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