Re: FCC BDC engineer?

[Jay Hennigan <jay () west net>]

On 7/5/22 15:27, Glenn Kelley wrote:
> I fully expect this to come down to someone needing to be an "engineer."

From an FCC standpoint, at one time an FCC-issued  operator license was 
required to maintain licensed radio equipment. First Class for radio and 
television broadcasting, Second Class for commercial two-way, marine, 
aircraft, etc. Even radio DJs had to have a license, at least Third 
Class with broadcast endorsement. The Third Class was a fairly easy 
test, more about rules and regulations than the technical stuff.

The title of "Broadcast Engineer" or "Chief Engineer" was common in the 
industry for an FCC-licensed individual in a technical capacity and 
written into the FCC regulations at the time.

They later simplified it to a "General Radiotelephone" which was pretty 
much the same as the Second Class license.

About the same time FCC dropped the requirements requiring licenses for 
personnel working on at least most licensed equipment, leaving it up to 
the station licensee to ensure that they employed competent people and 
that the station complied with the technical requirements.

FCC still issues the licenses but the actual testing is no longer done 
at FCC field offices. Radio and TV stations still call their head 
technical person "Chief Engineer".

I don't know if an FCC-licensed individual would qualify, but there's 
history of FCC recognizing the title of engineer for people that the FCC 
itself vetted.

--
Jay Hennigan - jay () west net
Network Engineering - CCIE #7880
503 897-8550 - WB6RDV