I heard that it is legal to operate a radio station up to 1 watt without a radio license...

The Question

I heard that it is legal to operate a radio station up to 1 watt without an FCC radio license. Is this true?

The Answer

Definitely not. it is legal to do up to 100 milliwatts on am with an
antenna plus groundwire no longer than 3 meters, or on fm you can not
make a signal strength in the fm band that is more than 150 microvolts
per meter.

Here's the rule:

		THE FCC ON ONE WATT STATIONS
		CHAPTER I -- FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION PART 15--RADIO FREQUENCY DEVICES--Table of Contents Subpart B--Unintentional Radiators Sec. 15.109 Radiated emission limits. (a) Except for Class A digital devices, the field strength of radiated emissions from unintentional radiators at a distance of 3 meters shall not exceed the following values: freq: 88-216 MHz 150 microvolts/meter^2

that translates out to be about 1/25th of a watt of power for your amplifier,
into a standard dipole antenna.

See our article, "appropriate channels"
for more about the viability of operating a radio station under such constraints.
http://prometheusradio.org/low_power_radio/alternatives/

So, that is what is legal. We have never heard of anyone being busted
for an operation that was smaller than a few watts- mostly people get
busted have 20 watt amplifiers at least. In fact, we heard of someone
who was visited by a field agent who said he wouldn't bust them if they
didn't go over three watts. This is the equivalent of a state trooper
not giving you a ticket for going 71 MPH in a 65 MPH zone- they could
give you the ticket, but they usually don't.We know of stations that have
been on the air for seven and eight years without ever having a visit
from the FCC, too. No one complained, so the FCC never came or even knew
about it, probably. Truthfully, a lot of computer monitors , garage door
openers, WiFi devices and other things often malfunction and put out a
bit more than the stated legal limit, and you don't see SWAT teams coming
in and busting down the doors.

So you can make your own judgment about what level of risk you feel comfortable
with. Now you know what the law actually is, and what level of activity
can be described as legal. Prometheus in no way advocates that anyone
break any broadcast laws, nor do we support them in that activity.

Any one who tells you that they have some device that they can sell you,
that can reach more than a half mile to a mile of SOLID coverage, that
you do not need a license for to operate legally- they are almost certainly
a liar or severely misinformed.