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Comment Re:GNUradio? (Score 1) 135

Test equipment is allowed to transmit and receive on those frequencies. If it looks like a radio, it can't. I have a number of cellular testers hanging around here that can act like base stations, mostly because I buy them used as spectrum analyzers and never use the (obsolete) cellular facilities. Government has different rules regarding what it can and can't do in the name of law enforcement, although FCC has been very reluctant to allow them to use cellular jammers.

If you can afford it, something from Ettus would better suit your application.

Comment Re:"Proprietary So I Get Paid", from Bruce Perens? (Score 1) 135

Hi AC,

Matt Ettus has a story about a Chinese cloner of the USRP. The guy tells Chinese customers that it is illegal for them to buy from Ettus, they must buy from the cloner instead. Then, when they have problems and require serivce, he tells them to get it from Ettus. Who of course made nothing from their device sales and can not afford to service them.

This is not following the rules of Open anything. It's counterfeiting.

So, sometimes it is necessary to change the license a little so that you will not be a chump. I discussed the fact that the hardware is fully disclosed but not Open Hardware licensed with RMS, the software is 100% Free Software, and there is a regulatory chip you can't write. We can go for Respects Your Freedom certification that way..

I've paid my dues as far as "Open" is concerned, and Chris has too. This is all we can give you this time.

Comment Lots of corporations wanted this badly (Score 3, Interesting) 631

it's what the populace wants, what the corporations didn't

All sorts of corporations wanted this passed.

It's 300 pages. Does what *you* wanted take 300 pages to express? No? HMM.

Good luck with that, as the saying goes. I am really looking forward to you all finding out what has really happened today.

Comment Re:Why custom punched end panels ? (Score 1) 135

The case selection was so that we'd have at least one case that would work. We did not take much time on it. We'd be happy to have other people designing and selling cases.

The version after this one requires cases that look like real radios. That is going to be a bigger problem. We don't yet have a mold-design partner, etc.

Comment Re:Not all companies (Score 1) 114

This IS really annoying by Apple, even if you believe nobody (or nothing) actually looks at the data. Spotlight is always wanting to send this or that out and I've spent a lot of time moderating it's bad behavior using Little Snitch.

Apple *really* should mellow out and at least shut down the conduit. Even if you opt out of web searching with Spotlight, it STILL sends stuff back to Apple.

Comment Re:GNUradio? (Score 2) 135

We implement it as a chip that intercepts the serial bus to the VFO chip, and disallows certain frequencies. On FCC-certified equipment we might have to make that chip and the VFO chip physically difficult to get at by potting them or something. This first unit is test-equipment and does not have the limitation.

Comment Re:How about international versions? (Score 1) 135

Anyone who is good at electronics can get around regulatory lockouts. We're not allowed to make it easy. But nor are we technically able to make it impossible.

U.S. regulation only allows Part 95 certified radios to be used on GMRS, and Part 95 requires that the radio be pretty well locked down. But all of those Asian imports are certified for Part 90 and there are lots of users putting them on both Amateur and GMRS. If FCC wanted to push the issue with any particular licensee, they could.

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