Carl Blare

KDX stopped broadcasting about 9:15 PM and things became quiet for awhile, until just after 10 when I started to DX across the AM dial. I especially checked 830kHz after previously finding an amazingly talented personality there a few weeks ago. Wow, tonight he did the best radio hour I’ve heard since Bob and Ray in the 1950s. It seems that his producer had goofed up and not made contact with the scheduled guest and there was no backup phone number. The radio host (pretended) to throw a slow motion tantrum, starting with being rude to callers and complaining to them about how bad his producer was. Then he descended to saying he was in the mood to get fired and started throwing objects at the wall.

So I did some homework and have a full report for you here at part15.us because maybe you’d like to try him either by DXing the AM dial, listening to the live stream at WCCO, or catching the podcast, which is posted daily.

The guy’s name is Tommy Mishke, weeknights 10 – 12M

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nite-show-with-mischke/id391300270?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

That’s the podcast page, please look for the Dec. 15th show, 1st Hour.

I will be running his show many nights on 1550 AM since my hometown has nothing but sports and religion, the last radio personality known to work here was back in the 1970s, and he left town because the mediocre staff at his station resented him.

Please tell me if I’m being too safety conscious.

Please tell me if I’m being too safety conscious.

People nearby have strings of electrical xmas lights all over on a wrought iron fence and in several outdoor trees, all exposed in the rain. Is that a shock hazard ready to zap someone at any minute?

It looks like full 120VAC, although maybe there are really big bright low power lights.

Is that even allowed under the electrical code?

Building a radio station requires many choices to be made. The antenna design, the grounding scheme, the audio system, to name several. Let’s look at audio.

Building a radio station requires many choices to be made. The antenna design, the grounding scheme, the audio system, to name several. Let’s look at audio.

The audio network within a radio station is not a simple plug and play sort of thing, it involves complex architectural considerations, i.e., balanced or unbalanced lines, line level matching, mixing, patching, equalizing, signal processing, and stereo/monaural. We will focus on the stereo-mono subject.

CD recordings and many downloaded audiofiles arrive as stereophonic source material, and some audiofiles arrive in mono form. Original studio recordings made by the radio station must be captured one way or the other, at the choice of the recording engineer. Finally, the transmitter will dictate the ultimate product as either stereo or mono.

The leading advocate for stereophonic AM is RFBurns whose KROCKS specializes in AM stereo. At the same time, Carl Blare (me) is sold on mono radio, and that’s where this discussion heats up.

My station, KDX Worldround Radio, is mostly talk, so let’s look at the human voice. The human voice is what? It is a monaural instrument. When I see double-capsule stereo lapel mics pinned onto a performer I already know that the engineering policy is ignorant of the fact that the voice, already mono, will suffer from some phase-cancelation when those two capsules are mixed down to mono. The clearest and most distinct reproduction of a human voice can only be done in mono with a single microphone.

Even music features any number of monaural instruments…. and by instruments I am talking about acoustic “natural” instruments, not electronic “artificial” instruments, which are nothing more than P.A. systems driving loudspeakers and already present in electronic form right into an input plug – no mics needed.

A clarinet is a monaural instrument.
A trumpet is a monaural instrument.
A bass is a monaural instrument.
Each piece in a drum set is a monaural instrument.

What is stereo? Stereo is the acoustic sense of space in between the various instruments in an orchestra and the reverberation of the concert hall. It makes a group performance more natural and quite pleasant, when well recorded. But even the best stereo recording must mix-down clearly to a monaural version for the portable radio listener who is hearing an L+R mixdown (left+right=mono).

An ideal broadcast plant would be capable of perfect mono during spoken voice portions and musical solos, with a fade-over to stereophonic sound for orchestral events or sports crowd ambiance.

But the technology, as I understand it, is presently an either-or proposition – either mono or stereo, not inter-mixable. That limitation applies to online streaming, and AM/FM technology. In FM the sub-carrier generators required for stereo actually detract from the stability of mono reception, especially on the outer fringe area of the station signal.

In webcasting a stereo stream occupies more bandwidth per listener which has its own trade-offs.

The bottom line for KDX is that mono = clear talk quality and robust music quality, with the slight disadvantage that the spacial effect is not present for ensemble music. If we were a music station it would be the other way around.

Here at KDX I have worked out a system for using all available program material, with and without streaming permission, in a completely legal way.

Here at KDX I have worked out a system for using all available program material, with and without streaming permission, in a completely legal way.

It is a fact that all audio material that is openly posted online for free download is offered with some kind of terms and conditions, the most limiting form being “permission for individual use.” Let’s use CNN News as an example.

Every morning I like to hear one currently updated newscast, and the RSS feed for CNN News is posted online, but KDX does not have permission to stream CNN online or on a public radio broadcast, but CNN posts the newscasts for download and listening by individuals. For such programs KDX operates an sstran.com AMT3000 transmitter at 1550kHz with a limited signal only heard within our building, allowing me the opportunity to hear CNN as an individual listener. The newscast does not get streamed online nor sent to our “public” transmitters.

This same “private listening” applies when listening to the NY Times Frontpage Podcast and the Alex Jones Show, which are not available (at this time) for public broadcast.

On a miniature scale this is comparable to what shortwave stations have down in the past, namely directing some transmissions toward one set of listeners on a particular continent, and other transmissions to listeners at a different time and continent.

Fortunately there are more and more radio programs becoming available for free use, for non-commercial use under Creative Commons, and in the public domain, which form our online streaming schedule and that for the AMT5000 at 1680kHz and Big Talker shortwave transmission at 13.560mHz.

Here’s another “sales tip” for securing broadcast permissions…. some of the program sources that turned me down on the first try changed their mind and granted permission the second time I asked, several months later.

LOW POWER HOUR NO. 17 presents the third program about free programming available to low power radio stations.

LOW POWER HOUR NO. 17 presents the third program about free programming available to low power radio stations.

Those of you who choose radio programs for your radio station because you heard them mentioned on THE LOW POWER HOUR please let us know so we can realize that we’ve helped a fellow broadcaster.

http://www.kdxradio.com/lph.html
http://www.kdxradio.com/demand.html

Very very soon Program No. 18 will also appear, an all out holiday party for the SEASON OF LIGHTS. Is that a real holiday label, or do I just imagine it. It’s a good label, anyway, because the longest nights of the year come in December, and putting up lots of lights cheers things up.

Lights out.

This idea was talked about a few years back but faded from attention. The idea is to use fiber optic link to send the output from an indoor AMT3000 transmitter to an outdoor loading coil/ 3-meter stick.

http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/fibe/ck1502.pdf

Step one, the input to the fiber-optic transmitter will be modified to accept the estimated 60mW RF output from the AMT3000 transmitter. As we know, medium wave frequencies are relatively close to the top of the audio spectrum, so this should not be a problem. The RF would therefore be sent on the fiber, which in this kit is 14-feet.

Step two, received and converted from optical back to waveform, the signal will pass through the modified receiver/amplifier circuit, which has a volume control and can be adjusted for 100mW to the final amplifier stage of the optics receiver and coupled to the loading coil/ 3-meter stick and to ground radials.

Such a system would not violate any section of the rules for Part 15 AM medium wave because it would not constitute a “lead-in wire.” The advantage would be in keeping the AMT3000 safely indoors.

The line is open for comments.