FCC cites California resident over defective indoor tv antenna

You may find this one hard to believe, but the FCC has issued a Citation to California resident Irma Frausto for using a defective amplified indoor television antenna in the residence in the city of Compton. One that she could not possibly know was playing havoc with a nearby cellular telephone site.

Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has more:

On August 13th agents from the Los Angeles FCC Office investigated a complaint that something was interfering with the operation of a Verizon cellular site. The agents
T-hunted the interference to the Frausto's residence.
Further investigation revealed that the source of the
interfering signal was a Philips model MANT 300 amplified television antenna installed on top of a television set in the Fausto home..

Apparently the antennas internal amplifier had broken into self-oscillation on 840.356 MHz. The spur was strong enough to interfere with the input to a Verizon local cell site. And you would think that’s where iot would all end. Disconnect the faulty antenna and problem solved. But that’s not where this story ends.

On August 20th the FCC issued a Citation to Irma Fausto naming her as the responsible party. Why the FCC chose to issue a Citation rather than the usual warning letter or any letter at all is not explained.

And if we may editorialize a moment, even stranger is the demand by the FCC that Ms. Fausto respond to the Citation and specify what actions have been taken to correct the violation when its likely all she would do is return it to where she bought it or throw the thing in the nearest garbage can. At least that’s what we would do.

We also wonder if the FCC intends to follow up with Philips to make certain that no other MANT 300 amplified indoor antenna is causing similar problems elsewhere in the United States. One would think that Phillips is the responsible party in this scenario since it was the one who manufactured
the defective amplified antenna in the first place.

Lastly we must ask why so much emphasis is being put on reprimanding a citizen for something beyond her control when there are far more important matters to contend.
This definitely includes cleaning up the now almost two decade old rats nest of jamming, filthy language, illegal broadcasting and other violations found on 14.275 MHz in the 20 meter band. Violations that the FCC seems to be turning a blind eye to no matter how much the ham radio community complains.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reporting and editorializing from Los Angeles.

Oh yes. Those of you interested in a good lesson in government bureaucratese can read the entire text of the Citation issued to Irma Fausto at http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2003/DOC-292933A1.html

Source: CGC, FCC, ARNewsline™