A couple of meetings today… Fun… Still, I might get some work out of the first one. I expect to be home really really late tonight – there is a lot to discuss, and I would rather the meeting be finished today rather than continue tomorrow.

Reading Engadget there is a story about extended range 802.11 antennas (Cantenas) being deemed illegal in Sacramento, California. Well, technically I think they are, at least in Australia, and probably in many parts of the world. The way that WiFi is licensed as a radio transmitter is that the unit puts out a fixed power, and is not modifiable. Once you modify it (by using an antenna that did not come with the unit), it technically looses it’s approval, meaning you are liable to a $250K fine if you are a business, or a $50K fine for an individual.

When was the last time anyone got such a fine. I dont know that they ever have. The poilice ignore the radiocommunications laws. Well, if you can get people admitting to breaking the Telecommunications (Interceptions) Act on the front page of the SMH then there is something wrong. Particularly if they are the police. [See the publication of information about Wiretaps about the Cantabury Bankstown deal with Liverpool Council]

On the same vein, state law has outlawed radar detectors. These are devices that receive 10GHz and 24GHz radio energy, and give an alarm if they get any. They also give some of this off which is how they can be detected by the police. Anyway a Ham Radio operator was pulled over by the police for using one up near Newcastle. They fined him, and then tried to confiscate his detector, and then fined him when he would not hand it over.

He then contested the case, basically on constitutional grounds. You see, the state cannot make something illegal that is specifically made legal by the commonwealth. This person was specifically able to recieve 10 and 24GHz thanks to his license from the commonwealth. After he brought his license in, the judge asked the police for their license for their radar gun. Their radar was not licensed, and the case was thrown out. Oops.