UK Lifts Transmitter Ban

The UK's Office of Communications, also known as Ofcom, will soon lift a ban on portable FM audio transmitters used for wirelessly sending music from a music player (e.g., Griffin's iTrip), according to Electronista. While these devices were given preliminary legalization with the 2003 Wireless Telegraphy Exemption Regulations Act, Ofcom has only recently finished consultations with concerned parties that would assuage early fears about signal interference. FM transmitters and similar equipment were effectively blocked by the 1949 Wireless Telegraphy Act, which gives licensed UK broadcasters unrestricted access to assigned frequencies and thus bans any electronics which override those broadcasts over even a short distance. The ban will be officially lifted on December 8th, Ofcom says, but transmitters will still require Europe's CE health and safety certifications before they can be sold in the country.

by MacNN Staff