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Documenti |
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An Act To regulate
radio communication, approved August 13, 1912
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[PUBLIC--NO.
264.]
[S. 6412.]
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Radio
act.
License.
Penalty. |
Be
it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America
in Congress assembled, That a person,
company, or corporation within the jurisdiction
of the United States shall not use or operate
any apparatus for radio communication as a means
of commercial intercourse among the several
States, or with foreign nations, or upon any
vessel of the United States engaged in
interstate or foreign commerce, or for the
transmission of radiograms or signals the effect
of which extends beyond the jurisdiction of the
State or Territory in which the same are made,
or where interference would be caused thereby
with the receipt of messages or signals from
beyond the jurisdiction of the said State or
Territory, except under and in accordance with a
license, revocable for cause, in that behalf
granted by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
upon application therefor; but nothing in this
Act shall be construed to apply to the
transmission and exchange of radiograms or
signals between points situated in the same
State: Provided, That the effect thereof
shall not extend beyond the jurisdiction of the
said State or interfere with the reception of
radiograms or signals from beyond said
jurisdiction; and a license shall not be
required for the transmission or exchange of
radiograms or signals by or on behalf of the
Government of the United States, but every
Government station on land or sea shall have
special call letters designated and published in
the list of radio stations of the United States
by the Department of Commerce and Labor. Any
person, company, or corporation that shall use
or operate any apparatus for radio communication
in violation of this section, or knowingly aid
or abet another person, company, or corporation
in so doing, shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be
punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred
dollars, and the apparatus or device so
unlawfully used and operated may be adjudged
forfeited to the United States. |
| License
form. |
SEC. 2. That every such license
shall be in such form as the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor shall determine and shall
contain the restrictions, pursuant to this Act,
on and subject to which the license is granted;
that every such license shall be issued only to
citizens of the United States or Porto Rico or
to a company incorporated under the laws of some
State or Territory or of the United States or
Porto Rico, and shall specify the ownership and
location of the station in which said apparatus
shall be used and other particulars for its
identification and to enable its range to be
estimated; shall state the purpose of the
station, and in case of a station in actual
operation at the date of passage of this Act,
shall contain the statement that satisfactory
proof has been furnished that it was actually
operating on the above-mentioned date; shall
state the wave length or the wave lengths
authorized for use by the station for the
prevention of interference and the hours for
which the station is licensed for work; and
shall not be construed to authorize the use of
any apparatus for radio communication in any
other station than that specified. Every such
license shall be subject to the regulations
contained herein, and such regulations as may be
established from time to time by authority of
this Act or subsequent Acts and treaties of the
United States. Every such license shall provide
that the President of the United States in time
of war or public peril or disaster may cause the
closing of any station for radio communication
and the removal therefrom of all radio apparatus,
or may authorize the use or control of any such
station or apparatus by any department of the
Government, upon just compensation to the owners. |
Operators.
Suspension of license.
Penalty.
Temporary permit. |
SEC. 3. That every such
apparatus shall at all times while in use and
operation as aforesaid be in charge or under the
supervision of a person or persons licensed for
that purpose by the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor. Every person so licensed who in the
operation of any radio apparatus shall fail to
observe and obey regulations contained in or
made pursuant to this Act or subsequent Acts or
treaties of the United States, or any one of
them, or who shall fail to enforce obedience
thereto by an unlicensed person while serving
under his supervision, in addition to the
punishments and penalties herein prescribed, may
suffer the suspension of the said license for a
period to be fixed by the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor not exceeding one year. It shall be
unlawful to employ any unlicensed person or for
any unlicensed person to serve in charge or in
supervision of the use and operation of such
apparatus, and any person violating this
provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and
on conviction thereof shall be punished by a
fine of not more than one hundred dollars or
imprisonment for not more than two months; or
both, in the discretion of the court, for each
and every such offense: Provided, That in
case of emergency the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor may authorize a collector of customs to
issue a temporary permit, in lieu of a license,
to the operator on a vessel subject to the radio
ship Act of June twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred
and ten. |
Regulations. |
SEC. 4. That for the purpose of
preventing or minimizing interference with
communication between stations in which such
apparatus is operated, to facilitate radio
communication, and to further the prompt receipt
of distress signals, said private and commercial
stations shall be subject to the regulations of
this section. These regulations shall be
enforced by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
through the collectors of customs and other
officers of the Government as other regulations
herein provided for. |
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The
Secretary of Commerce and Labor may, in his
discretion, waive the provisions of any or all
of these regulations when no interference of the
character above mentioned can ensue. |
| Experimental
stations. |
The
Secretary of Commerce and Labor may grant
special temporary licenses to stations actually
engaged in conducting experiments for the
development of the science of radio
communication, or the apparatus pertaining
thereto, to carry on special tests, using any
amount of power or any wave lengths, at such
hours and under such conditions as will insure
the least interference with the sending or
receipt of commercial or Government radiograms,
of distress signals and radiograms, or with the
work of other stations.
In these regulations the
naval and military stations shall be understood
to be stations on land. |
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REGULATIONS.
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NORMAL WAVE LENGTH.
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First.
Every station shall be required to designate a
certain definite wave length as the normal
sending and receiving wave length of the
station. This wave length shall not exceed six
hundred meters or it shall exceed one thousand
six hundred meters. Every coastal station open
to general public service shall at all times be
ready to receive messages of such wave lengths
as are required by the Berlin
convention. Every ship station, except as
hereinafter provided, and every coast station
open to general public service shall be prepared
to use two sending wave lengths, one of three
hundred meters and one of six hundred meters, as
required by the international convention in
force: Provided, That the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor may, in his discretion,
change the limit of wave length reservation made
by regulations first and second to accord with
any international agreement to which the United
States is a party. |
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OTHER WAVE LENGTHS.
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Second.
In addition to the normal sending wave length
all stations, except as provided hereinafter in
these regulations, may use other sending wave
lengths: Provided, That
they do not exceed six hundred meters or that
they do exceed one thousand six hundred meters:
Provided further, That the character of
the waves emitted conforms to the requirements
of regulations third and fourth following. |
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USE OF A "PURE WAVE."
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Third. At
all stations if the sending apparatus, to be
referred to hereinafter as the "transmitter,"
is of such a character that the energy is
radiated in two or more wave lengths, more or
less sharply defined, as indicated by a
sensitive wave meter, the energy in no one of
the lesser waves shall exceed ten per centum of
that in the greatest. |
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USE OF A "SHARP
WAVE."
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Fourth.
At all stations the logarithmic decrement per
complete oscillation in the wave trains emitted
by the transmitter shall not exceed two-tenths,
except when sending distress signals or signals
and messages relating thereto. |
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USE OF "STANDARD DISTRESS
WAVE."
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Fifth.
Every station on shipboard shall be prepared to
send distress calls on the normal wave length
designated by the international convention in
force, except on vessels of small tonnage unable
to have plants insuring that wave length. |
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SIGNAL OF DISTRESS.
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Sixth.
The distress call used shall be the
international signal of distress ...---... |
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USE OF "BROAD INTERFERING
WAVE" FOR DISTRESS
SIGNALS.
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Seventh.
When sending distress signals, the transmitter
of a station on shipboard may be tuned in such a
manner as to create a maximum of interference
with a maximum of radiation. |
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DISTANCE REQUIREMENT FOR DISTRESS
SIGNALS.
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Eighth.
Every station on shipboard, wherever practicable,
shall be prepared to send distress signals of
the character specified in regulations fifth and
sixth with sufficient power to enable them to be
received by day over sea a distance of one
hundred nautical miles by a shipboard station
equipped with apparatus for both sending and
receiving equal in all essential particulars to
that of the station first mentioned. |
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"RIGHT OF WAY" FOR
DISTRESS SIGNALS.
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Ninth.
All stations are required to give absolute
priority to signals and radiograms relating to
ships in distress; to cease all sending on
hearing a distress signal; and, except when
engaged in answering or aiding the ship in
distress, to refrain from sending until all
signals and radiograms relating thereto are
completed. |
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REDUCED POWER FOR SHIPS NEAR A
GOVERNMENT STATION.
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Tenth. No
station on shipboard, when within fifteen
nautical miles of a naval or military station,
shall use a transformer input exceeding one
kilowatt, nor, when within five nautical miles
of such a station, a transformer input exceeding
one-half kilowatt, except for sending signals of
distress, or signals or radiograms relating
thereto. |
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INTERCOMMUNICATION.
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Eleventh.
Each shore station open to general public
service between the coast and vessels at sea
shall be bound to exchange radiograms with any
similar shore station and with any ship station
without distinction of the radio system adopted
by such stations, respectively, and each station
on shipboard shall be bound to exchange
radiograms with any other station on shipboard
without distinction of the radio systems adopted
by each station, respectively.
It shall be the duty of
each such shore station, during the hours it is
in operation, to listen in at intervals of not
less than fifteen minutes and for a period not
less than two minutes, with the receiver tuned
to receive messages of three hundred meter wave
lengths. |
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DIVISION OF TIME.
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Twelfth.
At important seaports and at all other places
where naval or military and private or
commercial shore stations operate in such close
proximity that interference with the work of
naval and military stations can not be avoided
by the enforcement of the regulations contained
in the foregoing regulations concerning wave
lengths and character of signals emitted, such
private or commercial shore stations as do
interfere with the reception of signals by the
naval and military stations concerned shall not
use their transmitters during the first fifteen
minutes of each hour, local standard time. The
Secretary of Commerce and Labor may, on the
recommendation of the department concerned,
designate the station or stations which may be
required to observe this division of time. |
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GOVERNMENT STATIONS TO OBSERVE
DIVISION OF TIME.
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Thirteenth.
The naval or military stations for which the
above-mentioned division of time may be
established shall transmit signals or radiograms
only during the first fifteen minutes of each
hour, local standard time, except in case of
signals or radiograms relating to vessels in
distress, as hereinbefore provided. |
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USE OF UNNECESSARY POWER.
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Fourteenth.
In all circumstances, except in case of signals
or radiograms relating to vessels in distress,
all stations shall use the minimum amount of
energy necessary to carry out any communication
desired. |
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GENERAL RESTRICTIONS ON
PRIVATE STATIONS.
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Fifteenth.
No private or commercial station not engaged in
the transaction of bona fide commercial business
by radio communication or in experimentation in
connection with the development and manufacture
of radio apparatus for commercial purposes shall
use a transmitting wave length exceeding two
hundred meters, or a transformer input exceeding
one kilowatt, except by special authority of the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor contained in the
license of that station: Provided, That
the owner or operator of a station of the
character mentioned in this regulation shall not
be liable for a violation of the requirements of
the third
or fourth
regulations to the penalties of one hundred
dollars or twenty-five dollars, respectively,
provided in this section unless the person
maintaining or operating such station shall have
been notified in writing that the said
transmitter has been found, upon tests conducted
by the Government, to be so adjusted as to
violate the said third and fourth regulations,
and opportunity has been given to said owner or
operator to adjust said transmitter in
conformity with said regulations. |
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SPECIAL RESTRICTIONS IN THE
VICINITIES OF GOVERNMENT
STATIONS.
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Sixteenth.
No station of the character mentioned in
regulation fifteenth situated within five
nautical miles of a naval or military station
shall use a transmitting wave length exceeding
two hundred meters or a transformer input
exceeding one-half kilowatt. |
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SHIP STATIONS TO COMMUNICATE
WITH NEAREST SHORE STATIONS.
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Seventeenth.
In general, the shipboard stations shall
transmit their radiograms to the nearest shore
station. A sender on board a vessel shall,
however, have the right to designate the shore
station through which he desires to have his
radiograms transmitted. If this can not be done,
the wishes of the sender are to be complied with
only if the transmission can be effected without
interfering with the service of other stations. |
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LIMITATIONS FOR FUTURE INSTALLATIONS IN
VICINITIES OF GOVERNMENT
STATIONS.
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Eighteenth.
No station on shore not in actual operation at
the date of the passage of this Act shall be
licensed for the transaction of commercial
business by radio communication within fifteen
nautical miles of the following naval or
military stations, to wit: Arlington, Virginia;
Key West, Florida; San Juan, Porto Rico; North
Head and Tatoosh Island, Washington; San Diego,
California; and those established or which may
be established in Alaska and in the Canal Zone;
and the head of the department having control of
such Government stations shall, so far as is
consistent with the transaction of governmental
business, arrange for the transmission and
receipt of commercial radiograms under the
provisions of the Berlin
convention of nineteen hundred and six and future
international conventions or treaties to
which the United States may be a party, at each
of the stations above referred to, and shall fix
the rates therefor, subject to control of such
rates by Congress. At such stations and wherever
and whenever shore stations open for general
public business between the coast and vessels at
sea under the provisions of the Berlin
convention of nineteen hundred and six and
future international conventions and treaties to
which the United States may be a party shall not
be so established as to insure a constant
service day and night without interruption, and
in all localities wherever or whenever such
service shall not be maintained by a commercial
shore station within one hundred nautical miles
of a naval radio station, the Secretary of the
Navy shall, so far as is consistent with the
transaction of Government business, open naval
radio stations to the general public business
described above, and shall fix rates for such
service, subject to control of such rates by
Congress. The receipts from such radiograms
shall be covered into the Treasury as
miscellaneous receipts. |
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SECRECY OF MESSAGES.
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Nineteenth.
No person or persons engaged in or having
knowledge of the operation of any station or
stations, shall divulge or publish the contents
of any messages transmitted or received by such
station, except to the person or persons to whom
the same may be directed, or their authorized
agent, or to another station employed to forward
such message to its destination, unless legally
required so to do by the court of competent
jurisdiction or other competent authority. Any
person guilty of divulging or publishing any
message, except as herein provided, shall, on
conviction thereof, be punishable by a fine of
not more than two hundred and fifty dollars or
imprisonment for a period of not exceeding three
months, or both fine and imprisonment, in the
discretion of the court. |
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PENALTIES.
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For
violation of any of these regulations, subject
to which a license under sections one and two of
this Act may be issued, the owner of the
apparatus shall be liable to a penalty of one
hundred dollars, which may be reduced or
remitted by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor,
and for repeated violations of any of such
regulations, the license may be revoked.
For violation of any of
these regulations, except as provided in
regulation nineteenth, subject to which a
license under section three of this Act may be
issued, the operator shall be subject to a
penalty of twenty-five dollars, which may be
reduced or remitted by the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor, and for repeated violations of any
such regulations, the license shall be suspended
or revoked. |
| Interference. |
SEC. 5. That every license
granted under the provisions of this Act for the
operation or use or apparatus for radio
communication shall prescribe that the operator
thereof shall not willfully or maliciously
interfere with any other radio communication.
Such interference shall be deemed a misdemeanor,
and upon conviction thereof the owner or
operator, or both, shall be punishable by a fine
of not to exceed five hundred dollars or
imprisonment for not to exceed one year, or both. |
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SEC. 6. That the expression
"radio communication" as used in this
Act means any system of electrical communication
by telegraphy or telephony without the aid of
any wire connecting the points from and at which
the radiograms, signals, or other communications
are sent or received. |
| False
signals. |
SEC. 7. That a person, company,
or corporation within the jurisdiction of the
United States shall not knowingly utter or
transmit, or cause to be uttered or transmitted,
any false or fraudulent distress signal or call
or false or fraudulent signal, call, or other
radiogram of any kind. The penalty for so
uttering or transmitting a false or fraudulent
distress signal or call shall be a fine of not
more than two thousand five hundred dollars or
imprisonment for not more than five years, or
both, in the discretion of the court, for each
and every such offense, and the penalty for so
uttering or transmitting, or causing to be
uttered or transmitted, any other false or
fraudulent signal, call, or other radiogram
shall be a fine of not more than one thousand
dollars or imprisonment for not more than two
years, or both, in the discretion of the court,
for each and every such offense. |
| Foreign vessels. |
SEC. 8. That a person, company,
or corporation shall not use or operate any
apparatus for radio communication on a foreign
ship in territorial waters of the United States
otherwise than in accordance with the provisions
of sections four and seven of this Act and so
much of section five as imposes a penalty for
interference. Save as aforesaid, nothing in this
Act shall apply to apparatus for radio
communication on any foreign ship. |
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SEC. 9. That the trial of any
offense under this Act shall be in the district
in which it is committed, or if the offense is
committed upon the high seas or out of the
jurisdiction of any particular State or district
the trial shall be in the district where the
offender may be found or into which he shall be
first brought. |
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SEC. 10. That this Act shall not
apply to the Philippine Islands. |
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SEC. 11. That this Act shall
take effect and be in force on and after four
months from its passage. |
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Approved,
August 13, 1912. |
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