Walter,
Part 15 covers unlicensed operation. As a ham, you're licensed under the terms
of Part 97, which has specific rules for emissions types and purity. (97.305
and 97.307 in particular.)
If you buy a commercial product not already certified to comply, and were ever
accused of, say, spurious tranmitter radiation, you would need to be able to
demonstrate to the FCC the means you used to determine its compliance, just as
with homebrew gear.
The test equipment needed is not in most hamshacks these days. But it could be
done.
A really confusing development in recent years is ham equipment which has come
with Part 15 stickers on it. I have to assume that the stickers were a
well-meaning attempt by manufacturers to cover their butts regarding the
microprocessors used in running modern gear, and not the 10 mW cloning signals,
since Part 15 operation is not authorized in the ham bands, regardless how low
the power.
73,
Paul, AE4KR
----- Original Message -----
From: Cort Buffington
To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2009 8:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Re: GMRS HT recommendation?
Here's a question I've not been sure about: If a radio isn't Part 15
registered, is it even legal for ham use? If we build our own or heavily
modify, that's one thing, but I think if it's a commercial product, it still
has to meet FCC Part 15 doesn't it?
.
