CR, there's another angle that's misunderstood from those outside the Ham community.
On the whole, Ham's self police -- and because of that they're allocated wide swaths of the spectrum where there are free to do some really cool things with very few restrictions. Yes, the FCC is the one who levies fines, but the community strives to solve it's own problems.
Just like joining most flying clubs require an AMA membership to fly on their field, for *EVERY* ham community, a callsign is the price of entry, mostly because their field covers the whole world. Without a callsign, you have no name on the air.
As for actual interaction with the FCC, most US hams will have almost none. Take your test, get your call sign, refile before it lapses. The FCC does, however, maintain a national database -- a club roster, if you will. It's an *open* database matched with contact information. It's an old database from long before the government lost it's people's trust and has nothing to do with airplanes, or tracking good/bad citizens but *everything* to do with the community solving problems before the FCC needs to become involved.
For instance, if I heard a callsign on my rig transmitting *WAY* off the stated band, A quick search would get me contact info to warn them they're stepping on others and lend a hand getting the problem sorted out. A good ham would cut off his gear and find out what was wrong. A Lid (a bad operator) will keep on without regard. (This is actually one of the questions on the technician's exam)
The community is strong and very friendly, so Lids are rare, but because they step on us *ALL* they're hunted on the RF spectrum -- in the same way a poacher on a hunting club ground would be tracked, identified, and turned into the game warden. That's the self policing, in action.
If you're out transmitting video from your plane, or car, or hat cam, or secret lair, and the signal is stepping on someone else, without a callsign you're automatically a Lid, and a Ham or commercial radio operator has *no* recourse but to hunt, find and report.
If you had a valid callsign and transmitted it, they could look you up and warn you that, say, rock108 would like their radio station back (second harmonic down of 433Mhz).
It really is about being a good neighbor and joining the community, and not so much about complying with an overbearing bureaucracy.
On the whole, Ham's self police -- and because of that they're allocated wide swaths of the spectrum where there are free to do some really cool things with very few restrictions. Yes, the FCC is the one who levies fines, but the community strives to solve it's own problems.
Just like joining most flying clubs require an AMA membership to fly on their field, for *EVERY* ham community, a callsign is the price of entry, mostly because their field covers the whole world. Without a callsign, you have no name on the air.
As for actual interaction with the FCC, most US hams will have almost none. Take your test, get your call sign, refile before it lapses. The FCC does, however, maintain a national database -- a club roster, if you will. It's an *open* database matched with contact information. It's an old database from long before the government lost it's people's trust and has nothing to do with airplanes, or tracking good/bad citizens but *everything* to do with the community solving problems before the FCC needs to become involved.
For instance, if I heard a callsign on my rig transmitting *WAY* off the stated band, A quick search would get me contact info to warn them they're stepping on others and lend a hand getting the problem sorted out. A good ham would cut off his gear and find out what was wrong. A Lid (a bad operator) will keep on without regard. (This is actually one of the questions on the technician's exam)
The community is strong and very friendly, so Lids are rare, but because they step on us *ALL* they're hunted on the RF spectrum -- in the same way a poacher on a hunting club ground would be tracked, identified, and turned into the game warden. That's the self policing, in action.
If you're out transmitting video from your plane, or car, or hat cam, or secret lair, and the signal is stepping on someone else, without a callsign you're automatically a Lid, and a Ham or commercial radio operator has *no* recourse but to hunt, find and report.
If you had a valid callsign and transmitted it, they could look you up and warn you that, say, rock108 would like their radio station back (second harmonic down of 433Mhz).
It really is about being a good neighbor and joining the community, and not so much about complying with an overbearing bureaucracy.
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