We are talking power levels of 50 to 100milliwatts. With an eirp of even less.

What is the power level in the US where devices become unregulated.

These party balloons are below the weight where a permit is required to fly.

I would expect that the same applies to the RF signal.??

73s HNY

Trevor

VK3PD

Sent from my Samsung GALAXY S5

-------- Original message --------
From: Bruce Beford N1RX <n1rx@...>
Date: 2/01/2018 02:28 (GMT+10:00)
To: [email protected]
Subject: [QRPLabs] HF beacons for US launched balloons

One of the great aspects of the Amateur Radio hobby is the wide variety of activities and sub-topics. One can move in and out of different areas of the field- wherever your interests take you. Having only been a licensed amateur for a bit over 30 years, I still learn something new regularly.
Of interest to me, is the recent proliferation of high altitude balloons with sensors and telemetry transmitters aboard. For many years, these beacon transmitters have been primarily in the VHF/UHF range. My understanding is that this was for a number of reasons, including the need for light payloads, and international regulations concerning unattended (un-controlled) beacons. Of late, I see many that are transmitting in the HF spectrum, using the weak signal modes of WSPR and JT9, for example.
It has always been my understanding of FCC regulations that unattended beacons below 28 MHz were not allowed for USA amateurs. This appears to have somewhat been ignored by the masses of people running WSPR beacons 24/7- These are not intended to be unattended transmitters. However...
I am curious if there has been an exception made for balloon flights for these unattended HF beacons that are operating under FCC regulations and carrying US callsigns. If this is the case, I would greatly appreciate someone being able to help me locate the appropriate regulation or notice from the FCC that allows this.
Thanks in advance,
Bruce Beford, N1RX