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From the FCC News Line:
The Federal Communications Commission announced today that it will soon ban a wide range of communications equipment due to interference that this equipment is causing to Starlink communications satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The banned equipment includes a range of legacy analog-type circuitry that, according to the Commission, has "lost relevance" and constitutes "an archaic electromagnetic nuisance." Under the proposed Commission action, banned equipment will include all regenerative, super-regenerative, and direct conversion receivers.
The interference potential of regenerative receivers has been known since the 1920s. Direct Conversion receivers were thought to be less prone to Problematic Spurious Emission (PSE), but in recent months LEO satellites have experienced serious interference from terrestrial sources.
An FCC official was nearly apoplectic when speaking about the devices that are causing this interference: "They have no shielding. They are built on wooden boards, and are made with superglue! Heck, the main tuning device is -- get this -- a screw! A screw! To think that something like that could threaten an entire LEO satellite system. This is really unacceptable." The official said that two persons in Northern Virginia had encouraged the construction of these "terrorist devices." The FCC is working with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to bring these people to justice.
The vast majority of the interference is believed to come from home-made ("homebrew") direct conversion receivers. These devices employ simple oscillators in the 7 MHz range. The 85th harmonic of these oscillators falls in the middle of the UHF frequencies used by the satellite system. The interference appears when the satellites are over areas known to be used by ham radio direct conversion enthusiasts. There have been communications issues near Melbourne Australia, the North Island of New Zealand, Bali Indonesia, all across the U.S. (especially in the area of Nashua, NH), Canada, the UK, Holland, and Sweden. Recently there have been reports of interference from Argentina.
A satellite company CEO of has been briefed on the matter, and promised to use his influence in the U.S. government to "squash this problem like a bug." The spokesperson for a major ham radio organization in the United States reassured members: "Don't worry, commercial SDR transceivers will not be affected by this ban."
I've heard that Direct conversion receivers are also more likely to receive Woke broadcasts. Thank you for the timely update.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point Peter. That may be another reason for the ban.
DeleteGot that right! :)
DeleteCorrection: Certain SDR transceivers will receive a firmware upgrade to remove diversity reception.
ReplyDeleteOf course!
DeleteAnd I thought that Amateur Radio April Fools's articles were a thing of the past, never to be seen again
ReplyDelete-------ohh, you mean this wasn't an April Fool joke?
Time to hoard all T50-6's before there's a tariff imposed on Anaheim!
Bravo, Bill- Good one!
I understand there will soon be a tariff on all electromagnetic waves attempting to enter the national territory.
Deletehopefully this is a April fools day joke, Elon and the FCC are very confused if they really think a 7mhz signal is a problem for anything over 1 ghz, more likely the real problem is cell phone car chargers!
ReplyDelete20 years in Broadcasting and 20 years as elected official.
You outdid yourself this year Bill. As a longtime follower this had me laughing all day.
ReplyDeleteA very good one Bill!!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone really think the FCC knows what a direct conversion receiver is?
ReplyDeleteOr 80% of today's hams..
DeleteThanks for the timely update. Note that as of this week, all receivers based in the US should add 1.25 dB gain to compensate for a 25% tariff on all inbound RF.
ReplyDeleteLove the 85th harmonic
ReplyDeleteI thought it was the 45th and more recently the 47th harmonic that are the most problematic.
DeleteI think Todd VE7BPO has been targeted, he has removed all his YT and blogs from the internet
ReplyDeleteIt's reassuring to know that in a rapidly changing world there are still some traditions we can rely upon. Thanks Bill. 73
ReplyDeleteLarson E. Rapp, ex W1OU, is probably wishing he had come up with this one, Bill. I think you were channeling a bit of Shep's writing style in there- and that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mike. I know that you understand just how difficult that 85th harmonic can be! 73 Bill
ReplyDeleteWell, I've been OK with everything up to this point, but this? THIS?
ReplyDeleteYou know, if they were to have banned direct conversion receivers that use active devices as the mixer, because they are prone to overload and AM BC band breakthrough, I could handle it. I'd even be open to a law stipulating that all DC receivers are subject to inspection by government officials, to verify the use of either commercial diode ring mixer packages or, in the case of homebrew diode ring mixers, measurement to ensure that the builder adequately matched the diodes. Weirdly, I'd quite like having some official receiver requirements to satisfy.
But a complete ban? I'm moving to Canada.
Dave
AA7EE
Dave: The best way to fight back would be to quickly build a SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Receiver yourself, then give it that amazing AA7EE photographic treatment. FIGHT BACK DAVE! 73 Bill N2CQR
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