Re: Our friend the FCC

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Our friend the FCC
From: Ed Phillips <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <terryf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 20:51:04 -0600
Approved: terryf-at-verinet-dot-com

Tesla List wrote:
> 
> Original Poster: Greg Leyh <lod-at-pacbell-dot-net>
> 
> > Original Poster: "D.C. Cox" <DR.RESONANCE-at-next-wave-dot-net>
> 
> > In short, "don't ask, don't tell" is the unofficial "off the record"
policy
> > of the FCC with regards to Tesla coils.  I suspect the very low numbers of
> > coils operating and the relatively low power levels of hobbyist coils help
> > make this policy effective.  You can drive through the neighborhood with
> > "glasspacks" on as long as you don't do it wide open throttle at 3 AM.
> >
> > Having an attorney call them and pushing for written guidelines to which
> > they must commit is most certainly opening a can of worms that should not
> > be opened by any prudent coiler.
> 
> I tend to agree with this notion;  however if one plans to construct
> a project that's expensive and difficult to move, it's necessary to
> understand the response of the FCC, as they are one of several gov't
> agencies that could bring complete disaster to the project.
> Prudence would require knowing their response before commiting
> resources.
> --
> 
> -GL
> www.lod-dot-org

	There is simply no way the FCC could ever license any of our TC's, so
the best policy is to stay away entirely, and be as considerate as
possible to the neighbors.  By the way, TC's are very poor radiators. 
If you calculate the radiation efficiency of a very short vertical
helical radiator it comes out to be very small.  I run a small coil in
my garage attic, tuned to about 280 kHz.  It produces as much TV
interference as it does radio interference.  While the coil is running
and throwing 24" arcs, I can listen to KNX (1070 kHz) in the kitchen
about 30 feet away  with only a small amount of interference audible. 
On the other hand, the noise from the straight gap is really loud and
can be heard in the neighbors' yards.  I don't run the thing much, but
have never gotten any indication of objections by the neighbors.  Of
course, for you guys running many kVa the problem is more severe.  
Guess that the best policy is to try to be considerate of your
neighbors, and stay away from the FCC.  They can only say NO!!!

Ed