Check This Out!
Which reminds me -- I wonder if I'll ever get the T-Shirt I ordered?
TIB
Who left the bra on top of the 2nd speaker from the left?
Looks like they party hard in Williamson.
Where's he set up there? Looks like an arena of some sort.
Can't see what transmitter they were using.
In their defense though, they thought they were legal as they were told "it was OK"
WAIT....I see the transmitter, right behind the computer monitor. Looks like a CZH Chinese one.
You see these are so readily available with one day shipping and under $150 for 15 watts and $70 for 1/2 watt and GP antenna people think that if they are sold like this even in the USA and Canada they can be used.
When I started doing this hobby I thought that too, at least with the CZH O5B, the 500mW one.
Mark, from what I can gather from the various online reports, the radio station was actually told that as long as no one reported them, they would be OK. In other words, they knew it was illegal, but hoped that in their little corner of the world, they would be able to fly under the radar.
Then, of course, they went and did a newspaper interview, which happened to be posted on the web (i.e., worldwide). So much for anonymity and flying under the radar.
They've shown little remorse, as the owner on Facebook decried that someone local had reported them, took away THEIR radio station, and was going to publicize the name of the reporter when he had it for all to see. Nice.
Then, if you read the comments from the 2nd Williamson newspaper article (reporting that the station closed down), one of the owners seems to think that all is OK now that they shut the station down as soon as they got the FCC notice to cease and desist. They apparently also feel that all they have to do to get a license is to pay the fees, get in line and wait. Unfortunately, getting that NOUO disqualifies them from getting an LPFM license (I'm not sure if they can go out and purchase a full power station with that on their record).
Pirates hurt the entire radio broadcasting community. They potentially cause interference and loss of revenue from licensed stations (there are a few around Williamson, despite what the owners said), and they cast legal, unlicensed broadcasters in a bad light as well (as many can't tell the difference).
I don't feel sorry for these guys. They made their own bed.
The Elusive Exception
The only "pirate" radio operation I could defend would be a noble cause to get the word out to the public about an actual danger not being reported by other media.
In other words a station operating under the time-honored banner of civil disobedience in the public interest.
But in over ten years of observation I have never heard about such a station.
It seems that the common pirate is always a juvenile music enthusiast who wants to force his music taste on everyone else, and it's always popular music already available through other means, making the radio station redundant.
From Carl:
But in over ten years of observation I have never heard about such a station.
And I doubt you will ever again. While I applaud your motives, the world (and technology) has evolved to the point where one's audience will click their phones first for essential information on actual dangers, or to participate in any civil disobedience. When's the last time a flash mob assembled that was coordinated by a low power AM station?
Even shortwave pirates at 6925 kHz aren't trying anymore. Dull, dull, dull.
Clearing the FCC's feelings if you get a NOUO!!
3 agents from the FCC (Two in my HOUSE) and David Dombrowski at the enforcement office told me that I was NOT BANNED from an LPFM license (But if I did it again I would be and maybe worse) should another window open. Nor am I barred from being a DJ or having my program streamed over the net to an LPFM station under their license so long as I use their call sign at the required time and the operator is at his main studio to control their station.
I talked to the agents about WPRK 100.1 and their license but the fact they set up their 72 Watt station under their license and didn't get out over a mile. Told the FCC how I told the station about my 7 Watt station because I didn't want to use the frequency if they were going to use it and again its on Amazon, Ebay, and anywhere you want one and I didn't have to lie, cheat, or anything to get one. I told them with 7 Watts and a ground plane 6 Ft from ground I had their transmitter beat and got 1 1/2-2 miles so they must have bad coax or they must have too many trees in the area and to check the coax and their SWR and if necessary get the antenna higher. They probably didn't like that but only trying to help and I wanted to know if they had planned on using 100.1. They told me they were too upset they couldn't get out and no one wanted to continue with it because of poor range.
I didn't believe the nay saying folks because again a web site that was supposed to be an authority in legal broadcasting had an FM transmitter in a Radio Camp going 5 miles (Further than my little 7 Watt transmitter). why pay $60 grand to only transmit 200 Ft and yet I saw a kid in his basement on youtube with this very same transmitter his Mom and Dad bought him. Makes me mad he can do it but because I'm not an engineer I could not. But its over now just part 15 AM C-Quam Stereo for me and I beat the 7 Watt transmitters range and less power lol.
The FCC liked my show. They encouraged me to move forward. Even told me to try and excourage an LPFM to allow me to be on air. They even suggested part 15 AM as the electtronics engineer for the FCC traveled my area and said "You'll get the range you want with legal part 15. The Procaster was brought up and Rangemaster.
Pamela Lee was running the same transmitter as me by this picture except instead using just the telescopic antenna (No Ground Plane). Pamela Lee said her's was 25 Watts NO WAY that is a CZE-7C its the 15A, 15ST or the 25 watt unit which does not look the same as the CZE-7C. Unless someone changed the output transistor and even then 25 watts unto a telescopic antenna you'd see sparks fly as that thing would blow up. The SWR on my telescopic antenna was well over 3.0 Way too high for a telescopic antenna. This pic has fraud all over it.
Her signal if this pic was true probably barely got 1.5 miles if she had a 7c connected to an antenna like this before she fried her electronics. Being that close to the computer with that transmitter would have caused RF to travel into that monitor and cause damage to her motherboard to boot (Really you think we're that stupid). The audio would have fed back too with a loud squeal so I doubt this is a real picture just someone posing as Pamela Lee and her husband. The bra is a nice touch of womanizing humiliation (Sick NOT).
The two agents knew I was not trying to make money or stomp on another station. I apologized for forgetting about the 30 degree change in 2 hrs after they told me they heard me 21 miles. That would have got me to Gloucester. My bad for I know what a temperature inversion can do. But more importantly both agents said these transmitters are junk and cause interference and they've seen this time and again. If its on a public site like Amazon surely its legal. that was what they (including myself thought. Just like buying a kid Walkie Talkies in a Sears Christmas Wish Book. Did you call the FCC first before you gave your child the Walkie Talkies? Probably not.
These people have been humiliated enough and I'm helping them get a part 15 network set up so they can broadcast Album Rock. Lets hope more people learn about the issues of these CZE transmitters too.
*Post edited by Moderator*
That does look a lot like the 7 watt CZE, looks like that was either a remote broadcast or before they added a 25 watter.
And no, the telescoping antenna would not damage that transmitter nor would the RF destroy that computer but the range likely was not good. Additionally those speakers might not cause the feedback you'd think they would, especially if they are turning them down and using directional microphones while on-air.
The picture is real.
Now don't take this personally but I am seriously glad it takes an engineer to get a real radio station on the air and not have just every Joe and Bob on air. And dude, seriously stop with the personal attacks its getting old. You have no idea what you are talking about at all.
The basic problem is that every Joe & Bob CAN get on the air with the use of these readily available transmitters. Their signal can travel several miles, and has the potential to interfere with other licensed services. And most of these Joe's don't know what they're doing. They don't have the equipment to properly measure their signal, or interference. Some don't care.
If that is a 25 watt transmitter, RF safety is an issue. For controlled (non general public being exposed) environments, you would need to be at least 3 feet away from the antenna, and for uncontrolled environments, 6 feet.
You wouldn't have to worry about arcing, but if the antenna isn't tuned, heat could be a factor (including blowing the transmitter output transistors). Of course, if it's 7 watts or less, safety and heat becomes much less an issue (amateur radio operators use hand held transceivers with 5-7 watts power all the time on the 2 meter band).
That bra is probably related to their drive to collect for cancer (probably breast cancer) - it was on their now defunct website.
Reading some of these posts I often wonder if I've wandered into an alternate reality. I haven't seen any evidence that the Williamson station is interested in Part 15, let alone letting someone else help them with it. Maybe they've been in private contact with others, but publicly they've been careful not to commit to anything other than resuming their internet stream (and that's probably smart, given their circumstances).
That transmitter doesn't look like the 25 watt one. it's more like the 1watt and 7 watt switchable.
It won't start a fire, just stop working when the transistor overheats but it would take a bit of time for that to happen. a cooling fan wouldn't stop that as it's the internal heat that's created with a bad mismatch.
It's like a high power amplifier working without a speaker or a large mismatch in impedence, after a time the final will conk out. That will be it.
Why does this happen?....power needs to do some work or be dissipated into a load. If the power produced by the transistors isn't being dissipated internal heat builds up in the transistors and unlike tubes transistors aren't as heat tolerant.
Mighty 1650 what you said about me was a blatant ad hominem attack. Again that is against the terms of service here. But now that you made the statement that I don't know what I'm talking about or insinuated that I don't know anything and we're talking about electronics and radio and what have you I'm going to prove a point here and hopefully the moderators will allow me to do this.
Phone company 101 or security 101 question for Mighty 1650 in the early 90s what would happen if someone let's say they were your enemy got a hold of your cable and pear again this is dealing with telephone here otherwise known as pots plain old telephone service is what that stands for.
I'm going to give you the answer it means they have control of your phone service no matter how many times you changed your number as long as you lived in that house they pretty much own you. The phone company has many back doors which to this day have not all been closed. How do I know this you might ask? Why I used to work and still do have folks that I help for a telephone service which dealt with folks just like that who got a hold of someone's cable and pear and basically had a field day with that person. They would set up an ultra call forwarding on their phone without their knowledge to Caribbean party lines or whatever they want to call for free set up 800 phone numbers to that house and gave the number to everybody to call in use for free before long-distance was free. This resulted in phone bills for that customer in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Knowing how to deal with this and working for this service means that I have some skills.
Now that I have quite eloquently defended myself from this sort of attack I will tell you what I meant by feedback I'm not talking about microphone feedback that causes a squeal I'm talking about the RF feeding back into your computer's sound card or circuitry causing that type of squeal or hash.
Also mini ham radio operators who have their equipment or antennas to close to their audio source such as processing equipment get this type of feedback. I for one have been guilty of having my transmitter to close to my audio stuff before and it made that type of feedback.
In computers there are certain components which are very sensitive and doesn't take much to fry. In very close proximity to a 25-watt transmitter would cause some sort of irreparable damage due to prolonged exposure too high doses of RF.
We're not even talking about pacemakers or anything like that on the human body either but maybe we should.
I might not have been a broadcast engineer that had built transmitter that is for sure and don't pretend to know everything there is but I certainly have a good idea of what's going on. I am not to be compared with the average Joe who knows absolutely nothing. I hope that is well understood now that I made my point quite clear.
I don't want this thread to get out of hand. Disagreements about technical issues are not ad hominem attacks, so let's keep it technical.
I had been referring to the comments on the kid's camp, I apologize if my comment was misunderstood.
Otherwise I try not to comment on others technical abilities as many of us are not experts and are supposed to be learning from one another.