Carl Blare

A cool day offered the opportunity to go back there and size up the future site of a 3-meter tower/bird-house pole with radials. It is on a rather steep hill, but there is no choice because the yard is a hill. The downhill looks north, the sides are east and west, but the uphill, looking south, is met by a 4-foot retaining wall above which sits even higher ground, on which stands a gigantic McMansion that must ascend 100′ above the proposed site, like a castle or cliff wall. Therefore southern penetration, which does not happen now, will probably not happen with the new tower.

But luckily it doesn’t matter, because the objective is to make the transmitter as remote as possible so that when its tuned from indoors it will be coming from “far away.”

The number of ground radials will be limited by various trees and bushes on the southern side which are to be protected, but we already believe the southern side is a lost cause, so radials probably wouldn’t do much on that side.

To make the project even more fun there will be a back-up system at another location in the event the main tower goes off.

There was a book in the 1970s named THE ZAPPING OF AMERICA by Paul Brodeur which declared that RF energy could be a health hazard, especially at high power levels and at certain frequencies. Even today we hear echoes about possible microwave dangers from cell phones, cell towers, satellites, you know.

But in the Part 15 world we never suppose that microWatts are any threat, and I do not know any differently.

But I follow the subject of RF and health as closely as possible and collect publications on the subject, and have come to a very specific question that has not been well explained.

We hear that ultra-violet radiation causes cancer, particularly of the skin, and yet the ultra-violet band is just one notch above the color violet in the color spectrum, to which our eyes are sensitive (vision). So my scientific curiosity asks….

Are you trying to suggest that violet (the color) is safe, but one tweak more the ultra-violet band is not safe?

I am saying that it seems strange that visible light is (considered) absolutely safe, while just above the range of eyesight it gets dangerous.

Since when are tolerances so close?

Several years ago I coined the world’s first and only Part 15 joke:

“Part 15ers touch it with a 10-foot pole.”

Over seven people thought that was kind of funny.

Several years ago I coined the world’s first and only Part 15 joke:

“Part 15ers touch it with a 10-foot pole.”

Over seven people thought that was kind of funny.

Now, after years of inactivity, I have the second Part 15 joke:

“People dig Part 15 AM radio,

because it’s the best way to install ground radials.”

Following our discussion about “bad language” on certain programs, KDX activated a low low power transmitter on 1550kHz to allow shutting down our full-low-power transmitter at 1680 during periods of bad language. But the 1550 transmitter puts whistles at 1530 and 1570kHz.

Awhile back this situation was discussed here on this site, and the problem was found to be from our FM studio-to-transmitter link. Evidently a 19kHz stereo-pilot tone is appearing on the audio lines from the Technics FM tuner to the ssTran3000 transmitter. Removing jumper S6, treble boost, in the transmitter, does not prevent the whistle.

This whistle was first observed using a C.Crane FM transmitter to send our signal to the AM equipment location, and of course the stereo generator cannot be switched off in the Crane. So we installed a Wholehouse 2.0 which does allow turning off the stereo, but it would appear that it does not cancel the pilot-tone signal at 19kHz.

We’ll probably need to build a low-pass filter that chops the 19kHz by perhaps 20dB, but I bring the problem to the table for any ideas you might have for stopping the whistle.

Twice now e-mail offers have arrived asking for ad space on our radio station website. Neither inquiry said one word about what would be advertised. Checking the websites of the offer maker showed an advertising agency representative of however many clients.

So I sat down and drafted “Policy No. 1: All inquiries for website ad space must include sample copy showing exactly what product or service would be advertised. If KDX has to ask, KDX will not ask and will not respond. Period.”

While the idea of $$$ is always provocative, communications companies (ad agencies) should at least know how to communicate.

What is your policy when ad offers come along?

Low Power Hour No. 13

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