E1645: What Happens if You Use a Fake Radio Call Sign

In this eye-opening video, we dive deep into the latest FCC Notice of Violation issued on September 29, 2025. Discover how FCC agents busted unauthorized one-way broadcasts on 7.200 MHz from a Connecticut residence, where faked conversations with a bogus callsign were used. Plus, the shocking denial of station inspection that sealed the deal! We break down the key rule violations under 47 CFR § 97.113(b) and § 97.103(c), what it means for ham radio enthusiasts, and the potential penalties looming. Is this a wake-up call for all operators to stick to two-way comms only? Watch to find out and stay compliant!

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🔗 Full Article: https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-issues-notice-of-violation-for-unauthorized-one-way-transmissions-and-denial-of-inspection

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The FCC has issued a notice of violation to a
hand radio operator for allegedly transmitting one way conversations, and
that part I'm a little skeptical about, but let's read
it and see what we see. But also a denial
of inspection. They knocked on his door, they said, we
want to inspect your station. He said, no, you can't

(00:22):
do that, and they did not come in. I made
a video about a year ago about ham radio licensing
versus the Fourth Amendment because one of the most common
comments I get in videos about licensing is that you
have to give up your Fourth Amendment rights when you
get a HAM radio license. That is completely false, and

(00:45):
part of this article that I'm about to read to
you proves that point. Okay, and I have another couple
thoughts about GMRS licensing and CB radio licensing. You don't
have to have a license for CEBE radio, but it
is a what's called it common license. It is a
usage license that says if you pick up the CB

(01:07):
radio and transmit on it, then you are agreeing to
the license that adhere to CBE radio rules. Same with fours,
same with mervs, same with free radio services inside the USA.
So we're gonna talk about that in a little bit.
But one of you guys sent me this article. This
is on the A Double Rol website. I hadn't quite
found it myself yet, but I got an email from
one of you guys because I just did a similar

(01:29):
article to this. So thank you for sending these to me.
If you find other articles like this, please be sure
that email them to me. So October first, a little
bit of over a week ago at the time of
this recording, the FCC has issued a notice of violation
NOV to Mike F. Kanti of Naples, Florida. His call
sign is KA two FPZ. You're gonna like why he was?

(01:52):
He was fine, you're gonna like this. So I want
to know at the end of the video, are you
guys in favor of this or not? Because I first
read this and I'm like, okay, this is good that
he denied them access to his residents. This is good
because they did not barge in, they didn't take anything.
They didn't violate his rights, at least not according to
this article. But listen to what he was doing. First,

(02:14):
he is in Naples, Florida, citing alleged rule violations related
to unauthorized transmissions and refusal to allow station inspection. FCC
notice by the Regional Director, Region one Enforcement Bureau was
released on September twenty ninth of twenty twenty five. That's
this year's two weeks ago at the time. This recording
less than that actually and includes that Kanti holds an

(02:36):
amateur radio service license KA two fp z. According to
the notice, FCC Bureau agents from the New York Field
office conducted an investigation on March of this year, so
about six months ago, used in directing finding techniques, and
they located and monitored transmissions on seventy two hundred megahertz.

(02:58):
I read that in my My thoughts on this story
changed somewhat seventy two hundred megahertz emanating from a residence
owned by Kanti in Brookfield, Connecticut that appeared to be
one way broadcasts originating from KA two fpz one way broadcast. Okay,
so I'm wondering what that is. Let's read on. According

(03:18):
to the FCC CONTI was pretending to speak with a
station he identified as KB two VBO, a call sign
not currently assigned to any licensee. No station responded to
the transmission, and the notice included that Kanti later admitted
to the agent that he was engaging in one way
communications that was neither allowed nor exempted under the rules. Now, okay,

(03:41):
so here's my thought on that. So he was calling
a station or a call sign that does not exist,
and he knew it didn't exist. So I guess that's
a one way transmission. When I think of a one
way transmission, what I think of is broadcasting, like a
radio station. Okay, like you key down, you read a
news story, or you start just babbling about some kind

(04:01):
of current event, current affair, current this, something that happened
in the neighborhood, some kind of news article you read,
something happened, talk about your favorite movie, TV show, blah
blah blah blah. Like it's a radio station where you're
just talking to people who can hear you, and then
you and key and you don't engage in conversation. To me,
that's a radio transmission. We're not allowed to broadcast on

(04:23):
amateur radio frequencies. We transmit, we transmit, and then we
receive when we transmit and then we receive. It's two
way radio communications. Broadcasting is what AM and FM radio stations,
you know, commercial radio stations, do your local AM ANDFM
radio stations, your satellite radio through Sirius XM is broadcasting

(04:44):
because they are sending out a signal that you're receiving,
but you can't reply to them. So it's a one
way radio transmission. So a broadcast is a transmission meant
for one way where you're listening to it and they're
broadcasting it. But we, as amateur radio operaors and gmrs
and CBU radio operators too, transmit. We don't broadcast. We
transmit out and we receive in. So that's the difference.

(05:05):
That's how it's defined. That's that's the difference in defining
and to me, a one way radio transmission. I always
thought of it as broadcasting because if you just key
down and act like you're on a pirate radio station,
you know, wolfman jacket it and whatnot, then you're that's illegal.
That's illegal on amateur radio frequencies. Okay, but I've never
heard of this before. Happening to somebody for calling an

(05:27):
allegedly fake call sign, but he admitted to it, according
to this article. He admitted to it later, and I
think we all know the type of transmissions that happen
on seventy two megaherts and if you don't go listen
to it. If you find yourself bored one afternoon, turn
on your HF radio dial down to seven point two

(05:47):
zero megahertz and just listen for about a half hour.
Let me know what you think about that. In addition
to the alleged unauthorized broadcasting, the FCC reported that agents
were denied access to the residents and violation of the
Commission's rules. The notice of violation outlines two specific rule violations. Okay,
so these are so a couple things about this. Okay, Yeah,
I'm gonna read this to you and then I'm gonna

(06:08):
give you my thoughts on it. Forty seven CFR Part
ninety seven dot one oh three, Charlie, the station licensee
must make the station and the station records available for
inspection upon request by an FCC representative. And Part ninety
seven dot one win three, Bravo. An amateur radio station
shall not engage in any form of broadcast broadcasting I

(06:29):
said that a minute ago broadcasting. Nor may an amateur
radio station transmit one way communications accept as specifically provided
in these rules. So okay, so he denied, He denied
the FCC agents who knocked on his door access to
his site, he would not let them inspect the radio station. Okay,
So if you want to learn about this, you want

(06:51):
to learn more about this, you want to learn deeper,
dive into these rules and regulations that we are required
to adhere to. Check out Ham Radio Prep. You can
get your first license or your second or third license,
and you can get courses about HF radio ballfang basics,
satellite communications, and emergency communications, all from Ham Radio Prep.

(07:12):
Go to hamradioprep dot com use the code of Jason
twenty to save a twenty percent discount off of all
of their courses. This type of situation, this type of transmission,
this type of rule violation for not letting FCC inspectors
inspect your station equipment is included in those questions. Your
very first test will go over some of that and
it'll explain it in more detail than what we're going

(07:33):
to talk about about today. So check out Ham Radio Prep,
use a coupon code of Jason twenty, and thank you
Ham Radio Prep for sponsoring this series. Now, a couple
of things about this, okay, because people have commented in
the past that if you get an amateur radio license.
You have to give give up your Fourth Amendment rights
because you have to allow them into your home. You

(07:55):
have to allow them into your home. No, you don't.
Now this is a two two edged sword here. Okay,
this guy is being fined for allegedly broadcasting, and the
FCC reported that the agents were denied access to the
residents and violation of the Commission's rules. So you do,

(08:15):
under your license terms have to allow them to inspect
the station, your station if they come knocking on your door,
that is part of the rules. And if you refuse
to do that, if you deny them, they can't just
burst into your door. They can't just say nope, nope,
we have the right to command to your property, kick
down the door, take your stuff, violate your Fourth Amendment rights.

(08:39):
They can't do that, as proven here. They did not
do this to this gentleman. Okay, if they had kicked
down his door basically stolen his equipment or put hands
on his equipment or put hands on him after kicking
down his door, huge violation, huge government overreach violation there,
and I would go and this guy might be one
of these seventy two hundre jackwagons on forty meters. But

(09:02):
that doesn't mean I want his constitutional rights violated. Quite
the opposite. I respect him for what he was doing.
I respect him for saying, no, you cannot inspect my
station equipment. Now. The reason he said that probably is
because he might have had a three thousand white amplifier
in there. Who knows, okay, or maybe he just is
pissed off at the FCC. I don't know. I'm speculating, Okay,

(09:24):
I'm guessing. I don't know, but they did not burst
into his house and violate his Fourth Amendment rights according
to this article. On top of that, if you have
a GMRS license, then if you read through all of
that paperwork that they made you sign online, you just
go online, you fill out some paperwork, fill out your information,

(09:46):
you click okay, you pay thirty five dollars, and they
issue you a call sign for GMRS. That's all there
is to it. But there's about thirty five pages of
garbage that you agree to when you sign your name
to it. This is in there. This is in there.
Also if you go and you read the license agreement
license agreement when you buy a brand new CB radio

(10:06):
or a brand new FRS radio. Okay, there's a piece
of paper in there that says, if you use this
radio on these frequencies, you are agreeing to this common
license of not doing these things. And this part is
in there. Also. If you key up a CB radio
and they direction find you and find that you're running
two thousand watts on CB radios, you're blatantly causing interference

(10:29):
to someone else, some other radio transmission or whatever. Okay,
And they come knocking on your door and say we
want to expect your CB radio station, you can say no,
they can't come in, not legally, they can't come in,
but they can come back with a warrant later and
find you, confiscate your equipment, especially if it's illegal equipment

(10:49):
and an issue, a rid or whatever it is to
you to say you are not allowed to use CB
radio anymore. They can do that. So they can take
away to Sky's license. They can confiscate his equipment once
they get a warrant. If he's smart, he'll get rid
of all his equipment. If he has any illegal equipment,

(11:10):
he'll get rid of it all before they before it
comes to that. And then when they come back again
with a warrant, he's okay, Yeah, you can expect it,
and then he won't have anything nefarious or illegal in
his in his home if that's what he has. Again,
I'm speculating. Okay, whether he has illegal equipment or not
is irrelevant for the for the purpose of this argument
I'm making. What I'm saying is he denied them access.

(11:32):
They have to go away, they have to get a
warrant through a judge now and come back later. And
then with a warrant, just like getting a warrant to
search a drug house or something, they can come in
and inspect his equipment. Doesn't mean they can do anything
else with anything else they see in the house. They
can only inspect his radio equipment if the warrant is
typed up correctly. So, but again, that is something you

(11:56):
agree to when you key up on a seat radio
or an FRS radio or a merse radio or a
marine band radio, and that's something you actually sign your
name to when you get a GMRS license. So this
is not specific to ham radio and it's not a
violation of Fourth Amendment because you are not required to
allow them in your home. Yes, you might lose your license,

(12:19):
you might lose your equipment. You might get your equipment confiscated,
but at least they're not going to enter your home
without a warrant, which all of us can get. Can
be subject to warrant searches if we're doing something wrong
or if the authorities think we are. This last paragraph
down here says the Commission ordered Kante to respond in
writing within twenty days of the notices release, providing a

(12:39):
detailed explanation of the circumstances, corrective actions taken, and a
timeline for addressing any remaining issues. The FCC emphasized that
the notice does not preclude further action if warranted. So
I read that as you know, if he responds in
writing in the timeframe they requested and says sorry, I
got my buddy's call sign wrong, or just you know,

(13:00):
makes up a story, I don't know. I don't know
what his story would be. But if he responds in
writing and he's cordial about it, and he's polite and
he kind of cooperates with him, they may not ever
come back in request to inspect his equipment. Who knows,
I don't know. That is part of the FCC rules.
If you are operating a radio inside of the United States.
It doesn't matter what the radio service is. Yes, it

(13:21):
is a question on your first hand radio test, but
it is not only subject to Ham Radio. So I've
said that like three times now. I don't like repeating myself,
so sorry about that. But I want to make that
perfectly clear because these are comments that I get very
often say, well, Ham radio, you have to give up
your fourthment. Well, no, you don't. Number one and number two.
If you're operating a CB or an f RS radio

(13:41):
or anything else, then you're agreeing to that by keying
up that microphone on those frequencies. Whether you agree with
that law or not, that is the current law in
place in the United States. Now. I have heard about
a lawsuit going on against the FCC for this, for
this being a rule at all, and I got to

(14:02):
look that up. Somebody email me an article about that,
so I need to look that up. If you have
any information about not send me an email to KC
five HBB at gmail dot com. We'd like to. I
know some people are talking about suing the FCC saying
you can't add this to the radio service. You can't say, oh,
we have the right to inspect your station. They want
them to remove that completely from all the radio services,

(14:22):
and I would agree with that. I would agree with that.
I would totally be on board with that and all
radio services. So let me know what you guys think
about this article. Let me know if you've listened to
seventy two hundred lately, and if you enjoyed this video,
Thank you for watching. Check out these videos over here
because YouTube thinks you want to watch those next. We'll
catch you next time.