[ARRL-OK] FCC Docks Travel Center for Marketing Non-Certified CBs as Amateur Gear

[N7HRT at aol.com]

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/10/02/100/?nc=1


FCC Docks  Travel Center for Marketing Non-Certified CBs as Amateur Gear
 

NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 2, 2006 -- The FCC has fined Love's Travel Stops  & 
Country Stores Inc of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, $25,000 for violating the  
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, by offering for sale non-certified  Citizens 
Band (CB) transceivers. The Forfeiture Order (NoF) released September  29 
recounts a history of alleged violations dating back to 2001, when the  Commission 
issued the first of seven citations to Love's for marketing  non-certified CB 
transceivers. All CB transmitting equipment must first receive  FCC 
certification before it can be marketed or sold in the US. 
"Based on the  evidence before us, we find that Love's willfully and 
repeatedly violated  Section 302(b) of the Act and Section 2.803(a) of the rules by 
offering for sale  non-certified CB transmitters on three instances -- two on 
February 23, 2005,  and one on February 25, 2005," said the NoF, signed by the 
FCC Enforcement  Bureau's South Central Region Director Dennis P. Carlton. The 
FCC said that  between March 2004 through January 2005, Enforcement Bureau 
field agents,  following up on complaints, visited 10 Love's retail outlets in 
Oklahoma, Texas,  Arizona and California. "At these locations, the stores 
displayed and offered  for sale various models of non-certified CB transceivers 
marketed as ARS  [Amateur Radio Service] transmitters," the FCC noted in its NoF. 
Love's  replied to a Notice of Apparent Liability in the case -- issued last 
February --  but the FCC indicated the firm's response did not convince the 
Commission to  alter the penalty. 
According to the NoF, Love's attorney had contended that  because the radios 
in question were marketed as Amateur Radio equipment and "as  sold" operate 
only on the amateur bands, the transceivers fell under the FCC's  Part 97 
Amateur Radio Service rules. The FCC pointed out, however, that its  Office of 
Engineering and Technology (OET) had specifically tested the two  Galaxy models in 
question (DX99V and DX33HML) and found both to be "dual-use"  Amateur Radio 
and CB transmitters. 
"Each of the models could be modified to  allow transmit capabilities on CB 
frequencies," the FCC said in the NoF. In  1999, the OET clarified that ARS 
transceivers that have "a built-in capability  to operate on CB frequencies and 
can easily be altered to activate that  capability, such as by moving or 
removing a jumper plug or cutting a single  wire" fall under the FCC's definition of 
a CB transmitter. 
"We conclude that  seven citations were more than sufficient to provide 
Love's actual notice that  marketing this equipment is unlawful and that continued 
violations could make  Love's liable for severe sanctions," the FCC said. 
The Love's case was  reminiscent of other FCC enforcement proceedings, 
including one against Pilot  Travel Centers LLC that could have cost the company 
$125,000 in fines. That  case, which also involved alleged marketing of 
uncertified CB transceivers  labeled as Amateur Radio gear, ended last May with a 
consent decree. While Pilot  agreed to make "a voluntary contribution" of $90,000 
to the US Treasury "without  further protest or recourse," it did not admit any 
wrongdoing in that  proceeding. 
In June, the FCC affirmed a $7000 fine on TravelCenters of  America in 
Troutdale, Oregon, for marketing uncertified CB transceivers as  10-meter Amateur 
Radio transceivers. The FCC turned away TravelCenters' argument  that the 
transceivers in question were not CB transceivers, which require FCC  certification, 
but Amateur Radio transceivers, which do not. 
The Pilot and  TravelCenters cases also involved the marketing and sale of 
certain models of  Galaxy transceivers.