[Jeffhs]

Almost 35 years ago I ran a 100-mw Part 15 AM radio station from the basement of my boyhood home (located in a well-populated Cleveland suburb), but that was radio, and the rules were rather clearly spelled out. Because it operated completely within the law, I had absolutely nothing to worry about as far as running afoul of the FCC was concerned. Now, I am 48 years old, live in a small town and am an amateur radio operator. I would not dream of putting my amateur license in jeopardy by running a television transmitter of any power level here; besides, I live in a TV fringe area. Even though most folks here have cable, I would not want to risk causing TVI (television interference) to the few still using antennas by running even a 100-mw (0.1 watt) television transmitter in this area. This is a very small town (1 square mile in land area), so if I did manage to foul up someone's TV reception, I would probably hear about it in very short order.

The suggestion another person made in this thread regarding running a high-power TV transmitter on a channel "no one ever tunes to" almost sounds as if it would work, but the FCC rules regarding unlicensed transmitters still apply, even at what used to be UHF channels 70 through 83 and all frequencies above 890 MHz. Ordinary viewers may not be able to tune to, say, channel 83 these days because all TVs made in the last 15 years or so, and all current sets, only tune UHF channels 14-69, but the FCC does monitor the frequencies above the top end of the present UHF television spectrum. Believe me, they can and will confiscate equipment and/or fine unlicensed persons, even if the transmitter being used is operating in the GHz range. Back in the late '60s, a couple of youngsters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, one of whom was an amateur radio operator, set up a bootleg shortwave broadcast station. The call sign was WBBH, and the frequency they used was in or near the 80-meter amateur band, a range where U. S. broadcasters are not allowed to operate under any circumstances. The station used an old 60-watt AM/CW ham transmitter, a couple of beat-up turntables and an equally old microphone as audio sources, and, IIRC, a wire antenna outside the home of one of the station's owners. To make a long story short, the station was put off the air by the FCC when a listener called in (on their usual telephone number--I don't think there was 1-800-CALL FCC in the '60s) and asked for information on station WBBH on 4.9xxx MHz. The FCC responded by saying they never heard of such a station (at the time), so they started an investigation, of course. Their RDF (radio direction-finding) gear eventually led them to the home of a young high-school student, in whose basement the FCC representative eventually found the WBBH studio-transmitter installation. Being unlicensed for broadcast use (on 4.9 MHz yet), the FCC rep informed the young man that he was operating an illegal transmitter and would be fined if such operations continued. The young man and his friend, the latter being the one with the amateur license, were also found guilty of misrepresentation of their small station on verification cards (representing the small 60-watt ham transmitter as a "Gates BFE-60C" broadcast transmitter) and several other violations, but amazingly, both kids got off with little more than stern warnings against further unlicensed broadcasting. Even more amazing, the amateur licensee didn't even lose his license over this; but that was then--this is now. Today, if an amateur licensee pulls such a stunt, he/she will either be fined or lose the license, no questions asked or allowed. There are no second chances, apologies the likes of "I'm sorry--it won't happen again" won't wash, and the Commission won't let anyone off with warnings. One goof and it's good-bye ham license, for good (no chances of ever having it reinstated).

BTW, the callsign WBBH is today assigned to a television station in Fort Myers, Florida. WBBH-TV operates on UHF channel 20 and a digital channel, is an NBC affiliate, and has been operating under an FCC license since 1968.