s), transponder, VORs, etc. Later we got a boat and it too required a Radio Station License, also with a bunch of boxes to check, such as: radio, depth sounder, radar, loran, EPIRB, Radiotelegraph, etc. I had to have an operators license to use the equipment.

Pilots have a very set way they communicate; however, boaters are supposed to, also, but do they? Not from my experience. It's a lot more like Richard said, it's "the wild west". Not quite CB talk but pretty dang close. Does anyone have a CB anymore?

Based on the Sennheiser frequencies, there seemed to be some agreement with the US FCC and the EU over frequencies but is the EU is starting to become more independent and go more their own way now? From a potential equipment buyer who goes to Europe frequently it'd be nice to have gear that can work in both places. The operator's license is something else. Maybe I'll just stick to wired and try to avoid officialdom. Fines for just about anything are a lot more painful in the EU than the slap-on-the-wrist ones we have here.

[Paul R Johnson]

If only - even though we're part of Europe (for the moment), Sennheiser kit has a special UK only GB band and we cannot just uproot our gear and go the few miles to say, France, and use it. Territory is everything.

[Don Palomaki]

The wireless mics in the USA were allowed on a "not to interfere, tolerate any external interference" basis because they were very low power with short range. The big money interests who want spectrum are paying the government for the use of the space space. Things like expanded cell phone, emergency services, and similar spectrum uses.

Changes happen periodically. For example, ham radio operatorss lost the 11 meter spectrum to citizens band many years ago.

Am I mistaken, or does the "600 MHz duplex gap (the 653-663 MHz frequencies)" remain usable?
If so, that may extend the life of the AT-1800 D-series for a wee bit since its tuning range is 655 - 681 mHz. However, one would have to be careful setting frequencies.

In the USA some vendors are or will be offering some level of discount/trade-ins to existing owners, but details are emerging slowly. (And I would not expect it to be a big discount either.)