Re: FCC

["Jim Lux" <jimlux-at-jpl.nasa.gov> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

There is some dispute about the FCC regulatory aspects of tesla coils.

Your TC is what is known as an "unintentional radiator" (that is, you
aren't trying to put out RF, it just happens as a byproduct of what you are
doing).  This is good, because damped sinusoid transmissions (what a TC
puts out) are specifically forbidden for intentional radiators (The part of
the regs that killed "King Spark").

Then, you fall into a whole set of requirements about how much RF power you
can legally radiate, and how you go about verifying it.  This is all
described in some detail in Part 15 of the FCC regs (47 CFR).  You can get
wrapped around the axle about what class your TC falls into, whether you
are a manufacturer or not, whethere it is Industrial Scientific Medical
equipment, whether it is experimental lab equipment, etc.... all these
questions are best avoided... (Leaving aside folks who build and display
coils for a living, who have to deal with this issue with shielding cages
and the like).

Ultimately, the practical impact is this: If you don't interfere, then
nobody will complain, and the FCC won't ever hear about you.  

Fortunately, most TC's are very poor antennas, and don't actually radiate
much RF power.  Conduction back through the power lines (either directly,
or by capacitive coupling) will be the most likely way to radiate or
interfere, so use an RFI filter.

----------
> From: Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: FCC
> Date: Friday, July 14, 2000 10:01 PM
> 
> Original poster: "Nick Graber" <nickgraber-at-home-dot-com> 
> 
> I have a question about the fcc.  It has been pointed out that teslacoils
cause
> interfirence with other electronical devices and RF is it nessacary to
got a
> licence to run a teslacoil or such a thing.  I was just wondering.
>  
> Nick Graber
> nickgraber-at-home-dot-com
> 
> 
>