The Federal Communications Commission issued a citation to Progressive Concepts for marketing an unauthorized RF amplifier to U.S. customers. There’s no fine involved and the company stopped offering the models involved once it was contacted by the FCC, though the commission told it that future violations could result in penalties.
The case began in 2008 when the Enforcement Bureau investigated a complaint alleging possible sale of unauthorized equipment by Progressive, based in the Chicago area. The bureau staff looked at Progressive’s Web site and saw the company was marketing numerous RF devices including external RF amplifiers and asked Progressive about that.
Progressive told the commission it marketed 13 models of external RF amplifiers, all which operated in the 88–108 MHz frequency band, that had not been certified; specifically, four models manufactured by PTEK (FM2000, FM3000, FM4000 and FM 5000), eight models manufactured by Broadcast Warehouse Ltd. (IKWA, 525K, 1040K, 1150K, 1300K, 300WPA,S, 600WPP,S and 600WPA,S) and one model manufactured by Broadcast Concepts (80WPA).
Progressive said it “was led to believe by the manufacturers that these devices fell under verification and did not require certification,” according to the FCC’s citation. The company stopped marketing the 13 models in the U.S. once it was contacted by the agency.
The commission said all 13 models of external RF amplifiers operate on frequencies below 144 MHz and must be authorized according to the FCC’s equipment certification procedures before being marketed here. It told Progressive that once it receives the citation, if the company violates the FCC rules it can be fined up to $16,000 per violation or per day. Progressive has 30 days to respond and tell the FCC what it will do to ensure it does not violate the rules in the future.
