Umm, welcome to the wonderful world of radio.
Radio waves kinda do what they want to do, or what mother nature feels they should do at a given moment, and there's not a whole lot Fisher Price can do about it.
Believe it or not, a stern letter to a toy company cannot bend the laws of physics, even if you are an angry soccer mom and it's "for the children".
As for what happened, most of these things operate at either the 27mhz or 49mhz unlicensed bands.
49mhz is right near the 6m HAM spectrum, and 27mhz is right near 10m/CB. Both of these, if conditions are right, can travel hundreds of miles with very little power - and there's not a damn thing you can do about that.
Unlicensed, unregulated uses are often secondary to other regulated, licensed uses.
2.4ghz is a typical one. Did you know that if a licensed ham decides to set up a 2.4ghz transmitter next door to you and completely wreaks havoc on your wi-fi, that's your problem, sorry, them's the brakes? Sucks, but it's true.
The mom, if she read what was in the package, would have noticed that these radios were fcc Part 15 Devices, and no doubt included the following statement:
This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
No doubt you've seen it before.
Harmonics can cause transmissions to appear off-frequency, as can poorly filtered rigs which are favored by many truckers. (Illegal, but hardly enforced.)
The kind of attitude of this mother amazes me, honestly. Certain things in life, especially as a parent, you just have to deal with - and no amount of complaining can change it.
Propagation characteristics of electromagnetic radiation, as far as I can tell, is one of those things that really doesn't give a damn about the children. Sorry 'bout that.
tcp100
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment