[tonyarkles]

> I think it might be a good idea to restrict such devices to people with amateur radio licenses

Am a Canadian HAM, and also the owner of multiple transmit-capable SDRs. While I don't disagree with you on principle, one tricky part with that is that the majority of my usage of these devices has been commercial. Requiring an amateur license to do commercial work is kind of the opposite of how the system is supposed to work (i.e. no commercial activity on the HAM bands).

The real saving grace for the transmit-capable SDRs is that they're generally quite low power. I think the most powerful one I have can do... 100mW? Sure, you could be disruptive with that, but it's not going to go very far.

[jcrawfordor]

That's true - any locking down of SDRs probably also requires a "fast track" experimental license program so that commercial users (including individuals who are performing commercial experiments, not just well-resourced companies with a licensing specialist) can obtain them easily.

[giantg2]

"I think the most powerful one I have can do... 100mW?"

Until you add an amp hehe