Here is the FCC notice sent to B&H Photo in New York City regarding the sale of illegal and non-type accepted FM transmitters in the US: the fine is up to $22,000 a day per apparatus being sold, and they list 6 unaccepted devices.
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FCC Warns Retailer About Selling Illegal FM Transmitters
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
Here is the FCC notice sent to B&H Photo in New York City regarding the sale of illegal and non-type accepted FM transmitters in the US: the fine is up to $22,000 a day per apparatus being sold, and they list 6 unaccepted devices.
It's stupid that they got busted for transmitters from reputable brands like Rolls and Scosche which comply with the Part 15 field strength limit but broke the rules in minor ways, such as having a removable antenna connector or being able to transmit on 87.9 MHz (Part 15 strictly only allows 88.0 to 108.0 MHz), while Amazon and eBay are full of no-name Chinese FM transmitters which grossly exceed the Part 15 field strength limit, with output power as high as 20 watts.
For example, this 7 watt FM transmitter with 76-108 MHz coverage, available for $69 on Amazon, sold and shipped by them:
For example, this 7 watt FM transmitter with 76-108 MHz coverage, available for $69 on Amazon, sold and shipped by them:
Amazon stocks and fulfills orders for all sorts of fraudulent stuff. At least with eBay they can make the argument that its third party internationally based sellers that typically sell these types of items. Amazon stocks this stuff in their US based warehouses. On Amazon you can find memory cards that advertise large capacities that don't even exist yet like 2TB microSD cards, or capacities that exist but for an impossibly low price. You can find portable battery banks that advertise outrageously high mAh values that would be impossible to fit inside their case. You can find TV antennas that advertise ranges of over 200 miles. Many of these item listing are full fake reviews to make it look like they are legit products. If a brick and mortar store sold items like this they would get in trouble, but for some reason Amazon gets away with it.
Yeah, I don't understand at all. The responsibility for complying with FCC regulations rests with manufacturers, not retailers. But this letter tells B&H Photo they must take "immediate steps to ensure that any and all radio frequency equipment" is compliant with FCC rules.
There are two problems here:
1. This letter indicates the manufacturers provided incorrect information to B&H (paragraphs 7-10), telling B&H that the devices B&H was selling did conform to FCC rules.
2. B&H sells a wide variety of electronics (laptops, phones, tablets, cameras, televisions) , most of which require FCC certification. Even doing an audit to determine manufacturer claims on all the thousands of products they stock is a substantial burden.
B&H cannot be expected to know the FCC rules that apply to every category of device they sell, nor should they be expected to independently verify the manufacturer's claims (at great cost). For a retailer, "Manufacturer claims device is compliant to applicable regulations" is all they should need to indemnify themselves.
B&H and other retailers should be subject to orders withdrawing products from the market if they are found in violation, and failing to comply with such an order should be punishable by a fine.
It is the FCC's duty to perform market surveillance and order offending products off the market. To that end, I'm curious how many FM bluetooth adapters they have ordered off the market all-time... because everyone I've ever seen worked below 88.1 MHz.
EDIT: 88.1, not 89.1.
There are two problems here:
1. This letter indicates the manufacturers provided incorrect information to B&H (paragraphs 7-10), telling B&H that the devices B&H was selling did conform to FCC rules.
2. B&H sells a wide variety of electronics (laptops, phones, tablets, cameras, televisions) , most of which require FCC certification. Even doing an audit to determine manufacturer claims on all the thousands of products they stock is a substantial burden.
B&H cannot be expected to know the FCC rules that apply to every category of device they sell, nor should they be expected to independently verify the manufacturer's claims (at great cost). For a retailer, "Manufacturer claims device is compliant to applicable regulations" is all they should need to indemnify themselves.
B&H and other retailers should be subject to orders withdrawing products from the market if they are found in violation, and failing to comply with such an order should be punishable by a fine.
It is the FCC's duty to perform market surveillance and order offending products off the market. To that end, I'm curious how many FM bluetooth adapters they have ordered off the market all-time... because everyone I've ever seen worked below 88.1 MHz.
EDIT: 88.1, not 89.1.
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I've had several FM MP3 transmitters over 10+ years up until more recent cars with Bluetooth or USB and all of them to my knowledge were able to transmit below 88.1, sometimes as low as 87.5. And I honestly don't see what the big deal is why the FCC claims it's illegal.
87.7 and 87.9 always seemed to work out great for me because of the fact that they were just below the normal FM band and it didn't interfere with any stations in my area. The only time I ever had any problems was when I was in areas that still had an analog TV station on Channel 6 like in Memphis and Paducah KY.
Also I've never seen anything made by Rolls, but Scosche is a major brand that is sold in a lot of major stores, so if there is a problem the FCC should be going after the manufacturers, not the stores that sell them.
87.7 and 87.9 always seemed to work out great for me because of the fact that they were just below the normal FM band and it didn't interfere with any stations in my area. The only time I ever had any problems was when I was in areas that still had an analog TV station on Channel 6 like in Memphis and Paducah KY.
Also I've never seen anything made by Rolls, but Scosche is a major brand that is sold in a lot of major stores, so if there is a problem the FCC should be going after the manufacturers, not the stores that sell them.
This is symptomatic of a situation that governments often find themselves engaging in: shooting the messenger instead of the villain.
We have a recent case of the Feds penalizing pharmaceutical companies for prescription narcotics, when the people who cause the problem are the over-prescribing doctors who should be prosecuted and penalized with a loss of their license to practice. (I'm no fan of some of the things Big Pharma does... my monthly "main" prescription has a co-pay of $1,300!)
The FCC should be attacking the importers of those transmitters, not the retailers. Again, shooting the messenger.
The FCC doesn't have either the staff or the political will to go after Part 15 devices, unless somebody complains about interference. As long as nobody complains and/or the range of the transmitter is kept to 200 feet or less (per OET 63, which is not codified in Part 15, but is what the FCC goes by), they aren't going to do squat. Especially when used in church parking lots, which was rather common during COVID.
What's ironic here is that "Kevtronics" sounds like the brand of one of these units! 🤪
You bring up an excellent point about the FCC: they have limited criminal proprietorial authority. As we see with pirates, they can visit illegal stations and impose a fine, but they really can't impose a meaningful sanction like a nifty prison term.
Very true. They are not part of the criminal justice system. It's up to the Justice Dept to file charges and prosecute users, importers, and sellers of illegal/unauthorized radio equipment. Not likely to happen in any of those cases. It's just not that big a deal.
But Big Pharma heavily pushed those narcotics on the doctors in the first place, including literally wining and dining them to get them to prescribe more narcotic painkillers to their patients. And then pharmacies turned a blind eye to patients who they could tell were doctor-shopping to get more prescriptions to feed their addiction.
When I was in severe pain due to a kidney stone, I found it very easy to get a prescription for a narcotic painkiller from a doctor I had never met before. But I was very leery about taking any more than the minimum necessary to keep me from doubling over in agony.
Another question is why are they hitting B&H in particular and not other larger retailers like Walmart, Target, Etc. That are selling the same kinds of products?
Just a guess, but maybe in this case the FCC was following up on a specific consumer complaint that was made about the items B&H was selling, but since they didn't receive any such complaints about the other stores you mention, they didn't bother checking?
Mine still does it. A couple tested positive and weren't ready to go back inside.
JeeperOne
Banned
Only the stuff they domestically distributegets vetted. If it's just a directory (Like a lot of these Chinese companies), you order the item & pay for it through Amazon but then you have to wait till the foreign distributor ships it (And then, there's THE SHIPPING CRISIS, which is fortunately limited to (Guess who) China nowm that it CAN STILL get caught up in EITHJER while the item is being shipped to you OR because item relies on parts FROM China in order to function because the manufacturer is TOO STUPID to get their stuff from SOMEWHERE ELSE)
In any case, it can take time & even Amazpn stops taking orders after awhile (Even though the item is still listed)
I bet if Amazon were to do A COMPLETE SCOURING of its seller list (Both those who ship to Amazon for order fulfillment AND those who don't), I think they'd be surprised at how many sellers have GONE OUT OF BUSINESS since 2019 (which is probably THE LAST time they DID such a scouring)
JeeperOne
Banned
Actually, it's MAXIMIM power is 7 Watts (It can transmit as low as 1 Watt (It even says it in the title)
JeeperOne
Banned
Bluetooth adapters arent transmitters for a radio station though. Granted they share the same frequencies as FM Broadcast radio like we Hams share the 2 Meter band with the Military (At least we DID at one point. Not sure if we still do however) but they're VERY different beasts
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