Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mailrus!ames!killer!vector!nobody From: goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Lightbeams aren't FCC regulated Message-ID:Date: 1 Dec 88 09:48:00 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 14 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 191, message 2 Rahul Dhesi, in V8I189, suggests that lightbeam transmitters and automobile headlights are subject to FCC regulation. This is not the case. Last time I looked, the FCC regs covered frequencies up to 300 GHz. Anything above that (where microwaves begin to approach infrared) is not considered a radio emission, and is not covered by the FCC. Hence you don't need a license for any kind of "optical" transmitter. I think the top frequency used to be a lot lower (30 GHz in the early '60s, perhaps) but nowadays, those upper microwaves are becoming useful. The atmosphere attenuates them pretty badly, but satellite to satellite transmissions can use them. fred