CB Channel Transmitting on Commercial Radio -What can Happen

[melbourneradio]

Here's an other one for you all to ponder ..... I have found out this week , from a local well known radio shop , that's close to me , yasue , now only have one Australian dealer , in Sydney , the other interesting part is that yasue now are under the impression there is no money in ham radio in au so all radios sold are not for Australian markets ,

In fact one well known eBay seller is selling radios listed for au but in fact broadbanded straight from the box

So how do you know what's legal and whats not ,

It makes you wonder !!!!!


The question is if a radio sold by an au seller is sold to you as a ham radio , then you find it a "grey " import and operates out side the band it's now not legal , yet the seller is still selling them

So I guess now we can no longer buy radios in au ..... Or stick to hand helds that can be locked

It's all getting crazy !!!!!!!

[Vkfour]

There is one official agent for Yaesu in Australia and they are in Sydney, however, there are a large number of re-sellers and dealers across the country. This is not an unusual situation, in fact, it is the usual way of doing business. By the way, they haven't had a purely Australian market model for ages, I can't say for ever, but I got an FT50 about 17 years ago and it was US market, and the approved VK dealer had a little addendum to the manual saying that certain automatic repeater splits didn't work here and had to be programmed in manually, see page xyz for instructions.

Why do amateurs have to make things so difficult for themselves? If the Radio Communications Act is READ in FULL, together WITH the regulations pertaining to Amateur Radio, amateurs are specifically exempt from having to use type approved equipment, in fact, no amateur equipment is type approved, nor does it have to be. They can build their own equipment, including transmitting devices and they can convert type approved stuff to their own use, but not back again unless it is tested and re-approved, an expensive process. They can even have any equipment capable of transmitting on non amateur frequencies, provided they DON'T transmit on those frequencies.

In the case of the Chinese radios, there is no problem in having one of them, or indeed like me, several of them, provided you only have amateur frequencies programmed in to them. There is also no problem in having half a dozen police frequencies as well as the entire UHF CB frequencies programmed in, BUT, if you have TRANSMIT frequencies and CTCSS codes for other services programmed in as well, THEN you may have problems.

A breach of the Radio Communications Act is an indictable offence, (in some serious cases it can be considered under the Commonwealth Crimes Act, vis, criminal and potential criminal record to go with it), and accordingly the burden of proof is guilt beyond all REASONABLE doubt, not beyond ANY doubt, but all REASONABLE doubt. From my professional dealings in court, a situation such as described above could easily be interpreted as REASONABLY being used for transmitting on frequencies outside the permitted amateur frequencies by any Magistrate, or heaven forbid, a Judge, (a Judge can, and generally does, hand out heavier penalties). Let's face it, why else would you have them programmed in?

Let's put this to bed. If you are a non amateur, you can't have them, or indeed any other type approved radio, or other, (transmitter), without a permit, (UHF CB is en exception, provided it hasn't been modified), and if the equipment is modified away from standard, then there is a whole new raft of potential charges you could face. If you are an amateur, you can have them provided you don't have any TRANSMIT frequencies outside the amateur bands programmed in, (and thus can not be accused of transmitting). Can we end this thread and move on, please?

In closing, I note in this site, as well as the WIA journal, that Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, and presumably a few other "amateur" brands are okay. I personally have an FT-60, purchased in Australia from an approved re-seller,not self imported, not grey market, and purchased new, out of the box, (just so it can't be said that it was modified before I received it), and it transmits well above the 70 cm band, up to around 470.000 in fact. I wasn't breaking the law, honest, I could be struck off for that, I was merely satisfying my natural curiosity that all amateurs have, honest your Honour!

[chanjyj]

VKfour

I have since long moved on. If ACMA decides I have been operating in breach of whatever-it-is by doing whatever-it-was or owning-whatever-it-may-have-been then I deal with it if, and when it comes.

The thing you have to understand is that there are some hams who are not sure of what is and isn't permissible. Even the WIA seems unsure.

But for me as I said earlier, I'm going to ignore the intricacies. What do you expect me to do - throw away all my commercial equipment? ALL my "amateur equpment" is commercial save for one Yaesu (due to the fact I have access to a large stock of company commercial supine my, and I NEED commercial equipment to communicate using DMR protocol on repeater VK4RMC).

I'm planning to step out of my conform zone and move into HF shortly. Been wondering what to purchase considering I'm on a low budget. The ham equipment looks tempting with VFO and dial knobs. On the other hand I can get commercial equipment for less! If only I could rent a HF radio to try out. I see VHF/UHF being rented out, but yet to find anyone for HF.

73
9V1CJ/VK

[melbourneradio]

Vkfour

I read your post with great interest , the interesting thing is that the acma is tasting that these radios , the ones that go , from woe to go and out side the bands are in fact a land mobile radio or along those lines , I understand that you dont have your Rx emergency service freq with tx , that's just dumb , and I disagree with the practice , but .

The thing is this is your interpretation of the act , some one else's could well be different

We have had the acma at the club this way doing a number of educational talks ,

Every time the message is the same if the radio is not c ticked and class licence approved and tx out side the bands then it's on the black list ,

I have even heard the stories of hams being given warning notices for this gear and instructed to dispose or destroy

How do explain this ..............

What do you base the info you have on....,

How do you suggest we deal with the acma when they turn up and say said radio is illegal and to dispose of it .....

I am looking at buying some new gear in the next 6 months and am thinking twice as I can't find any that is to aust bands only