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Every want-to-be microbroadcaster is going to run into the same inevitable needs, questions and shopping list for pieces.

Arguably, aside from the content itself, the most important needs are a transmitter, an antenna and place to effectively mount the equipment.

I settled on the Talking House V transmitter solely because it is widely available and affordable. At $99 + shipping for a new unit or half that if you watch for used units (Ebay, Craigslist, etc.), it makes the daydream of broadcasting a cheap thing most of us can actually do.

The downsides of the Talking House unit are:

1. The transmitter is for use indoors only.
2. The antenna included is a wire antenna (3M in length)

These two major factors limit the Talking House transmitters to indoor installs which can greatly limit the broadcast range. Buildings have loads of signal interference and the structure blocks broadcast signals.

I found this out within hours of unpacking my new (used) transmitter and trying to receive the signal outside.

That led to quick conclusion that to accomplish any broadcast range where I am, that I’d need to transmit from outside and likely from a raised antenna to overcome high power lines that encircle my high density urban environment.

My first attempt to improve range by installing the transmitter outdoors inside of an outbuilding (DIY greenhouse of frame construction) lasted about two days and ended up with unsatisfactory signal and range. This included splicing a 102 inch CB whip antenna (Radioshack) into the wire antenna auto-tune port and driving a few 6ft sections of rebar into the ground and using those to ground the chasis of the TH.

Next step, a whip antenna mount and heading up to the roof.

Thought I’d use the blog function here to post about my ongoing effort to get a Talking House V AM transmitter optimized and on the air.

First, the background:

Web radio is wonderful, but rather tedious to tune into. Requires internet access, requires a device with working sound and requires a way to find the programming. There are other needs and cost therein which make the net experience not so optimal and rather expensive, especially in light of what cellular phone companies charge for data plans and inability for most to afford to radio over such.

Traditional radio, especially AM is widely available. Probably every house in the United States has an AM radio be it on a clock radio, on a boombox or in their car. Most households have several AM capable receivers.

AM radio is true, tried and tested. Listenership is there still. People refer to AM broadcasts for news and talk radio in most markets. Still most areas are totally underserved, lacking a local AM station and lacking local content. Too much of the AM band is filled (like FM) with the same programs syndicated on hundreds of stations clogging up the radio dial. This is especially true of the 50,000 watt blow torch stations people can hear for hundreds of miles away and in some case 38 of the 50 states.

Beyond the repetitive left vs. right rehash, there isn’t much on the AM dial. Music? Hardly any. Thought provoking content, none.

As the economy globally continues to sputter and dim, citizens will have less access to fewer resources (i.e. cable television, satellite radio, internet, etc.) to access news and information.

All of that led me to an old familiar do-it-yourself movement of microbroadcasting and the discovery of Part15 as a legal means to accomplish such.

In the past I’ve been one of those rogue characters with a transmitter wired and stored for emergency broadcasting and occasional transmissions to test the equipment. My range perhaps 2-3 miles point to point and collectively maybe 6-9 square miles. This is on the FM band and not a very optimized setup with all gear and antenna indoors. A true novice setup with little knowledge of how to do things “properly”. 5 watts of output.

So, in the past month, I’ve decided it was time for my neighborhood and ideally the surrounding city and adjacent towns to get a listenable alternative to the noise on the dial.