Re: Our friend the FCC

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Our friend the FCC
From: Jim Lux <jimlux-at-jpl.nasa.gov> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 18:19:22 -0600
Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> Original Poster: Greg Leyh <lod-at-pacbell-dot-net>
> 
> > Original Poster: Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>
> >
> > Hi Greg,
> >         The FCC has most rules online at:
> >
> > www.fcc.gov
> >
> > The rules are at:
> >
> > http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/rules.html
> 
> Yeah, I've been thru there, now I was looking for someone
> who has practical experience in interpreting them.

Start by figuring out who has licensing authority for your "service" by
calling the FCC in Gettysburg (they're pretty helpful at finding out
which branch handles what). Then, talk to the engineer and find out what
he/she thinks is required in the way of documentation. Then, fill out
the countless forms, prepare the documentation, and you are legal.

I was building a mobile microwave link and ran into a problem of
frequency allocation (it really didn't fit any of the categories) and it
took several months, but with the help of the FCC engineers, we figured
out what service it fell under, and then, once we knew which service, we
knew what kind of license, and after that, it is merely a matter of
following the "procedures", documenting "good engineering practice" and
we were set... legal and everything.