Low-power FM Transmitters Banned in UK 562
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."
How will they enforce? (Score:3, Interesting)
Interface options (Score:2, Interesting)
Well if that is the case (Score:5, Interesting)
Neuros? (Score:4, Interesting)
Eclectic Micro Stations (Score:5, Interesting)
My other sig is an ambulance!
Legacy (Score:2, Interesting)
(This is before 6 cd changers in-dash existed)
This is the same thing. Would these be illegal in the UK too?
Re:Neuros? (Score:5, Interesting)
Very Cool (Score:2, Interesting)
OT but reminds me of .... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Government-controlled media (Score:5, Interesting)
This is no exaggeration. I had no TV for 6 years and those gits hounded me relentlessly. They kept sending me threatening letters warning of a possible 1000 fine for not having a TV license even though I didn't have a TV. They made me sign a form declaring that I had no TV set, which I did, and then they sent me another one, and another one, and I phoned them and told them and then they sent and inspector to my house!
When I moved house, they started sending the letters again, which I signed and returned. A week or two later a poster went up on the billboard across the road saying "3 addresses at Himalayan Way do not have Television Licenses. We know who they are."
I was so tempted to go out with a can of paint and write "At least one of them has no TV set" but I didn't. A year later I bought a TV and a damned license. Now I spend too much time as a TV zombie and not enough time writing code.
Television is a powerful opiate and population control machanism. I admire people who can control it. I'm succumbing again.
Low powered FM (Score:5, Interesting)
XM Radio (Score:0, Interesting)
More barriers to market entry (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Government-controlled media (Score:5, Interesting)
Indeed. I live in the US, I don't own a TV (CNN and Faux News? No thanks). I get much of my news from the BBC's website. Government-controlled? Is that why Blair and Alistair Campbell and friends are so upset with them lately?
Re:regulation of the airwaves (Score:5, Interesting)
These days you just get teenagers and other retards broadcasting from the top of a tower block
with a directional microwave link to the studio so they're harder to track down by the police.
CD changers (Score:3, Interesting)
US radio regs are pretty lenient (Score:3, Interesting)
Thus, all these very low power transmitters that talk in the broadcast bands are legal here.
Many other countries don't have nearly so liberal a policy about unlicensed transmitters -- that's why WiFi isn't technically legal in some places (like the Caribbean island that was the topic of an article a few weeks ago) and gadgets like this aren't allowed in the UK.
Although we like to bitch about "big gummint" in the US, at least in the communications arena US policies are far more open than in other parts of the world.
Another (off topic) example: radio scanner enthusiasts here like to complain because it's illegal to listen to cellular phone transmissions. But we can listen to damn near anything else, including police radio, while in many countries listening to any non-broadcast (or non-ham) radio service is strictly forbidden.
Re:How will they enforce? (Score:5, Interesting)
the whole point of a lot of british broadcasting law isn't to protect the listener/consumer, it was originally designed to protect the broadcaster - the bbc. you have to understand that in the uk, unlike the us or europe, the legal tradition has been firmly against private broadcasting.
originally, the bbc was the only broadcaster allowed in the uk - radio being "too powerful" a tool to be left to private interests. but, of course, the bbc sucked and by the '30s most of the uk was listening to european stations - most notably radio luxembourg - with bad reception but better programming. many of the broadcasting laws from the 40s were designed to discourage these "foreign" stations.
by the 60s there were a lot of private broadcasters targeting britain, though, by setting up shop on boats outside the three mile limit in international waters. the notable one here is radio caroline of course. the labour government at the time was simply balistic about this movement but couldn't legally squealch it because of that pesky maritime law thing.
of course, it all came to a grinding halt when a guy called major smedly (who was a bit of a nut job in the first place) pulled a piracy job on a competing station called radio city. eventually, the battle took to dry land and smedly shot and killed calvert. the result was the marine broadcasting offenses act of 1967 which was pretty draconian and the pirate broadcasters were shut donw.
Re:Acceptable unlawful behavior? Give me a break (Score:3, Interesting)
There is, however, a (d) -- to use the concept of jurisprudence (which is valid in the UK as well as the US, since both are based on common law) to decline to convict someone of breaking an unjust law.
Which is why serving on a jury is one of the most important things you can do. No, it's generally not fun, it's a pain in the ass and a disruption from what you want to do, but it's still important. Especially if you can get on a jury that can affect the ruling in a case regarding an unjust law.
I don't believe the UK has juries like we do in the US, so it may not be applicable there, but it certainly is in every US state (except, perhaps, Louisiana)
Re:Government-controlled media (Score:4, Interesting)
"Hello, we've noticed you don't pay a television license. Do you have a TV?"
"No"
"We detected a TV from our van, inside your property."
"No you didn't. Must be a mistake."
"Sir, I can hear [insert name of crappy US sitcom here] theme coming from inside your appartment."
"You must be imagining it."
"Sir, if we need to, we can get a warrant to enter the premises and be back within the hour."
"No you can't."
"Damn you right. We can't. But if you don't pay your license we'll taunt you again!"
The television license inspectors do not have the right to enter your house unless you admit them. And they would not get a warrant even if they tried. Only crimes above a certain severity can give them a warrant to enter your house.
I have one and it's junk ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyone want to buy it? Seriously. I want to get rid of the thing. My solution is going to be hardwiring an adapter to the car's CD changer plug and adding a switch that lets me toggle between the CD changer (I got one used off another VW owner, cheap) and the RCA inputs.
And the other FM transmitter I have, a Belkin TuneCast, doesn't work either -- if a radio broadcast so much 'looks' at it crosseyed, it's static hell.
Low-power FM transmission is, in my experience, a joke and a marketing tool. It ranges from nonexistent to having more static than an interplanetary broadcast from Martians.
Re:Like hearding sheep over London Bridge (Score:2, Interesting)
Hmmm (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not sure of the laws in practice here (perhaps I should have RTFA) but I do know that some short-range FM transmitters are allowed in the UK, depending on power and frequency. It is of course illegal to transmit anywhere in the FM broadcast band (87.5-108MHZ) and this seems to be where this iTrip is broadcasting. However it's power is such that it can only transmit 30ft, which I thought was legal in the UK, I mean the signal from this thing is not going to leave your house, and we've been able to buy FM hi-fi senders in the UK for years now (though mostly through mail order and thus probably not legally).
This law is not heavilly enforced, and I believe that it's outdated. The law should be changed to allow domestic transmissions of a certain power, though this will be difficult to do since what happens if you drive up the highway with your iTrip or take it to work, you're bound to interfere with what someone's listening to. Perhaps a domestic FM frequency at the top or bottom of the commercial broadcast band could be reserved for such devices, provided they do not exceed a certain power level. This would be a great solution to the problem and would allow a flood of currently pointlessly illegal devices to enter the market.
Re:US radio regs are pretty lenient (Score:3, Interesting)
In the U.S. the airwaves belong to the people (collectively). The FCC can regulate the use, but in the end the use must benefit the people. You can use any frequency in the U.S. as long as it does not infringe on other's right to use the frequencies as the FCC outlines.
In the U.K., (no expert here, just glimpses of fact) the airwaves belong to the government and the people are allowed to use them as the government sees fit. NO-one can operate a transmitter unless the government says so.
What pisses me off in the U.S. is that the FCC continually undervalues the frequencies used for public communiation. When the FCC auctions of television and AM/FM radio spectrum at such low rates that the operators are STILL able to make thousands of percentage points of profit (compared to the license costs), there's something wrong. The FCC should allow the "people" to collect more money from these broadcasters, or charge a percentage of revenue for the licenses.