Canada unlike the USA has a distinction between broadcasting and nonbroadcasting.
Nonbroadcasting is according to the CRTC/ISED is targeting a specific audience on a property with a defined border.....a plaza parking lot, a drive in, a park, to yourself on your property etc,etc,
Broadcasting is to the general public outdoors with no defined border. The Procaster is certified with RSS-210 which is for "nonbroadcasting" For broadcasting we have BETS(broadcast equipment technical standards) and this differs from RSS-210 with allowed range and allows "broadcasting" A transmitter has to be certified BETS-1 to be used for broadcasting to the general public(Decade MS-100). BETS is still license free as the CRTC waives needing a license if the transmitter is certified BETS.
By the way it wasn't me who was shut down.
I wonder why they bothered shutting the station down . AM radio is more dead in Canada than it is in the USA. Here it's extremely dead but in Canada most stations have migrated to FM ,around 100 active am stations left . Maybe they were broadcasting hate or anti government propaganda.
I don't know the whole story. Gerry at Procaster who I keep in touch with told me this and only knew what the user told him. Could have been a licensed station complaining as he had 3 Procasters up and running, maybe to cover more ground, who knows. This was in Manitoba and other than Winnipeg and Brandon all other communities are large to small towns at population 17000 and less. Probably a few of AM stations in the whole province. Most would be on FM(can't be bothered looking it up) and it could have been another station that complained. Could have been(just thinking here, don't take this as fact), a local station in a town where he lived didn't like that he may have been getting some of the audience of the commercial station. So agents looked for a something they could cite him with. Again I don't know the facts as Gerry just knows what the customer told him.
I saw somewhere in Canada that you can't use multiple transmitters, only one . Most likely there was the problem. I also saw that low powered unlicensed stations can't broadcast religious programming. The USA is being overloaded with religious radio stations, another sign of a dying FM band.
You are absolutely right. The CRTC doesn't allow multiple transmitters with each transmitter simulcasting the same thing. That could have been it too.
Yes also for BETS-1 unlicensed stations there's nothing religious, political, allowed and also everything has to originate with you. For example you can't reboadcast something from another source like a basketball game....copyright.
But the 3 procasters used to cover more area simulcasting the same thing would surely be reason for an agent to get you on two things. But with RSS-210(nonbroadcasting) the multiple transmitters rule doesn't apply if on private property like a parking lot or drive in as this is not broadcasting. I think we can get from this what probably happened.
Thing is even in the USA if a licensed station complains an agent will look for any technicality they can get you on.
Since you have regular contact with Gerrymandering at Procaster, maybe you could bring up the topic of multiple transmitters simulcasting so he can alert peole buying more than one transmitter about it being illegal in Canada . Most of the AM stations I know of in US also were operating multiple transmitters, not a good idea of doing in the US either. I know of one case though where they haven't been shutdown . I think they're using four transmitters in California but that seems to be the exception. The station using 3 transmitters in the Dakota s that was shutdown was also broadcasting what could be considered hate content and politics. Though political content is legal here it's better to avoid it . Some peole get really upset and will file a complaint just to shut it down. I operate 2 different stations but they're not on the air at the same time. In fact my stations aren't on the air 24 hours a day and there is days at a time when I'm not broadcasting anything.
Spell check messed up some of my posting
Don't care about the grammer as long as I know what you are saying! I hate that red line and ignore it now.
Yeah, that would be a good idea to mention in the manual about Canada's broadcasting and nonbroadcasting and state that the Procaster is approved for public areas with a confined border and not to use multiple transmitters for more coverage. But the USA doesn't have this stipulation so there you are OK(as I have heard). You can have more than 1 transmitter here but not similcasting the same thing in a different location
I can set up 2 Decade MS-100s under BETS for broadcasting and have them at 2 different frequencies with different programing on each. An oldies station on one and classic country on the other for example.
I doubt if the government will bother you at all with what you're doing . Some people go too far with things ,something you're not doing . Setting up multiple transmitters all playing the same content in order to cover a massive area with a solid signal is asking for trouble. Let's say I did the same ,3 transmitters I could cover the entire county with a solid to moderate signal and parts of nearby counties . One well tuned part 15 transmitter at 1620 is capable of reaching up to 9 miles during the Winter ,with 2 to 3 miles of very good coverage . So 3 transmitters would cover such a massive area that it will draw attention though in most areas the band is largely dead. While traveling I search for low power stations . I've only heard one part 15 station over the years but many 5 to 10 watt am and fm stations , most of them ethnic programming . There's a station I found in Virginia that is on the lower end of the band , am stereo ,plays old country music and has been on the air for around two years . There's another station I discovered on FM that plays old radio shows . I can tell they're around 5 to 10 watts and have been on the air for 6 years , Baltimore area . In North Carolina a guy was operating a network of stations am and fm . They're off the air now but he was running major power .I could hear his signal on 1710 65 miles away and his only FM station 35 miles. Many of the low powered AM ethnic stations I've come across have poor audio and high swr . They don't tend to last long before the transmitter burns out . The station in Harrisburg on 1710 lasted about one year . It had a 15 mile reach but because of the high swr the sound quality was absolutely horrible. It finally burned out as I predicted .
Extreme cold weather extends the range of part 15 transmitters . Antennas become more efficient as the temperature drops . It may go down to 5 degrees or lower ,that will extend my range dramatically. The greatest distance reached by my Talking House was 9 miles as the crow flies and more than 10 with my other ,now main transmitter .