HOLY COW!! Take a look at THIS!!!
 

$150,000 fine to a Ramco Distributors, Inc for selling so-called "10 Meter 'Amateur' Radios! :shock:

Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 ) In the Matter of ) File No. EB-06-SE-124 Ramko Distributors, Inc. ) NAL/Acct. No. 200732100023 Toledo, Ohio ) FRN: 0016293854 ) NOTICE OF APPARENT LIABILITY FOR FORFEITURE Adopted: March 30, 2007 Released: March 30, 2007 By the Commission: I. introduction 1. In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture ("NAL"), we find Ramko Distributors, Inc. ("Ramko") apparently liable for marketing 17 models of non-certified radio transceivers, in apparent willful and repeated violation of Section 302(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended ("Act"), and Section 2.803 of the Commission's Rules ("Rules"). The subject devices are neither Commission authorized, nor eligible for such authorization. Based on the facts and circumstances before us, we conclude that Ramko is apparently liable for a forfeiture in the amount of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000). II. background 2. Section 302 of the Act authorizes the Commission to make reasonable regulations, consistent with the public interest, governing the interference potential of equipment that emits radio frequency energy, and prohibits, among other things, the offering for sale of radio frequency devices to the extent that such activity does not comply with these regulations. The purpose of this section is to ensure that radio transmitters and other electronic devices meet certain standards to control interference before they reach the market. Specifically, Section 302(b) of the Act provides that "[n]o person shall manufacture, import, sell, offer for sale, or ship devices or home electronic equipment and systems, or use devices, which fail to comply with regulations promulgated pursuant to this section." Section 2.803(a)(1) of the Commission's implementing regulations provides that: Except as provided elsewhere in this section, no person shall sell or lease, or offer for sale or lease (including advertising for sale or lease), or import, ship, or distribute for the purpose of selling or leasing or offering for sale or lease, any radio frequency device unless ... [i]n the case of a device that is subject to certification, such device has been authorized by the Commission in accordance with the rules in this chapter and is properly identified and labeled as required by S 2.925 and other relevant sections in this chapter. In addition, Section 2.803(g) of the Rules provides that: [R]adio frequency devices that could not be operated or legally authorized under the current rules ... shall not be operated, advertised, displayed, offered for sale or lease, sold or leased, or otherwise marketed .......................

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For the rest of the story (if interested), go to www.fcc.gov/eb and scroll down to Ramco Distributors. This the latest salvo in the on-going effort by FCC to stop the illegal purchase, use, and the "bootlegging" that has occurred on the 10 Meter band (and below on 26 MHZ)


Stay Safe.

RR

:roll:

I second that...... :lol: :lol:

I'm going to get 1 just to tick you off. :roll:

All yall that run those big Galaxy, Connex radios, better watch out, the big boys are out on the warpath. :P

I'm still not giving up my Ranger!!!

I built a crystal radio set for my electronics class decades ago. Does that count? 8)

Can you reach pluto with that?

Naw, just the third moon of Saturn.

Then the FCC came in and shut me down, used alien technology to wipe by memory, and billed me for $1.98 in memory storage fees. I'm still fighting the fine in court.

:shock: :roll:

Re: HOLY COW!! Take a look at THIS!!!
 

HUH?

Jumbo, in a nutshell, it's about stopping the illegal use of so-called "10 Meter" radios(also illegal to sell in the USA) on CB frequencies AND on other frequencies for which license or authorization is required. Specifically, 28 MHZ frequencies (10 Meters) AND those below 26.965 MHZ (Channel 1) are illegal and not allowed to be used; these frequencies (channels) are ASSIGNED to others.

So, FCC has been issuing stiff fines to dealers who sell these radios AND CBers who use them as well (See Larry Duckworth, Cordele, Ga--$10,000 fine). Drivers (all users of CB) are required to remain on the 40 CB frequencies as per Part 95, Title 47, US Code, and refrain from using amplifiers which cause interference to other radio services.




RR

So they are selling radios that come in a nut shell and I can buy one from a guy in Georgia from a guy named Harry Duck for $10,000. I understand now.

Got 1, with NO LICENSE, Will be installing it in my truck in 4 weeks.

?????????? No, but the fine can run that much if caught. AND they CAN locate and fine you whether you are mobile or not. :shock: Ain't computers wonderful?

Mr D was a base station that was interfering with neighbors' electronics. HE took the same attitude that some radio people do, so the Feds paid him a visit. They took his radio and 250 watt amp and wrote him a warning ticket. What does he do? He goes out and buys one of those Galaxy 10 Meter radios wid all the 'extree' channels AND a 2,500 watt amp almost before the ink was dry on his original citation!!! :P ("Ah'll show them Feds jist how big and bad a reddio man ah am"). So the agent(s) return, confiscate his NEW radio and amp, then issue him a $10,000 fine! :shock: Payable in full in 30 days! :shock: Eventually, upon
providing tax returns proving he COULDN'T pay that much, the fine was reduced to $2500. But based on the info provided, I would expect $2500 would HAVE to smart some!! www.fcc.gov/eb

Like I heard the FCC Special Counsel say at an Amateur Radio seminar, "You can't regulate stoopid" so if people are determined to break the law, they will. Sooner or later they will be caught!!! If you think back a few years, FCC fines and seizures against CB operators was almost nil. People scoffed and said such things as "They don't care about CB no more". Or "FCC's got better things to do than to mess with truckers (talking on 28 MHZ)". "They'll NEVER come after ME"! And finally,
"Hey, I'm mobile so they can't catch me!" HA! That $125,000 fine against Pilot, others against TA and Petro, Ramko for $150,000 says different. So sooner or later, it *could* be YOU!! :shock: It will take some time, that's true. BUT! Don't think for a minute that there aren't people actively seeking to have "10 Meter" radios and amps BANNED from commercial trucks---just like radar detectors! Little by little, people get braver and braver and start creeping not only onto the 10 Meter band, but slipping closer and closer down to frequencies that ARE used and monitored by the US military---like that 26.735 frequency that is, again, against the law. Yet drivers use that everyday illegally on their hopped up, over-modulated, over-powered rigs, spilling over on 3 MHZ of radio space. So the legal guys up at FCC are working to make it come to pass (banning illegal '10 Meter' in commercial trucks). It's coming, slowly but surely; the more the operators slide up and down AWAY from the 40 channels, the more likely this is to come true.



Drive safe!!

RR

[quote="RadioRay"]"Hey, I'm mobile so they can't catch me!" HA! That $125,000 fine against Pilot, others against TA and Petro, Ramko for $150,000 says different.

Oh Great, Now they have mobile truck stops, how am i going to know where to get fuel at?

Dang- surprised PETA and the USDA didn't get a piece of him- had to be frying anything within throwing distance of his antenna! :shock: :D

[quote="Crash935"]Well, they have inflight refueling......................... :D Why not trucks? :wink: j/k (KC-10 tanker is pretty awesome, tho--best view in the house at 30,000 feet!)

RR

so basically someone was messing with the big radio and it screwed up radio rays porn so called the fcc and he called and he called until they came out and took down the big radio ring. now ray is on a mission and he wont stop until he finds all big radios and shuts them down. :roll:

I've had one for over a year now. OMG! I didnt pay a fee and read a pamphlet to get a liscence! I hope I dont kill someone when I key up! I'd feel terrible!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Russian Roulette. If you stay ON the 40 CB channels, you aren't likely to have trouble. But, if you insist on talking outside the 40 channels, especially on the 10 Meter Amateur band, one of these days, there might be a little car you aren't paying any attention to RECORDING your conversation to turn in to the Feds. You'll never know you were caught until you are called into the office to explain to the boss why he got a letter about your "ilegal" radio :D ! The one he didn't know you had installed in the company truck. The one HE has to reply to within 30 days.
Yes, it might funny----------until you get caught. Then, NOT so funny.
A LOT of companies got such letters and it continues today--just like the FINE to Ramko. LIke the $10,000 one a CBer in Georgia got. Then, not so funny! :cry: So stay ON the 40 channels, and you're not likely to hear anything. It's only the rambos that insist on going on illegal frequencies that get normally get caught!

RR

I bet you will have an orgasm when that happens

Like any other "government" fines, it will be reduced to a small fraction of the original fine.

Nothing new.

Yes. Depends on what you define as a "small" fraction. Pilot Travel Centers got nailed for $125,000. Negotiated settlement down to $90,000.
Not eeactly a "small" amount. Ramko will likely end up paying around $100,000 or so. Pilot paid theirs and jerked the bootleg (and illegal) "10 Meter" radios OUT of their stores.


RR

Moral to this story?? It Sucks to be Pilot!!

But, then again, what else is new?? :roll:

Be realistic here, Ray.

The FCC is after only the vendors of cable-cutter export radios, rather than waste their time and money seeking out every truck driver who might have a radio. Sure, the out-of-banders are putting themselves in a position to warrant getting caught, but the rambos who dwell only in the band will never get caught. Cut the vine and the fruit will die.

Fact is, the FCC has more important things to care about, like Broadband over Power Lines.

THAT is somewhat an on-going CB myth and legend when you consider the number of drivers who HAVE gotten caught.

UPS
FedEx
United Van Lines
Schneider
Yellow
Estes
Waggoners
Sysco Corp
J G Randolph
South Lake Transport
Food Services Co
Winco Company
James Brown Trucking
Auto-Lite Transportation
Teeberry Trucking
Dowell Express
Conway Trucking
K & K Cartage
Dandy Trucking
David Shoemaker (individual CBer)
Daimler Chrysler Transport
Robert Henderson (individual CBer)
Thomas Borgia (Cber)
William Katt (CBer)
S & P Transportation
Landstar Transport
James Kinnard (CBer)
C & C Trucking
LIghtning Transportation
Robert Spiry ( this person got a $10,000 FINE!)
R T Peterson Trucking
DD & J Trucking
Celadon Canada
Oakley Transport
Frito-Lay
Barry Panko (CBer)
Billy Joe Gandy (private contractor?)
Carl Nancy (CBer)
LeeRoy Sanders (CBer)
RWBT--Quality Carriers
Superior Carriers
Tidewater Transit


This is only a partial list of CB operators and trucking companies who have been lettered, cited, or warned. There are SEVERAL of those $10,000 fines, and these are interspersed with other actions against other licensed services---ham operators are not exempt from FCC action. There are at LEAST 120 trucking/CB operators who have been hit. And it doesn't take into account the CB dealers and truck stops who have been FINED (like Ramko and Pilot). So I would hardly think that "FCC doesn't care". They have designated [u]a SPECIAL COUNSEL for Amateur Enforcement[/i] to specifically deal with incursions into the Amateur Bands AND gotten a Field Engineer down in Dallas, TX to deal with the CB violations. Now. They DO have help because, incensed at the blatant theft of radio frequencies by drivers, hams began to quietly drive the highway and RECORD, IDENTIFY, and DOCUMENT the operations of truckers. They are ASKED to do so by FCC and they responded to protect WHAT BELONGS TO THEM, not to the trucking industry for some sort of "special channel" which they neither earned nor obtained legally. So most of the actions you see above were because of the efforts of the hams to STOP these intrusions onto THEIR frequencies. It continues today. Now, it has changed somewhat as many drivers are now going down BELOW 27 MHZ (26.735). Dallas Field Office is working on that part. It STILL causes interference to 10 Meters what with the bootleg amplifiers (to make up for deficiencies in anatomy, I reckon) and messed up radios (A lot of them are so FUBARed you can't even understand what they are saying. SO you still can get reported if you splatter up onto 10 Meters.

All these reports are for is to make drivers AWARE that their so-called "10 Meter" radios are illegal AND the use of frequencies outside the 40 CB channels is against the law! People are getting hit by FCC, contrary to the myth and legends, enough these days to make it risky. That car you just passed just may be writing down your company name, tractor number, date, time, and frequency/location to turn into the Feds. You will never know................until you get called to the office:

"Information before the Commission indicates that drivers for your company have been transmitting without license on the 10 Meter band (or causing interference to it).

......................you are directed to call me as soon as possible to discuss this matter". :shock:


RR

Source: www.arrl.lorg Look in the yellow border for "FCC Enforcement"
Actions go back go at least 2000

And I think most posters have indicated that they really don't care. Right or wrong, you aren't having the desired effect on the 'problem'. In fact, in my opinion, you may very well be having an opposite effect. If you go back through the posts on your warnings about radios, you run into a few posters who not only don't care about it, but will go outside their ban just to spite you.

Personally, I'm not weighing in on either side of the issue. I just don't care. But I've followed enough of these discussions to see that you are not only NOT garning many followers, but you are fueling the insurgency as well.

can't we all just get along...big radio or small??

big radio
 

Just take the light bulb off the tip of your antenna and they`ll never find ya! lol

LOL