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- Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
- Path: sparky!uunet!walter!porthos!dancer!whs70
- From: whs70@dancer.cc.bellcore.com (sohl,william h)
- Subject: Re: Illegal Radar Jammers -- Legal for a ham?
- Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
- Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 15:06:05 GMT
- Message-ID: <1993Jan21.150605.9380@porthos.cc.bellcore.com>
- References: <1993Jan20.222254.16041@microware.com>
- Sender: netnews@porthos.cc.bellcore.com (USENET System Software)
- Lines: 47
-
- In article <1993Jan20.222254.16041@microware.com> adam@microware.com (Adam Goldberg) writes:
- >I just read the FAQ for the rec.autos hierarchy--and it says (rightly
- >so) that radar jammers are illegal (in the US).
- >
- >But a ham once told me that if you have a particular type of ham
- >license (which allows use of any bandwidth [does this exist?]) then a
- >jammer would be legal for use by that person.
- >
- >Is this true? Does anyone have a definitive answer?
-
- Hams are permitted to operate in specific bands of frequencies. The
- probability is that since radar is in a frequency band that is very
- high, the operation of a ham on a nearby frequency would probably
- be identified by the police radar unit as an interfearing signal.
- That is because the receive capability of the police radar unit is
- probably very broad in bandwidth and because the police radar
- receiver is looking for a very low power signal (the reflected
- radar signal from the car being speed checked). If a nearby
- ham transmitter in the radar frequency band is operating it might
- simply "overload" the police radar. An example of that can be
- sometimes experienced in an automobile when you drive by a
- AM or FM station's
- broadcast antenna. Even if your radio is tuned to a different
- station, so much signal power is present (because you are right
- next to a transmitter antenna) that you can pick up the station
- anywhere on your car radio's dial.
-
- I have often wondered exactly how suseptiple police radar units are
- to other transmissions (eg. ham, CB etc.). Some police radar units have
- an indicator which tells the cop that there is a potentially
- interfearing signal present. I'd love to experiment with
- a police radar unit to see if my ham mobile rig and/or a CB will
- give an interfereing indication and, if so, at what range , power,
- frequency, etc.
-
- So, to the original question, is jamming as a ham legal. Other
- FCC regulations specifically prohibit jamming and/or interfering
- on a deliberate basis. Having said that, it would be difficult
- at best to prove such a scenario was happening and the mere
- ownership and use of a transmitter by a ham is, of course, totally legal.
-
- Standard Disclaimer- Any opinions, etc. are mine and NOT my employer's.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Bill Sohl (K2UNK) BELLCORE (Bell Communications Research, Inc.)
- Morristown, NJ email via UUCP bcr!cc!whs70
- 201-829-2879 Weekdays email via Internet whs70@cc.bellcore.com
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