Am doing good with listeners here in my area! I have a supply of Sony ICF-506 radios and I give the people a decent receiver that will be listeners. I gave out two radios last week and have 2 or 3 regular listeners I know of who are neighbors down the street. There's lots of people that like what I am doing but either they don't have a radio or not a "good" one which as we know is most important with micro powered stations. We can't expect anyone will go out and buy a better radio, or get one from Amazon/Ebay to listen to us so I/we have to be proactive and supply them with the radio. It takes effort on our part but if you want listeners it has to be made easy for them.
The Panasonic RF 2400 is OK too but the Sony has better sound and I want to sound good when they listen.
Check RadioJayAllen's reviews on these.
People will still listen to terrestrial radio if it's something they want to hear. I think I am doing as good here over the air as I would do streaming....even better based on what I see when I go to a stream and see one listener out of the whole world and that is ME! Streaming is just not what it is hyped up to be.
Oldies and radio dramas like Suspense was made for old fashion radio and none of the expense, music license fees etc, are needed for over the air(Canada). And of course my listeners grew up with a transistor radio. But my surprise is the kids listen too, one of my listeners told me!
Merry Christmas and happy New Year to all!
Philip Walker , YouTube is planning on autioning off two AM transmitters on Ebay , soon . Procaster transmitter is one of the two and the other is a Chris Cuff AM stereo transmitter. It's great that your station is doing well and that you live in a country that you have the right to broadcast at low power . I wish it was that way here in the US but what we have a vague right to broadcast and not a right . If anyone complains the FCC will find any excuse to shut the station down . Really a person has the right here to broadcast 200 feet , that won't reach off my property. I discovered a station in Timmins Ontario that broadcast on 1710 . I don't know if it's a low power station or licensed station . As far as the state of my stations .....No clue if I have listeners and can't advertise my stations . It's better here to keep it quiet . The FCC agent who visited a station I know of told him not to advertise his station .
Well, you are half right. Here in Canada it's a privilege also not a right. We have non-broadcasting and broadcasting. I gave a summary in my post about a Procaster user getting shut down. But with BETS-1 where you can broadcast to the public with no confined border we are free to make it known we are there. You are not supposed to be competing with a licensed station so maybe the FCC sees advertising as doing that. But 200ft is not a rule. The field strength is and on AM there's no field strength. It's the same with RSS-210 here as if it's for non-broadcasting then technically you can't advertise it either. I also changed some of my station ID's and promos on air to not sound like I am competing with a licensed station. I have an announced disclaimer where I state following all BETS and CRTC rules with an approved transmitter and this is for my own enjoyment and for those that want to listen and is not intended to compete with any station. An agent can also listen to your broadcast to try to get you on something there. Yeah I know someone from these forums in the USA who also got told you can do it but don't advertise it.
How do you start a new topic on this site . Longwave broadcast is the topic I want to start on this board . I know few people in North America have radio's with longwave band but there's something interesting about how far long wave signals can travel at times and I wonder if it also applies to part 15 AM too. Can 100 milli watts cause skywave under ideal conditions .
Starting a new topic....go to the forums list of categories and find the closest category for the topic you want to start. Then scroll down to the bottom of the posts and you will see the place to start the new topic.
I guess longwave broadcasting could just be in general discussion? If it was me I guess that's where I'd put it.
Mark and All,
Happy New Year! Hope everyone is doing good. I am curious, who was the person busted with the Chez Procaster Transmitter you mentioned? What did they do? Was it in Canada or the United States? The Procaster and Rangemaster can not be modified. We remember the Ken Cartwright situation in Stayton, Oregon.
Mark, Sounds like what you're doing to reach an audience that you wanted is working. You knew the demographic you wanted to reach, which you are in that age bracket. You purchased radios for your neighbors in your signal range to receive your station. You invested money into it.
Now, we know the majority of the youth under 35 aren't going to be interested much in what your doing, but you learned the tools of marketing like we did years ago that anyone under 35 would not understand. Very few of them, if any will listen to music that is 40-50 years old and older. Just my opinion.
Reply to Horatio...If we hobbyists want listeners we have to make it easy for them. No one any age even if they like and would listen to your station will go out and buy or get from Amazon a radio if they don't have one, or get a better one then they have. As our micro powered signal goes the range we get is determined by the receiver quality. If I want listeners then I have to invest a little and get potential listeners a decent radio if they don't have one. It has payed off for me with a couple of listeners I would not have had had I not given them the radio.
It is true that not many under 35 would be interested in what I play....there are exceptions but in general that is true. Everyone....or most(correction), people's musical tastes come from the time they were 10 years old till 20 or 25.....mostly when they were a teenager.
My time that shaped my tastes was the late 50s and 60s and I add the 70s to that. But I and everyone mostly have a point where they "leave off" and then the older you get you listen to what you grew up with so me my "era" is 45 to 65 years ago.
But I did not decide the demographic I wanted to go for. I am the number one person my station is for as I am it's listener. If I can get listeners with that great! and I make it easy if they have no radio. I don't have to have advertisers so I, like commercial stations don't need to get a certain age group that advertisers want to target.
That's why most stations won't play anything older than the 35 years that you mention.
That's why radio left me behind and I do it myself. Timinbovey is an exception and it seems to work with his station.
Now to the person busted with the Procaster.
I explained it in the post. This was in Canada and it had nothing to do with the transmitter or the set up or power. It's hard for many to understand but in Canada we have broadcasting and nonbroadcasting.
Here is a summary of the Canadian unlicensed rules, written by a fellow Canadian forum member.
They're a bit confusing at first, but really straight forward upon reflection.
There are two sets of rules for two separate types of uses - RSS210 and BETS-1. RSS210 is almost identical to Part 15 in the U.S., but here in Canada, you can't use it for broadcasting. Just what exactly is broadcasting, at least in the eyes of the Canadian Government? It's anything that can reach random members of the public. RSS210 is really meant for personal use, i.e., transmitting to yourself. That, in the eyes of Industry Canada (ISED) and the CRTC, is not broadcasting. Other examples of not broadcasting include transmitting within a geographically-limited area for a specific, limited, audience, such as a shopping mall or a public place. If you can't cover the bounded area with RSS210, you can get an RSS123 license, which allows you to transmit with up to 1 watt. But again, that isn't considered broadcasting.
The reason for all this is that If you broadcast in Canada, you have to have a CRTC license (the CRTC is charged with regulating broadcasting content, unlike the FCC in the U.S., which by and large doesn't care).
Then there's BETS-1. It sets forward the rules for micro powered broadcasting, also known as Low Power Announce Systems, that have a specific exemption from the CRTC so that they don't require a broadcast license. The technical standards are somewhat different than that of RSS210. For FM, you are allowed a field strength of 100uv/m at 30 meters from the antenna. Radios with poor sensitivity (such as clock radios) can probably just receive it at that 30 meters. Good radios (such as those found in cars) can receive it much farther (up to several hundred meters or more, depending on topography and obstructions). Interestingly enough, the current rules for BETS-1 allow for a stronger FM signal than RSS210 (250uv/m at 3 meters), although in the past they used to be identical.
The rules for BETS-1 AM quite frankly suck. Instead of RSS210's 100mw into the final stage of the transmitter, and an antenna/ground limitation of 3 meters, BETS-1 only allows a field strength of 250uv/m at 30 meters, far less than the field strength that could be generated in RSS210. There are also no BETS-1 certified AM transmitters here (or anywhere). The ProCaster, currently the only Industry Canada certified AM transmitter available, is certified for RSS210.
Because of all this, an AM transmitter using RSS210 will have much greater range than an AM transmitter using BETS-1, that is, if an AM BETS-1 transmitter existed. In fact, an RSS210 AM transmitter will have greater range, all other things being equal, than a BETS-1 FM transmitter, so it might seem the way to go. Until you realize, of course, that the AM transmitter cannot be used for broadcasting.
I learned via Mark (formerly/currently a moderator over at Part15.org) that recently a micro powered AM station was shut down in Manitoba (according to the manufacturer of the ProCaster). It was deemed that the station was broadcasting using RSS210 transmitters (with, you guessed it, ProCasters). They apparently had 3 transmitters in 3 separate locations to increase their coverage area - it's pretty difficult to say that you're only transmitting to yourself in such an instance.
Unfortunately, moving to BETS-1 FM also won't help that particular Manitoba broadcaster. There are conditions attached to the CRTC exemption for BETS-1. One is that you cannot have more than 1 transmitter fed by the same programming. You can have multiple transmitters, but they'd each have to have their own, separate and unique, programming feed. That, of course, is precisely there to limit a single signal's range. The other conditions include not broadcasting anything political, or objectionable (you are supposed to follow the same guidelines at the big boy licensed stations in regards to obscenity, racism, sexism, etc.).
Hi Mark,
I haven't been on the forum in a while and I didn't know you replied. I thought I would reply briefly. I'll say this, as far as getting an audience, you know your area, and what to do, so good luck on that.
On the rules on Canada, they I'm reading that they are more "liberal" in Canada than the United States on AM? I'm going to read carefully over what you said, can you get a 1 Watt License under RSS123, but you're saying it doesn't not go anywhere? Gee, if the FCC in the United States would pay attention to us who know what we are doing, 1 Watt on the upper AM (1610-1700) would be fabulous! There was a petition to get that through the FCC about 13 years ago or so, but it appeared the guy filing the rule making didn't get enough support, so he just gave up on pursuing it all together.
As you know, all we can do legally is Part 15.219. That's actually good enough for me, Gerry's Procaster is FCC Certified. I had to send it up there to Bolton to have him do a repair for me. The unit is working o.k., it was something I wanted. I'm using 1620, it's good during the day, interference at night, but I'm not concerned about nighttime. I ran a Commercial AM Daytimer for 28 years, had to shut it off at night, so I used to that.
Mark, Hope your doing good up your way, and God is blessing you with good health!
H.
No. AM in Canada is the same as the USA. You can get a 1 watt license under RSS-123 for FM for special "events" or providing an information service in a tourist area and that lets you have one watt no field strength or antenna restrictions but you need a targeted area and outside that area there can't be more than a certain field strength. I don't know if RSS- 123 applies to AM also. I'll have to look it up.
Canada is only more "liberal" with unlicensed FM.
And yes God is still blessing me with good health, Hope you are doing OK also.
Turns out I am my station's number one fan! I listen frequently (boom, boom, pun).
The neighbors tell me they can hear it in their cars when close by. Hardly anyone has am radios in the home. I can see why you give them away!
It's very curious that this Forum Site, named for a U.S. FCC Regulation called "Part 15", seems to be entirely owned and moderated by low power radio guys from Canada! Jon Janze owns this Forum, while not himself a radio station operator of any type, is Canadian!
Moderator Artisan Radio broadcasts from the western side of Canada and Moderator Mark runs his station on the eastern side of Canada.
Add to that a most outstanding fact... as he explains in a post at the start of this thread, Mark gives high quality radios to his listeners so they will remain listeners and enjoy the best possible reception! That is really going all out for building an audience!
Me? No, I am not Canadian but that country is so large I can almost see it from here in the middle of the United States!
Well, it seems the term part 15 has been given to hobby radio whether in Canada or the USA. I guess in Canada you could call it a BETS-1 or RSS-210 station but part 15 is a good term universal to both countries.
I have to give out good radios as as with our signals a good one is needed. A little price to pay to get listeners that want to listen but have no radio or need a better one, and won't go out and get a radio themselves. Have given out 2 so far, 2 Sony ICF 506's.