Micro Radio Update

Citing the MITRE study on broadcasting interference, John McCain is proposing a bill to repeal the restrictions Congress imposed three and a half years ago on low-power radio.

Comments

[Jeff]

A year ago I would have said this would never pass, but the big broadcasters are so fed up with the FCC's moral crusade I can easily see them lobbying for this. That way the FCC has it's hands full with smaller fish (which will, no doubt, affect police radio, wireless networks, etc.) and let content issues slide.
It should be noted that there seems to be a shortage of field inspectors these days. There are many licence renewals due in the northeast over the next two years and the FCC doesn't seem to have any good old-fashioned "inspect the public file" types on staff anymore.

[Pirate Radio]

Jeff, low-power broadcasters tend to be very conscious of spectrum usage.

They want to transmit on the FM band, to be heard by normal radio listeners. It does them no good to transmit on frequencies utilized by police radio or wireless networks. Indeed, the commonly available low-power broadcasting equipment won't do it.

That's a technical non-issue.

[Oaieoor]

It should be noted that there seems to be a shortage of field inspectors these days.

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