Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by machinawhite 1272 days ago
If I didn't see the post I would never think it's illegal. Also the FCC does not exist outside the US so is this relevant elsewhere?
2 comments

Your country very likely has a government entity that regulates radio spectrum use and has means of enforcing it.

Messing with Doppler weather radar is a usually a big thing that impacts various important services. Even in relatively backwater countries you will get someone knocking at your door if you do this.

That makes sense, but I thought I'm messing with my router to have faster WiFi and not with some weather radar that I don't even know exists
The DFS checks exist to prevent your radio from interfering with the weather radar. You’re only allowed to own a radio that could cause such interference because it has those checks.

Here’s an example of what it can look like on the weather radar side: https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportgore/comments/lnxdji/whe...

Is this from a consumer WiFi or from some bigger antenna?
This is why spectrum in many countries requires users and/or devices to be licensed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignorantia_juris_non_excusat

> the FCC does not exist outside the US so is this relevant elsewhere?

Your own country likely has an analogue. Get thee to Google. Ofcom is the UK equivalent, for instance.

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignorantia_juris_non_excusat

What do I care about some law student latin?

I know the analog of the FCC in my country. I have not ever heard about them knocking on anyone's door, ever so that's why I'm asking questions?

Ignorance of the law does not excuse one from breaking. There is no freebie.

The world is a bitch in that it is your oyster, right up until you start impacting something everyone else is counting on. In that case, it is not infrequent for one to be made an example of.

That law student Latin there is a reminder that in spite of you "not knowing" something, the world still turns, you are expected to do some level of research, and there are people whose job is to just search for violations, and dispense a Notice of Apparent Liability to the perpetrator.

Hell, Amateur radio operators run what they call foxhunts when they notice something odd going on, because spectrum misuse impacts everyone.

Thank you for explaining something that's not very complicated and was not relevant to my question I guess? Just because we have analogous agencies doesn't mean they are a carbon copy of each other and the radio spectrum stuff is not exacty mainstream knowledge.
Given that 5.8GHz WiFi and 5.8GHz weather radar are both licence-exempt services within an ISM band, you literally cannot pay Ofcom to take an interest.
Given the level of corruption within the current UK government, I would not necessarily agree with your use of the word literally here. But at least in law and in principle yes.