## Legal Context ##
-It is not clear to us that all of the approaches people have taken over
-the years to put off the shelf radios in rockets are actually legal. To
-legally operate a radio transmitter, we need to understand and adhere
-to the rules that regulate use of the radio frequency spectrum. When
-commercial radio components are used in ways the original designer did not
-envision, the rules against which they were designed and certified may not
-still apply. But because rocket flights are short and often happen in
-remote places, and the chance of harmful interference to other radio users is
-therefore pretty small, we're never heard of anyone being fined or
-prosecuted over this.
-
-In the United States, the rules that matter to us are published by the
-Federal Communications Commission, or [FCC](http://fcc.gov/). Under Part 15
-of the FCC rules, it is possible to design and build radios that can be used
-without each user needing to hold an FCC license. However, complying with
-those regulations isn't trivial and isn't cheap. But all hope is not
-lost! There's an alternative, unambiguously legal
-approach to operating our radio links.
+To legally operate a radio transmitter, we need to understand and adhere
+to the rules that regulate use of the radio frequency spectrum. In the
+United States, the rules that matter to us are published by the
+Federal Communications Commission, or [FCC](http://fcc.gov/). Under various
+sections of the FCC rules, particularly Part 15, it is possible to design
+and build radios that can be used
+without each user needing to hold an FCC license. Complying with those
+regulations isn't trivial and isn't cheap. Forunately, there is an
+alternative.
FCC Part 97 and its equivalent in
other countries define an "amateur radio" (sometimes called "ham radio")
projects / web / altusmetrum / blobdiff