Tennessee Steel Haulers Warned about the use of 10M

Another driver has been warned to remain OFF the 10 Meter Amateur Band after he was monitored talking without license on frequency 28.085 in the AM mode in May. While drivers use CB radios regularly, some of them are now going outside the allocated 40 channels and finding themselves WAY above and below their own band! This has angered the licensed operators of the 10 meter band, and groups, aided by the Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement (FCC), of them are watching for these illicit operators as they show up on the 10 Meter band! So HOW do they get caught? It's easy! A LOT easier than the drivers THINK! They believe they can't get caught, but it doesn't require huge technology to achieve a "bust". What drivers don't know is, that area they think is 'unused' is actually reserved for NON-VOICE modes of transmission; even the hams themselves are prohibited from transmitting there with voice modes! THEY think it just part of some "freeband" simply because they are not hearing anything. BUT! Those beeps, burps and "tweeeedly,tweeeedly,tweeeeedly" sound is hams "talking" with digital modes such as Morse, radioteletype, Pactor, and other digital protocols that don't require words in the sense WE know them. The drivers talking on AM (amplitude modulation) with echo-ey, 'trucky-sounding', over-modulated radios (tinkered with out at Joe's CB Shop) stand out like a sore thumb! THAT's how the licensed hams determine WHERE the illegal station(s) are coming from! All they have to do is just drive along quietly listening to the drivers yakkin' without saying a word! The drivers "catch" themselves!

The result is below! You must NOT transmit outside CB without license ANYWHERE! . I hope this helps.
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1
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Enforcement Bureau
Spectrum Enforcement Division
1270 Fairfield Road
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325-7245
VIA CERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
June 1, 2007
Tennessee Steel Haulers
P. O. Box 78189
Nashville, TN 37207-8189
SUBJECT: WARNING NOTICE - UNLICENSED RADIO OPERATION
Case #EB-2007-3048
Dear Sir:
Information before the Commission indicates that one of your drivers has
been operating radio equipment without a license on 28.085 MHz and causing
interference to licensed stations in the Ten Meter Amateur Band.
The driver was observed operating unlicensed on May 3, 2007 at 6:40 PM on
Interstate 85, near exit 17, in Gastonia, NC.
Please advise your drivers that operation of radio transmitting equipment
without a license is a violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act
of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. Section 301, and will subject them to fine
or imprisonment, as well as an in rem seizure of any non-certified radio
transmitting equipment, in cooperation with the United States Attorney for
your jurisdiction. Monetary forfeitures normally range from $7,500 to
$10,000.
You are requested to contact me at 717-338-2502 to discuss this matter.
Sincerely,
W. Riley Hollingsworth
Special Counsel
cc: FCC South Central Regional Director
Facsimile to 615-271-2364
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73

 

No, it is not "crazy". CB operators have the privilege of operating CB radios without having to apply for a paper license. They may use 40 distinct channels allocated by FCC to the CB band. ANY other operation of radios in the USA require a license issued by the US's Federal Communications Commission. The '10 Meter' Amateur band is ASSIGNED to people who are willing to study radio theory and test for the privilege of using those frequencies.

The AUTHORIZED licensees of these frequencies are highly upset at intrusions into their frequencies by unlicensed operators--often truckers who have purchased so-called "10 Meter" radios with "bands" of 'channels'.
There are a large number of these licensees who are quietly working to get such equipment BANNED from commercial trucks. AND these operators, using their mobile stations, quietly follow drivers on the interstate while going to work, running errands, etc. When a driver transmits on the 10 Meter band, the "ham" operator, with the approval and urging of FCC, records the driver's activity and provides the company name, tractor ID, frequency and location to the Special Counsel, Amateur Enforcement, FCC! The Feds then issue a warning to the company, explaining why the radios are illegal and how their use affects the LEGAL operators. They also highly suggest that the company require ALL their drivers to remove any illegal equipment and publish a policy against any driver installing such radios in their cabs. That is what happened with the company above----and a whole LIST of companies previously----UPS, FedEx, R & L Carriers, Superior Carriers, Tidewater Transit, Estes, Waggoners, Schneiders, Knight, and a LOT of others.

And that's why this is happening. AND it explains why it might get you into trouble if you are running one of those illegal radios in your truck.

Drive Safely,


Gadfly

 

You are absolutely correct! Some of it is just plain ignorance; they don't KNOW WHERE they are transmitting. They don't HEAR people talking, so they think it's OK (It is NOT "OK"---those frequencies are reserved for Morse Code and digital modes). Some have bought into the CB myth that there is an unused "freeband" that they can talk on because FCC is ineffective and won't do anything. A few others think they are BIG and BAD and are too bad-##### to handle, and they got "rights" to talk on 'extra channels'. Many reasons.
But! There are people who are quietly listening to the interlopers and writing down, or recording, the drivers activities on illegal frequencies. They have NOTHING against truck drivers themselves; it's the people who are illegally filching the 10 Meter band they are after.

But you are right. Most of the time, the 40 CB channels go begging. IOW, a FEW are very busy, but the rest are unused. Folks mostly listen to those few and assume that ALL are busy because of what THEY are hearing.

If drivers that DO have the illegal "10 Meter 'Amateur' Radios" with the "bands" of channels make sure they are ARE on the CB band and not up in the ham bands they probably won't have any trouble! Get on those "extree" channels, some ham is likely to come listening so as to turn them into FCC. And they DO have a "friend" in Gettysburg, BTW!


Drive Save!


Gadfly