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The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

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Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#81

Post by FrustratedMonky »

godelski wrote: post #38
FrustratedMonky wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed a trend of calling every single article "This is AI or LLM, I can't stand it". And really, you can't tell. Nobody can tell. Humans write badly and blandly also. It's just a trope at this point. No, you're comment is an LLM.

Fun fact, the author admits to using a LLM. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47963465

Not the first time this has happened.

Half the articles are now LLM's.

If he didn't admit it, we'd be arguing over 'style', which itself can be configured.

Prompt> LLM don't use em-dash.

LLM> OK.

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#82

Post by sidewndr46 »

iamnothere wrote: post #6

> The core proposal bans all labs in China and Hong Kong, extending the "Bad Labs" rule the FCC adopted in May 2025. A broader proposal would also cut off labs in any country without a Mutual Recognition Agreement with the US, which adds 5 more labs (4 in India, 1 in Switzerland). Total at risk: 131 labs, 22.2% of the global total. As expected this is an attack on China-sourced electronics. I hope this isn’t the star…

We still as amateur radio operators have the "kit" exemption that comes with 3 components we plug together right?

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#83

Post by gchamonlive »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #80
Night_Thastus wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LLMs often have a distinct writing style. It's not guaranteed, you can get false positives and false negatives, but if you start paying attention it becomes obvious in many cases.

I guess my point was lost. It is obvious, when it is obvious. When it is not, you don't know it. There are ton more false positives now. Everyone is calling everything 'LLM Slop'. Because there is a lot of slop. Now every bad human writer is being called an AI just for being human. And, that is covering that a ton of stuff is LLM and nobody can tell. People that say they can tell the difference are fooling themselves…

Don't beat yourself over it. It's the new sport for HN upvote farmers to default to calling out any TLDR post that got "delve" in it or some other cliché as LLM Slop. I also think it's a waste of time. What's important is the content. Is the content of the article valuable? No? Just close it and move on. But we know the incentives to get a few upvotes is just much too good to pass...

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#84

Post by FrustratedMonky »

gchamonlive wrote: post #83
FrustratedMonky wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess my point was lost. It is obvious, when it is obvious. When it is not, you don't know it. There are ton more false positives now. Everyone is calling everything 'LLM Slop'. Because there is a lot of slop. Now every bad human writer is being called an AI just for being human. And, that is covering that a ton of stuff is LLM and nobody can tell. People that say they can tell the difference are fooling themselves…

Don't beat yourself over it. It's the new sport for HN upvote farmers to default to calling out any TLDR post that got "delve" in it or some other cliché as LLM Slop. I also think it's a waste of time. What's important is the content. Is the content of the article valuable? No? Just close it and move on. But we know the incentives to get a few upvotes is just much too good to pass...

Thank You. I'm not the only one that saw the new pattern.

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#85

Post by ajsnigrutin »

iamnothere wrote: post #61
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(assuming you're american) Legally you do, that exception only applies to amateur station, not unlicenced users. Why not get a gmrs licence instead, and give them gmrs type-accepted radios that they can use and try out and get experienced with even when not in an emergency? It's like buying cheap cars to give to people to drive for the first time in an active emergency... dangerous both to them and to others.

I’m afraid you are misinformed, FCC Part 97.403 allows unrestricted use in a true life threatening emergency. The words “amateur station” may be misleading here, they apply to the equipment not the licensed individual. See this discussion for more information: https://old.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/1fyhp9f/lets_... GMRS may not be an option if there are no repeaters in your area.

No, the equipment is the "apparatus". Only when used by a licenced ("duly authorized") individual for the use of (...), that equipment becomes an amateur station.

For example, a part 90 type-accepted business radio is just a business radio, part 97 has no ruling over it nor the user nor nothing related to that radio. Once a licenced amateur uses it for amateur radio stuff (so that radio is in amateur service), it becomes an amateur station and governed by the rules in part 97.

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#86

Post by johnea »

Aside from the majority of comments being related to whether or not the article is LLM generated 8-/ There still remains the question of the US de-certifying Chinese FCC approval labs.

It's not like the US has the strictest radio requirements on products, in fact, it's close to the opposite. Both asia and europe have much stricter emissions and sensitivity requirements.

But the big question to me, is what do they intend to do about the overwhelming majority of US consumed electronics being built in China?

The idea of abandoning chinese manufacturing is a delusion. It would take decades.

The idea that we do the "really advanced, complicated" manufacturing in the US, and let the Chinese build the "simple" stuff is even more delusional. China has the most advanced manufacturing tech, and the greatest scale of manufacturing in the world, by far. By very very far.

Sure, the US could catch up, assuming they stop banning Chinese cars and other advanced products and instead start importing and learning from them.

All of this delusional thinking goes back to one common source: elect a clown, expect a circus...

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#87

Post by iamnothere »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #85
iamnothere wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m afraid you are misinformed, FCC Part 97.403 allows unrestricted use in a true life threatening emergency. The words “amateur station” may be misleading here, they apply to the equipment not the licensed individual. See this discussion for more information: https://old.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/1fyhp9f/lets_... GMRS may not be an option if there are no repeaters in your area.

No, the equipment is the "apparatus". Only when used by a licenced ("duly authorized") individual for the use of (...), that equipment becomes an amateur station. For example, a part 90 type-accepted business radio is just a business radio, part 97 has no ruling over it nor the user nor nothing related to that radio. Once a licenced amateur uses it for amateur radio stuff (so that radio is in amateur service), it bec…

The regulations are vague, I agree, but it’s generally accepted that emergency use is allowed. I challenge you to find one single example of where someone in a real life threatening emergency is later fined for using the ham bands to get assistance. Besides, better to catch a (highly unlikely) fine than die, especially if there’s no good alternative communication methods in the area and within your family’s price range.

It’s sort of the ultimate “sad ham” position to insist that someone in a real emergency shouldn’t use a radio because they are unlicensed.

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#88

Post by ajsnigrutin »

iamnothere wrote: post #87
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the equipment is the "apparatus". Only when used by a licenced ("duly authorized") individual for the use of (...), that equipment becomes an amateur station. For example, a part 90 type-accepted business radio is just a business radio, part 97 has no ruling over it nor the user nor nothing related to that radio. Once a licenced amateur uses it for amateur radio stuff (so that radio is in amateur service), it bec…

The regulations are vague, I agree, but it’s generally accepted that emergency use is allowed. I challenge you to find one single example of where someone in a real life threatening emergency is later fined for using the ham bands to get assistance. Besides, better to catch a (highly unlikely) fine than die, especially if there’s no good alternative communication methods in the area and within your family’s price ran…

They're not vague, everyone who can read can understand them, but people who can't pass a simple exam, that 10yo kids regularly pass, tend to misinterpret them.

No, it's not a "sad ham" position, it's debunking a myth of ham radios being "emergency radios". If you go hiking into some remote area (no cell signal), and you listen to advice like yours, you buy a baofeng. Should you get licenced? Why? That dude on HN says the possible fine doesn't matter. And then you slip, fall down a ditch and break your leg. You take out your radio from the bag and do what exactly? The preprogrammed channels are useless [0], you scream for help, no one hears you. Did you manage to google emergency frequencies? Probably not. But hey, maybe you did! The first google result is 121.500MHz... AM, FM, who knows what that is, you scream for help, and still nothing. What then? You die. There are no emergency frequencies. No one is listening. No one is inside simplex range. You didn't get licenced and didn't test the equipment in advance and you don't know that.. you trusted that guy on HN, and now you're dead with a chinese piece of plastic that's useless. You're in the middle of nowhere and dying.

Some people get licenced, they take their radios into a park and try to do a pota activation, figure out no one hears them at all, and know that their radio is useless in those situations. Preppers watching youtubers and people listening to you don't.

Now, if you listened to a "sad ham", you would've bought a satellite messenger (if your phone doesn't support that already), something like a garmin inreach, you'd send an sos message, with your location, via a satellite to a person paid to read it and contact the proper authorities. You'd get saved. But nope, you bought a baofeng because of that prepper dude on youtube and that "sad-ham caller" on HN.

Youtubers earn percentages of every sold baofeng, they'll shill them as best radios ever, then they'll try to sell your "survival cards" as the best thing ever too [1], it's all you need in an emergency!

[0] https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/CCR_Default_Freque...

[1] https://www.sosproducts.com/11-in-1-survival-credit-card-mul...

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#89

Post by iamnothere »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #88
iamnothere wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The regulations are vague, I agree, but it’s generally accepted that emergency use is allowed. I challenge you to find one single example of where someone in a real life threatening emergency is later fined for using the ham bands to get assistance. Besides, better to catch a (highly unlikely) fine than die, especially if there’s no good alternative communication methods in the area and within your family’s price ran…

They're not vague, everyone who can read can understand them, but people who can't pass a simple exam, that 10yo kids regularly pass, tend to misinterpret them. No, it's not a "sad ham" position, it's debunking a myth of ham radios being "emergency radios". If you go hiking into some remote area (no cell signal), and you listen to advice like yours, you buy a baofeng. Should you get licenced? Why? That dude on HN say…

A cheap radio is better than nothing, and for many of lesser means those are the two options.

For the record, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go hiking with a radio that you don’t know how to use. Having extra radios that you can pass out to family and neighbors in an emergency (assuming you can quickly teach them the basics) is a good thing.

Re: The FCC is about to ban 21% of its test labs today. I mapped them all

#90

Post by ajsnigrutin »

iamnothere wrote: post #89
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not vague, everyone who can read can understand them, but people who can't pass a simple exam, that 10yo kids regularly pass, tend to misinterpret them. No, it's not a "sad ham" position, it's debunking a myth of ham radios being "emergency radios". If you go hiking into some remote area (no cell signal), and you listen to advice like yours, you buy a baofeng. Should you get licenced? Why? That dude on HN say…

A cheap radio is better than nothing, and for many of lesser means those are the two options. For the record, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go hiking with a radio that you don’t know how to use. Having extra radios that you can pass out to family and neighbors in an emergency (assuming you can quickly teach them the basics) is a good thing.

But cheap radios don't just appear out of nowhere. You have to plan for it and buy it... in that case, get a garmin inreach and you'll be saved, it's the option that works.

If you want to hand out radios, why not hand out FRS/PMR ones? Why the "illegal" ham ones? Why does every (usually american) prepper buy baofengs instead of local blister pack FRS ones from walmart? You can hand those out in non emergency situations too!

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