Continuing its crackdown on amateur radio operators that illegally monopolize licensed broadcasting frequencies, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a $22,000 fine for a Michigan operator, and a separate $11,500 fine for an amateur operator in Pennsylvania.
The monetary fines were proposed in Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture issued in July 2014. In the first case, Michael Guernsey of Parchment, MI was found in violation of FCC regulations, which prohibit intentional interference licensed radio operations and require operators to regularly transmit their assigned call signs. Following local complaints of intentional interference, agents in the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau in Detroit monitored signals from Guernsey’s amateur station and heard continuous transmission of a prerecorded song along with various animal noises.
In the second instance, agents from the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau in Philadelphia monitored transmissions from amateur radio station operator Brian Crow, following several complaints of interference. In one three hour long session, agents monitored Crow’s station broadcast pre-recorded voice transmissions from another amateur station, along with emissions from slow-scan television.
Read the Notice of Apparent Liability for amateur radio station operator Brian Crow.
