04-01-2013, 10:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-01-2013, 10:47 PM by Ian - g4jqt.)
I've had 'tangential' dealings with Ofcom and yes, they have much bigger fish to fry than regulating what goes on on medium wave below about 1 watt ERP, although I doubt they would never put that in writing. They are a perfectly reasonable lot who have to prioritise their work.
Of course they wouldn't ban all test oscillators that operated on MW even if you modulated them - and most of them you can - unless you erected an efficient aerial or connected it up to a linear amplifier and could be heard around your neighbourhood. Even then you'd have to be: a) interfering with a legitimate station and: b) get reported by an irritated listener before they took an interest. (I'm not even sure MW is still a 'protected' service; i.e. if you complain about interference to a MW station would they investigate?)
As long as one keeps these devices as no more effective than a signal generator with a range of a few yards, I really can't imagine Ofcom taking any interest at all.
Nevertheless, if anyone wanted to sell ready-made devices with a range of a few yards, I think any advert would probably need to appear in very specific publications that only we'd read, rather than plastering them all over ebay for example!
Ian
Of course they wouldn't ban all test oscillators that operated on MW even if you modulated them - and most of them you can - unless you erected an efficient aerial or connected it up to a linear amplifier and could be heard around your neighbourhood. Even then you'd have to be: a) interfering with a legitimate station and: b) get reported by an irritated listener before they took an interest. (I'm not even sure MW is still a 'protected' service; i.e. if you complain about interference to a MW station would they investigate?)
As long as one keeps these devices as no more effective than a signal generator with a range of a few yards, I really can't imagine Ofcom taking any interest at all.
Nevertheless, if anyone wanted to sell ready-made devices with a range of a few yards, I think any advert would probably need to appear in very specific publications that only we'd read, rather than plastering them all over ebay for example!
Ian
