I have heard these are not FCC approved radios though I don't know that first hand... just what I've picked up in passing conversations. What speaks more to me is the fact the vendors will not answer your question. As a rule, if a vendor won't talk with me, I won't buy from him. It just raises suspicion in my mind when a seller stonewalls a potential buyer.
i have sevral of these radio's and have found out that they well excede the normal that we buy. I talked to a friend that is very involved with the arrl and what i was in formed is that as a ham we can own and use them. the reasoning i find that this would be true is that we are totaly responceable for any radio we own including its proper operation and any interferance it produces. More in the ealy days of ham radio than no we built our own radio's and some hams still do. How many of those radio's we fcc aproved? those radio's never got a sticker on them. I know we are required to have amps inspected but never have i seen anything on our radio's. if i am wrong ill gladly stand corrected, but till then it makes sence to me. Hope that was helpfull,
The comment from urbanghost about having amplifiers inspected is new to me. I couldn't find anything about that in Part97. Every radio I design and build has amplifier stages, some are the same as the external amps I've built. I wouldn't know where to take such an amp to get an inspection.
That said, it's Customs and not the FCC who has the problem with these radios. The acceptance for these radios is about import law and not a concern about type acceptance for amateur use.
I'd have to agree with onoiml8. It is not about the radio, but the operator. If these were business band radios, where no license is required, then there would be concerns about suprious noise on adjecent frequencies and other stability issues. onoiml8 also states that he wouldn't know where to take a homebrew rig for FCC clearance or inspection. I've been building rigs since I was 12 and I'm in my 50s now. Peer group oversight is the best I could ever expect, and that's been really helpful. But no one with a badge ever cared what a ham did, unless is was majorly stupid.
I lived in China for 3 years and saw the Yaesu HT's in Electonic's Stores in Kowloon. Since I am a ham I looked at them and found that they had one for the USA and Canada and another model for Europe.
I bought a VX5R there and it was the USA version. Used it for a while and sold it and got a VX7. If you buy from Hong Kong make sure you get the USA Model.
I've played around with several of these radios. Some are good. Some are terrible. I have found the Wouxun brand to be OK. A short time ago, none of these radios were FCC approved. Some are now, but not a large number. You need to go to the FCC site and look for the company name (or FCC Id number) under the technical approval section. I noticed that the Wouxun KG-UVD1 dual bander is not FCC approved. Remember that "Type acceptance" and "FCC approval" are NOT the same thing for amateur gear. Amateur radios do not need type acceptance, but DO need to be FCC approved for commercial sales. Home brew is exempt. For other services, "Type acceptance" is required and a test report must be submitted to the FCC to ensure the radio meets its obligations for the service it will be used on. A good example of this is VHF radios. Radios can be "type accepted" for commercial VHF use under part 90 of the regulations. The same radio, however, would not be "Type accepted" for MURS operation (151Mhz) under part 95. It would require an additional "type acceptance" to be used there (and a 2W power limit). I noticed that several of the Wouxun radios are "type accepted" for UHF part 90. I did not see any VHF certifications yet. I guess we will see.
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
)
)
)
)
