[Heathkit] H.R. 7157

[sbjohnston at aol.com]

No, this is not an effort to make old radios "obsolete", nor to sell 
new radios.  It is intended to ensure that new AM/FM radios are 
compatible with the new technologies of HD and XM/Sirius, as well as 
the old.

I'd say this proposal is much more like the law that was passed years 
ago to require televisions to cover both VHF *and* UHF channels, than 
the other parallels suggested.

The intention is to avoid consumer confusion and disappointment.  After 
all, most radio users don't understand very much about the technology 
involved, and often buy the wrong unit.  For example, people buy a 
radio with a digital LCD display thinking that's all they need to 
receive the new "digital" signals.

The 23-channel versus 40-channel CB type-acceptance issue was actually 
a rules change regarding the *transmitter* spurious emissions spec, and 
was not about the receiver.   Transceivers built after the change to 
40-channels were held to tighter specs than the previous models., thus 
the requirement that no more of the old rigs be made or sold.  But it 
was supposed to only apply to manufacturers and dealers of new 
equipment.  In a bizarre twist,though,  the Commission sometimes tried 
to apply it to used radios sold by individuals.

I knew one FCC employee who enjoyed prowling fleamarkets and hamfests 
to flash his ID and threaten people selling an old CB for a few bucks.  
He would threaten them with a Citation unless they allowed him to 
confiscate the transceiver.  I'd heard about him, and then watched him 
do it at several hamfests in the late 1980s in Virginia - I suppose he 
might have had the worlds biggest collection of CBs after a few years 
of that .

Steve WD8DAS

sbjohnston at aol.com
http://www.wd8das.net/
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