[Boatanchors] Technical help - What are the requirements?

rbethman rbethman at comcast.net
Tue Aug 21 15:02:49 EDT 2007


Okay, so MANY of us may WELL fall into YOUR category of having gotten 
our licenses out of a *Cereal Box*!

A '51 Collins R-390A sits upon my bench, a St. J's survivor, recently 
restored.

Whom amongst us has a crystal calibrator, frequency counter, and/or 
signal generator *currently* traceable back to NIST for accuracy?  Since 
when does - OR - did it be/was an FCC Requirement to know where our 
receiver *REALLY* receive a signal?

What if YOU adjusted the trimmer on your calibrator with a metal device, 
NOT one insulated to keep stray capacitance out?

Does *ANY* of this mean any of *US* does not meet our requirements for 
our FCC license?

Not the last I ever looked and/or checked.  It states that I have to 
"operate" within my band limits for the class license I hold, and the 
regulations governing Amateur Radio.

No, I am NOT one whom came in under a NO CODE system, I got my license 
27 years ago, made the trip to the regional FCC testing/examination 
station.  I took the code exam and the written.

Never did it ask squat about knowing how far off my PTO or VFO was. 
Didn't ask me to Zero beat either!

It would be amazing to actually test/check even the digital readouts of 
the newer equipment and see how far off the VFOs and calibrators are off.

It doesn't matter!  It is NOT a requirement.

Wonder where *YOU* got your regulations from, a Cracker Jack Box?

Bob - N0DGN
> I asked the seller of a Collin receiver if he could tell me how far 
> off the calibration was on the PTO.  He is a ham.  His response was "i 
> don't have the equipment to measure that"!  Apparently he doesn't know 
> to at least give a rough estimate using the Xtal alibrator which this 
> radio is equipped with or else the calibrator doesn't work or is 
> missing, one or the other.  Or......
>
> Wonder what box of cereal he got his license out of.


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