I don't recall it being covered on the Tech test, maybe it was...

Anyway this guy posted a small image/screenshot of an image  saying,
"Q: The FCC agent standing at my door does not have a search warrant, so I don't have to let him in, Right?"
A: Wrong, Warrants are needed for entry involving criminal matters. One of the requirements as a licensee or non-licensee subject to the commission's rules it to allow inspection of your radio equipment by FCC personal""..... On and ON and On.....

I don't recall reading or agreeing to that... But, Maybe I did...
I challenged the guy and said, Unless he provided a link to a govt site, I was calling BS.

Well he posted a link to https://www.fcc.gov/guides/feed  , However, when I go to it, on my phone or PC, it comes up as raw HTML, not a rendered webpage.  Seems sus, but it is on a .gov site?

So is this actually legit?

Wonder if it was because I went straight to the link and not via the site.

This HAM’s blog goes into the issue:

https://www.kb6nu.com/do-you-feel-violated/

Makes sense, even if I don't like it..

I went back to that thread where the guys posted this, admitted I was in the wrong and apologized..

I was sure this was BS..  Like the whole, any time you have NFA items they  can search you house or you have to have a Class III or "Machine Gun" License BS.... But I was wrong and admitted it..

97.3(5)
Amateur station.  A station in an amateur radio service consisting of the apparatus necessary for carrying on radiocommunications.

A warrant is overkill when all you need to do is carry your apparatus & station records outside? Nothing in 97.103(c) says it needs to be inspected where you usually hit the PTT.

This should be noted for all the prepper folks, it's not the fact that someone is licensed, the rules apply to any radio transmitting station.

If you’re not licensed you have a strong case that it’s a criminal investigation.

FCC fines people through an administrative process regardless of whether they have any kind of license. If you want to go full sovereign citizen and contest the existence of the agency or their administrative procedures in federal court, best of luck to you.

The link is an RSS feed.

Here is a the webpage they were trying to link to that's contained within the RSS feed:
https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/guides/inspection-fact-sheet

47 USC § 303(n) provides that the FCC may inspect licensed or unlicensed radio stations:



https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/303

So, this applies to:

Licensed stations like Amateur, GMRS, Private Land Mobile, etc.
Broadcast services like TV and radio.
Unlicensed services like CB and FRS.
Stations being operated without a license that require licensure.

That said, the chances of them inspecting a home station are very very small.  Unless someone is doing something astoundingly stupid.

I am not overly concerned they will be visiting my place any time soon.

I don't care in the slightest.  Anyone with a valid FCC identification is more than welcome to see my station.  For that matter anyone who has a ham license is welcome to see it as well.

If the FCC comes with a warrant the USMS will provide the muscle. Compliance seems best, but ARFCOM and Youtube Commandos will most certainly make the news.

YMMV

This. You have to really, really work at it to get them to come to you. You can look over the notices of violation and
notices of apparent liability for forfeiture of stations that got their attention and it's pretty clear at the individual level
you have to do absolutely bonkers levels of shitbird-ness on the air to get them involved past sending you a strongly
worded letter.

There's only few people a year who get that kind of attention, and without fail it's screwing with police/fire frequencies,
tying up a channel 24/7, transmitting on broadcast frequencies or other extreme levels of violation (e.g. running an entire cab
company on bootleg frequencies for years.)

In contrast there's a guy in CA running something on the order of 50KW ERP on CB frequencies that is very, very well known
and they've never bothered him because he doesn't do anything else illegal long enough for anyone to care, and "hams"
blaring out obscenities on certain well-known frequencies for decades with no action, that only bother other hams, same
deal, FCC barely cares enough to send a letter.

I knew a couple of the FCC Enforcement guys out of the Tampa and Miami field offices. Worked with them on some jamming of public safety freqs (700MHz killed by bad CFL ballasts), Aviation Aermodical VHF AM Comms (incorrectly installed dispatch console), and cellular (County worker driving to/from work with high power jail style jammer).

They are good dudes. Didn't carry any weapons. Rely on third part Fed LEOs for muscle (as noted above). They were VERY good about talking their way into buildings to get people to let them inspect the offending equipment.  

Their primary focus was revenue generation. 95% of their time was hunting cable TV leakage from cable plants. 4% was hunting pirate FM stations. 1% was hunting LMR offenders.

TT

The FCC visiting is a non-issue if you aren't a special kind of stupid.  There are several CB stations running in excess of 80,000 watts PEP and a few in excess of 150,000 watts PEP, they have never received a FCC visit.  I have zero worries about getting a visit for accidentally running 1501 watts.  Stay on the frequencies you are supposed to be on and make sure you aren't splattered across the band and you will never see the FCC.

exactly this





Click To View Spoiler

They send the USMS that’ll make Christmas dinner awkward with my fed boi BIL. I don’t intend to ever have a shack and like mobile ops, they can inspect my radios in the goat barn.