21 Jan
2015
21 Jan
'15
1:04 p.m.
On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 12:53:25PM -0600, Chris Elmquist wrote:
On Tuesday (01/20/2015 at 05:21PM +0000), Peter
Corlett wrote:
The bellyaching from British hams about dodgy ADSL and powerline kit stomping
over HF must be a complete figment of my imagination then.
The original purpose of the shield is presumably
to satisfy 1980s-era FCC
emissions rules preventing stomping over HF, but that boat has *long* sailed
and HF is just a wasteground now.
Ummm. No. Speaking as both an Extra Class
amateur operator active on HF and
an electrical engineer developing embedded system products that must comply
with the law, the boat has not sailed and HF is not a wasteground by any
stretch of the imagination. (Here in
EU-land, we never needed to give a damn about FCC regulations even
back then.)
Effectiveness of the shield being discussed aside, FCC part 15
absolutely
still requires testing across the HF spectrum and up to 1 GHz. If the device
will be used in a residential environment then you must submit your test
results from a certified test house to the FCC for filing. In the EU, unintentional radiator emissions are
governed by IEC, TC77, CISPR
and ISO and devices need CE certification and labeling. The rules are far
more strict than those in the US.
I have but a lay understanding of the various rules regarding CE marking, but
it's still ultimately a self-certification scheme that doesn't seem to see much
enforcement in the UK. Occasionally there's a news story about Trading
Standards doing a bust on counterfeit and mismarked goods, but it's like drug
busts in that it's newsworthy because its a rare occurence, and supply mostly
continues unabated.
In particular, OFCOM is the government department whose job it is to police the
radio spectrum, and enforcement is slow and spotty. Given I could probably
stand outside of their office with a FM radio and pick up a half-dozen pirate
radio stations, this is very much a department that needs a boot up its arse.
Long gone are the days of the Radiocommunications Agency whose officers had
much the same search and seizure powers as Customs and tax officials, but
without the cheerful and forgiving nature.