Here's your ARRL Tennessee Section Update for September 29:
Our TN State Government Liaison, Andrew Gossett N5EI, has given a report on TN Senate Bill 459 which is currently in summer study. This bill pertains to medical cannabis cultivation facilities. Installations of this nature commonly utilize large installations of grow lights, which are a common source of RF interference for amateur radio operators. The ARRL Laboratory has tested and documented several common brands of grow lights that grossly exceed FCC Part 15 and Part 18 emissions limits.
With the Tennessee Senate Bill 459 currently being studied, we have an opportunity to encourage an amendment to include safeguards to protect the public against RF interference. The request is narrow: a licensed facility should have a contact for interference reports, investigate credible complaints, and correct interference traced to its equipment. This protects public safety and amateur radio communications while leaving federal emission standards and technical interference findings with the FCC.
If you are interested in encouraging your elected officials to include language to protect us from RFI produced by these facilities, you can write or email your local legislator or a member of the TN Senate Judiciary Committee. Here is a link to the web page: Senate Judiciary Committee Roster
Here is a sample letter you can use:
Dear Senator [Last Name],
I am a licensed amateur radio operator in [city or county]. As you consider SB 459, please address interference from electronic grow lights in any indoor cultivation proposal.
The proposed amendment provides for facility inspections and security lighting, but does not require a facility to receive radio interference reports, investigate them, or correct interference traced to its equipment. This matters to public safety radio users and to amateur radio volunteers who help pass weather and emergency messages. The American Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio, has documented interference from some grow lights more than 1,000 feet away.
Please add a license condition requiring facilities to use equipment that meets applicable federal requirements, provide a contact for interference reports, promptly investigate credible reports, correct interference traced to their equipment, and document the correction. The FCC should retain authority over federal emission limits and technical interference findings.
Thank you for considering this safeguard during the SB 459 study.
[Name] [Call sign] [City or county]
Click the link below to view the AUGUST 19, 2026 EDITION of the ARRL Tennessee Section PIC Newsletter from Sky McCracken KO4DKI - TN Section Public Information Coordinator
AUGUST 19, 2026 TN ARRL PIC NEWSLETTER
Volunteer State "WORKED ALL COUNTIES" Event - Click This Link For Details
YOU CAN HELP US CHANGE THE LEGAL RIGHTS OF AMERICAN HAMS - An Important Bulletin From The ARRL:
The ARRL is focused on reducing legal restraints on the ability of American Amateur Radio Operators to engage in the active practice and enjoyment of Amateur Radio.
One of the most insidious and increasing threats to the survival of Amateur Radio and our ability to serve our communities and Nation, as we are required to do by Federal regulation, is the proliferation of private land use restrictions that prohibit the installation of outdoor antennas and that sometimes actually deny Federally licensed Amateurs from operating any amateur radios, regardless of where their antennas are located — in their attics, hidden in trees, or mounted on their vehicles.
Federal law — since 1996 — has guaranteed to every American — except Amateur Radio Operators — the right to erect antennas outside or on their residences for the purpose of TV reception, satellite TV and internet access, wireless internet access and even wireless internet redistribution. But Amateur Radio operators are denied the equal right to erect comparable antennas. Since 2005 Federal law has also guaranteed to every American the right to proudly display the American Flag by installing flagpoles in their yards. But, despite that right to install vertical poles in their yards — American Radio Amateurs are denied the right to use those vertical flagpoles as vertical antennas.
We believe the denial — to licensed Amateur Radio Operators — of the rights guaranteed to all non-Amateur Radio licensed American homeowners — the right to install antennas on the land they own — is without justification and should not be permitted to continue.
To eliminate these private land use restrictions, the ARRL has worked over the past several years with our elected officials to draft Congressional legislation — H.R. 1094 in the U.S. House of Representatives and S. 459 in the U.S. Senate — that when passed will extend to all Hams the right to operate from their homes and the right to install antennas on the land they own. We have bipartisan support for this legislation.
BUT, WE NEED YOUR HELP TO PASS THIS LEGISLATION!!!
How can you help? By sending a letter to your Representative and Senators asking that they co-sponsor and support H.R. 1094 and S. 459. How can you send these letters? It is easy.
Go to — https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/ — enter your call sign and click on “Send My Letters” and your letters will be delivered to our Washington legislative team for hand delivery to your Representative and Senators.
Does your individual letter matter? YES.
Your Representative and Senators need to know that the passage of this legislation is important to you.
Your letter could be the difference in whether we are able to pass H.R. 1094 and S. 459.
Go to — https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/ — and help us by sending your letters to your Representative and Senators.