[ICOM] Icom IC2KL FCC ID

[Gary P. Fiber]

  I am getting off topic from Icom things but this applies somewhat.

Its not the amp, the FCC only cared about its ability to transmit 
between 24 and 28 MHz by an unlicensed person.  We also have to make it 
not easy to modify as many of you found out with the PW1 or even the 
IC-2KL. The IC-4KL was moving a couple of unlabeled switches so far as I 
remember. As amateur operators we could modify one amplifier per 
calender year to transmit between 24 and 28 MHz.
This was the FCC's answer to keeping illegal amps off the 27 MHz 
American Citizens Band frequencies which was causing lots if issues with 
consumer electronics at the time. Most of us know the real issue was 
amplifiers not quite as free of spurs as they should have been, and the 
tendency of people running right at the very limits of output power. 
Later those rules have been relaxed a bit. On the PW1 many of you here 
have done that 10 meter modification, we had to be careful how we handed 
it out so at first we would make the customer go through the dealer. 
With the FCC you need to do things within the spirit of the law even 
though it was legal for the owner to do the 10 meter modification.

I am not sure how it is they can hand out the 60 MHz mod for many 
products as that opens the transmitter from 1.8 to 30 MHz inclusively 
generally.

Amateur Transceivers.......NO Amateur transmitter was ever FCC tested 
for spectral purity, no HF, VHF, UHF none. All the manufacturer has to 
do is to make sure the transmitter meets FCC Part 97 amateur regulations 
the very same we have to meet if we build our own transmitter. Like you 
I surely would have thought the FCC would have made manufacturers do 
that kind of testing as that would cause the most interference.
  The FCC however makes the manufacturer test for emissions under FCC 
Part 15 rules and only for those receivers that receive above 30 MHz. So 
on the newer transceivers that can also do 50 MHz you will  see an FCC 
ID number attached and find a FCC approval certificate on the FCC web 
page. This testing is for receiver radiation, I suspect so while you are 
sitting around listening your transceiver does not cause troubles in 
your neighbors consumer electronics.

Land Mobile, Part 90, Marine Part 80 - end, and Aviation transmitters 
must be tested for spectral purity.

Scanning.....in 1994 the FCC made receivers that scanned illegal to 
receive frequencies in the 800 MHz cellular phone band. Remember back 
then most all phones were analog, with a good scanner one could follow a 
cellular phone conversation around. The amateur transceiver and 
receivers also got caught up in that ruling. So long as the received 
above 30 MHz the FCC required manufacturers to prove through testing the 
receiver could not receive frequencies in the 800 MHz cellular band, Yes 
even the strictly 144 MHz receiver had to meet that directive, guess 
images could come into play there. This testing is generally done at the 
manufacturer and through an independent testing lab and paper work 
showing the results is presented to the FCC along with schematics, 
manuals, photos etc. Lots of information on the FCC equipment database. 
Some is restricted by manufacturers though as to who can download it 
through the FCC.

The manufacturer does have to report to the FCC to number of products 
imported into the US, so Icom tells the FCC maybe they imported 200, 
IC-7700 this past month, maybe 300, 92AD etc. This is done so if there 
becomes a problem of interference with other electronic devices the FCC 
has some knowledge how many products they are dealing with. Who they are 
sold to etc is not reported.

Was not to many years ago that little warranty card you sent in went 
into a barrel, if we wanted to find out who owned IC-751A's for 
instance, we have to manually sort through those cards. NOW Icom has you 
enter that information into an online database and last I knew when they 
received warranty cards they would also enter those. You can imagine the 
database of users that was in the " barrel" of warranty cards so many 
years ago.

The above is as I know it up to 2001 when I moved of from Icom