Low-power FM Transmitters Banned in UK

Acey writes "The BBC News is reporting that the Griffin iTrip falls foul of the UK Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 (PDF). In short, the iTrip is an unlicensed FM transmitter and that's not allowed. The UK distributor, A M Micro, have pulled the iTrip. More ominously they warn that "Use of the iTrip in the UK therefore constitutes an offence and can lead to prosecution of the User". Guess that makes me an outlaw, because you'll have to pry my iTrip from my cold, dead hands."

1949

[Anonymous Coward]

This law was written in 1949! Probably to stop people from setting up unlicensed radio stations (ie. commercial FM). These devices didn't exist!

doubt it

[nomadic]

-Guess that makes me an outlaw, because you'll have to pry my iTrip from my cold, dead hands.

No, it would just take a uniformed constable. Let's not overestimate ourselves here.

Time to update the law...

[Xentax]

It seems like the legislature, the broadcasters, and the consumers, ought to be able to work out an exception provision to the existing laws.

Specifically, they ought to allow unlicensed transmitters below a certain output power (anyone know what the iTrip's broadcast power is?).

I mean, the spectrum licensees have a vested and understable interest in keeping their airwaves free of interference, but I don't think low-power transmissions like these had been envisioned when the law was codefied (receivers were a wee bit less sensitive and precise in 1949, methinks).

Xentax

Re:Government-controlled media

[Malc]

Why is this marked as informative? It shows gross ignorance. The BBC is independent of the government via mandate. In fact, the BBC seems to institutionally take the stance when reporting the news that anything from the government must wrong, irrespective of whether they're left, right or centre. The BBC isn't owned, or controlled or funded by the government. The only possible hold the government has is over the renewing of the BBC's license (is the right term?), which is generally valid for longer than the maximum length of time the current government can sit before they have to call a general election.

Acceptable unlawful behavior? Give me a break

[Richard_at_work]

"Use of the iTrip in the UK therefore constitutes an offence and can lead to prosecution of the User". Guess that makes me an outlaw, because you'll have to pry my iTrip from my cold, dead hands."

This view seems to becoming more prevalent. An illegal action or device is banned or otherwise action taken against, and people just ignore it because it doesnt suit them. This device is illegal, and it hasnt even just been made illegal, its been illegal for a good number of decades, so under what premise do you think you should be allowed to continue using it? I bet you will be crying foul if you get caught!

Yes this device is low powered, but that doesnt matter. Under the aformentioned act, it is illegal, and if you want to use one, then please speak to your local MP! Do not start ignoring laws that inconvienince you, as this is where anarchy starts to creep in.

I can hear the cries for compensation for these now useless devices already, either from the UK government or the company that sold them. I dont think you should get a refund or compensation from either source, as they are covered under an already existing law, and you should have checked the legality of these items before you purchased.

Your best course of action now, to recover your costs? Ebay the suckers i think.

Re:nutty limeys

[sammy baby]

I have fond memories of Mr. Microphone ads. Especially when the kid crusing around in the car with his friend says, "I'll see you girls later," as if he was some kind of pre-pubescent stud.

(For those of you who were too young / don't remember, Mr. Microphone was a kids toy which attached a cheap mic to a low power radio transmitter, so you could talk and pick it up through your car radio.)

But to answer your question - yeah, I'm pretty sure it would be illegal. Although I don't remember if it used an FM or an AM signal.

No news here

[erroneous]

The UK has *not* just passed a new law banning the iTrip specifically or deliberately, as half the posters on slashdot seem to believe.

The distributors of the iTrip, having taken legal advice, have decided that use of the iTrip probably constitutes a breach of an old law about FM broadcasting and have therefore chosen not to distribute it here.

Nothing has actually changed and British police are not about to start hunting down people with suspicious bulges on the top of their iPods.

Paranoid nonsense

[ebcdic]

All countries regulate use of the wireless spectrum. It's just that in Britain the exemptions for low-power devices don't happen to cover this kind of device, unlike the USA apparently. Nothing to do with the music industry at all.

Re:Pirate Radio

[JessLeah]

This has nothing to DO with the FCC. We're talking about the UK here.

Re:Your gross ignorance

[Anonymous Coward]

Bollocks! It's no worse (probably better) than in America where some people have to pay association fees just to live in their house and have their environment controlled by nazis running around with clipboards quoting the rules. That isn't anything to do with the government either. Haha! The land of the free!

burn the books!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Dude, it's time to kill your TV!"

After you kill your TV, you can burn all your books, toss your radio in the river, and shred your magazines.

The joys of censorship. Can't have those bad ideas enter, ever!

Why is this news?

[orblee]

The wireless telegraphy act makes sense. We're only a small country and a typical radio FM transmitter can cover a fair proportion (about 1/10-1/20) of the population. Just my twiddling a screw in most FM transmitters, you can get it to broadcast on any frequency, and (for instance) stick it in your local neighbourhood and broadcast something other than your local radio station on a specific frequency. Video senders (boxes that transmit video signals over UHF and FM bandwidths so a TV upstairs can pick it up) were banned for a while for similar reasons. They found a way to make them legal and everything was fine :-)

Re:Acceptable unlawful behavior? Give me a break

[Sanity]

This view seems to becoming more prevalent. An illegal action or device is banned or otherwise action taken against, and people just ignore it because it doesnt suit them.

It is the responsibility of every citizen to ignore dumb laws.

Re:Er - ah - hm

[misterpies]

anything with a range more than 6 feet is likely to reach either the apartment above or the apartment below me. 30 feet and it will reach about 10 other apartments in my block. but there's a simple alternative: cordless headphones. OK so you won't be able to tune in from your car radio, but you will be able to listen to your iPod (or any other music source) from up to 100 ft away. I think cordless headphones use an unlicensed UHF band so there's no issue of interference with legit radio stations, though obviously if too many people buy the 'phones in one neighborhood they'll run into problems.

the ultimate solution is to have a device that broadcasts a local DAB (digital radio) signal. That will eliminate most interference issues (as well as radio hiss) and allow you to view track info on your digital radio. DAB is starting to take off in a big way in the UK now so somesuch gadget is probably not that far down the line.

Like hearding sheep over London Bridge

[threeturn]

I can't believe the amount of milage this story has had. Yes the thing it technically illegal in the UK, as are all other devices that transmit at low power in the commercial FM band. As is pointed out elsewhere the law goes back years and years. However that doesn't mean that you can't but these devices, or that lots of them aren't already in use with no problems.

No, nobody is going to bother to enforce the law. It it doesn't cause a problem who cares? It is a complete non-story.

Like the ability of Freemen of London to heard sheep (or not) over London Bridge lots of laws lie around long after the environment they related to has changed out of all recognition.

Would it effect emergency services?

[fantomas]

I think the range of this thing is - what - 10 to 30 feet?

Excuse my ignorance - information please. Would the iTrip be broadcasting on frequencies that might be used by emergency services (fire, ambulance, police..)? This is usually one of the 'safety' reasons for being unhappy about illegal broadcasting that UK gov. gives when having a go at pirate radio stations.

What is the distance these things can broadcast to? In the UK, 30 feet can quite easily mean from your room right into the middle of the town high street (lots of UK towns still follow mediaeval street plans). So I guess if they *do* broadcast on channels the govt. wants to use, and they *do* broadcast 30 feet, the govt *will* be upset. Don't want dead spots down the street where old Bill can't pick up base station...

Re:Acceptable unlawful behavior? Give me a break

[Tony Hoyle]

No, it is the responsibility of every citizen to ignore unjust laws.

And you do that properly - using an illegal transmitter and hoping you don't get caught is *not* legitimate civil disobedience. It's called criminal action.

It could be civil disobedience if you
(a) lobbied for a change in the law
(b) told the newspapers you were deliberately breaking the law
(c) did so in public. Fully prepared to go to jail, along with a few dozen other people.

Re:How will they enforce?

[Alan Partridge]

"...someone from their department of silly walks and radios showed up to talk to us about it."

I can't believe I'm reading this crap!

What's so stupid about licensing the use of your EM spectrum and then making sure that those who've PAID FOR bandwidth can actually use it without fear of interference from unlicensed transmissions? There are portions of the spectrum specifically allocated to unlicensed transmitters, use those if you want but stop fucking up all the other thousands of services that depend on spectrum management to do business.

This is good spectrum management

[Animats]

This is the right decision. The UK doesn't allow unlicensed low-power intentional emitters in the broadcast bands, which makes sense. The US does, for historical reasons, but you have to get type-approval for the device so that it doesn't blither all over the spectrum.

Besides, this is a stupid device. Using the FM broadcast band for short-range transmission is obsolete technology. In the 1950s, it might have been tolerable. Today, there are too many RF devices around. A product like this should be transmitting in an ISM band using spread-spectrum, like Bluetooth or WiFi. That's legal in the UK. More modern systems handle interference much better.

In the early days of computing, before the FCC cracked down on unwanted emissions from computers, there were major electronic incompatibility problems. If you brought a Milton Bradley Big Trak within a few feet of a TRS-80, both would crash. The FCC clamped down hard on junk RF from computers, which was a big help in making computers a mass-market product.

Never been legal in UK and most Europe

[giaguara]

The mini transmittors of which iTrip is an example, has NEVER been allowed or legal in UK or in the maority of European Union.

In practise you probably can bring an iTrip woth you there, or sell it to someone living in Europe, and he/she/you are not likely to get to trouble with it. But I can't recall the iTrip-type electronics EVER have been allowed there. So, why did it make to the news only now?

1949

[larsl]

The inclusion of the mention of 1949 just drips with condescension, like spectrum management is some statist anachronism. Oh, those Evil Governments with laws almost as old as my Dad!

Re:Er - ah - hm

[cyb97]

Not entirely correct, there are several European countries where FM transmitters (at least for licensed bands) are only sold to people hold licenses to broadcast, or it's illegal to broadcast without one...
I'd guess that Britain is only inline with the rest of the European legislation rather than the issue being "purely" British...

Re:YES WE CALL THIS CABLE IN USA

[RAEJlN_HARDONNE]

yes, it is pointless and I like the bbc too. bbc is for pay and is high quality, just as american cable networks are for pay and are high quality. same phenomenon, just one is public sector and the other private sector.

Re:Interface options

[Arcady13]

RTFA. Apple does not make the iTrip. Griffin [griffintechnology.com] makes it.