50mw Laser- ILLEGAL IN FLORIDA?

hakzaw1 said:

especially moh--no joke either--i worry that same could happen to a dozen good friends I have here--

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I must have missed that...

I got a letter from the FDA a week after I bought a 60mW green laser from LaserGlow back in 2005. They told me it was marked as "seized" in customs but for some reason it slipped through and I received it anyway. All they basically said was to show proof I returned it and no fines or charges will be pressed. That's what I did. Good thing too. Back then it cost me over 500 bucks for 60mW.

-Tony

Xplorer877 said:

I got a letter from the FDA a week after I bought a 60mW green laser from LaserGlow back in 2005. They told me it was marked as "seized" in customs but for some reason it slipped through and I received it anyway. All they basically said was to show proof I returned it and no fines or charges will be pressed. That's what I did. Good thing too. Back then it cost me over 500 bucks for 60mW.

-Tony

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It's amazing how far technology has progressed in the last two and a half centuries, and especially in the last 40 or so years. With lasers just in the past few years.

Can't wait to see what the future holds.

I know right. I think about that every night before going to bed. Or even while viewing the night sky. The future holds many things for us thats for sure :beer:

Xplorer877 - I thought Laserglow sold FDA certified lasers? Laserglow claims to never have a problem with U.S. customs because of the FDA approved safety systems. Did you get any response from Laserglow over this?

Not all of LG's stuff is FDA compliant, any GLP (pen) style over 5mW is noncompliant. You can still get it through customs, but it is a gamble. It's right on every page where noncompliant lasers are listed that if you need a FDA approved one you have to get the larger form factor and higher priced version.

. I have asked and in TX no special law exist but Feds are changing laws as we speak.

All I could really find was CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 as imposed by the FDA

Look to the FCC for laws to come soon, as laser light is EM and FCC I am sure are going include lasers in the code in the near future.

all the lasers can comply with the laws so far with a key switch and safety switch, as long as it has the proper label attached and is not sold as a laser pointer. IE... a 1.5w laser should be sold as a medical or science related product or even a laser show product.

if all FDA protocol is met they wont take it. As far as I know, and I can find no law about making your own laser even if its a 1GW beam.

I use my lasers in the sky but I have to be careful we got the one plane you don't want to hit that flies in sometimes. All aircraft must use anti collision lights at night and you should never aim at a strobe light in the air, you can't miss it at night, them strobes are clear from the ground at over 20k feet at night. If you do hit say a ah64d right upside the FLIR and they are not their strobes they cant do crap by law, all bet are off on AF1 though you could be in Cuba before you know it.

TheReddish said:

Look to the FCC for laws to come soon, as laser light is EM and FCC I am sure are going include lasers in the code in the near future.

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It's already part of the Amateur Radio Licensed spectrum. However, it holds "dual categorization" as both a regulated and unregulated band with the intended use used to determine which set of laws it has to follow. For the HAM use there is an upper limit of 1500W on all EM emissions and a requirement for it to not cause interference to non HAM uses, as well as a requirement to not exceed MPE limits to personel near the transmitter. As an Extra Class HAM I can claim all of my portable laser equipment is for alignment as long as I have a copy of my license and my actual laser communicators with me. If I had an EME or SatComm setup I could even claim/use my lasers for aligning those, which would allow me to point as strong of a beam as I wish in the sky *as long as it would not endanger nor cross paths with any aircrafts*.

This is KE5** (protecting from internet spies) roger that, lol I almost forgot about my HAM years, how many ppl still know Morse code anyway, been so long I had forgot just about every thing I learned to get my advanced licence, back in the early 90s.

Good to know anyway, made it easy to pass my 31U course in 95. Scouts always made me come with them in AK, they could never aim a damn high gain antenna, but had no problem in land nav, proof that only commo guys can do commo stuff.