You might have heard that radio equipment no longer has to be type accepted like it did in the past. While this might be true in the most literal sense, federal regulators are still very much interested in making sure that radio equipment is safe for consumers to use. With an increased amount of public scrutiny on safety coupled with a market that’s loaded with competitors that your customers could potentially turn to, radio type approval has never been more important.
Part 95 devices, such as Citizen’s Band radio transceivers, have to undergo an internal radio type approval process. Though it can be tempting to believe that this means they don’t need to be put to any real stringent battery of tests, the opposite is true. While the FCC does allow individual companies to submit their own results, there’s always the risk that a regulator might want to eventually audit them independently in order to ensure that a specific device is safe to use. That’s one of the biggest reasons that many organizations have opted to work with technicians from outside authorities. These individuals are often skilled in one specific area of testing, which means they might spot something that business representatives may never have noticed.
Digital wireless devices, such as those that utilize Part 15 frequencies for data communications, have to go through their own radio type approval process. Even a remote controlled truck would have to do so, which means that your business should be keeping an eye out for any regulatory challenges it could run into.
