26 Mhz (11 Meter Shortwave band) Revisted

Here are a couple DRM listings I found:
0000-2400 daily 26060 ND Roma 0.2 Raiway Roma Vatican City Italian
0000-2400 daily 26010 ND Italy 0.1 Radio Maria Andrate Italian
0000-2400 daily 25740 ND Rwanda 0.08 Radio Rwanda Kigali various

Well the first thing that comes to mind, as would the FCC, those two infamous words...."harmful interference". That would kill the idea right off.

The second thing that comes to mind, are all those 1Kw and up linear amps tucked away under the table and in trunks and under the truck driver seats...currently a serious problem for both mobile and base setups. Too much of a temptation for the cracker jacks to start jamming up that band.

Third thing, the general public other than die hard CB'ers (very few left) and DX'ers (tiny corner of the mass) would be the only ones tuning in.

It's not a bad idea..problem is it would be like a 100Kw ERP FM in a small town 200 miles away from any other town and other than the small town population of 3 thousand, the rest of the listeners would be the cows and jack rabbits and snakes and snails tuning in..if they could.

Convincing the general public to purchase a special radio receiver for this would also be a road block. Why would they when they got their iMobile devices with the world at their fingertips already on their cell phone plan, with no fading or noise to enjoy.

And there are the receiver manufacturers. Outside of the tiny CB market and small group ham market, who else would buy the radio? Not enough to convince the manufacturers to build special radios or even include the band in current standard broadcast and FM band radios.

Then there are the current licensed broadcast stations that will throw a monkey wrench into the proposal due to fear of competition..heck they do that now to Part 15 flea stations..this would be like their big hunt and catch ever.

There has been talk all over about expanding the FM band, well look at what happened to the expanded AM band, took forever to become known to the general public and there are still hundreds of thousands of radios out there that can't even tune past 1610...same will happen with expanded FM..with 11m...may not even get noticed at all..again except for the very small special market of DX listeners and hams.

The big picture puts a lot of weight onto the proposal to get it off the ground.

RFB

The Part 15 Rules as they are now allow operation in the 11-meter band with very very low power

15.209 1.705 to 30mHz 30microVolts/m @ 30m

There is a more generous allowance for a chunk just above the mentioned frequencies:

17.227 26.96 to 27.28 10,000 microVolts/m @ 3m

Yeah but I think the idea is to set up a portion of that band for far more power than a flea cough.

RFB

If my title had gotten spelled correctly my intent might have been more obvious.

The title should have said "As It Is Now," very simply a quoting of the Part 15 Rules as they exist as of this time.

True, that bow is posing the idea of relaxing the rules to allow higher power. I believe it is good to know where we stand now, and what it is we want changed.

This 11-meter subject is now raised to the point where I'm thinking about it a lot.

Since I have two Big Talker shortwave transmitters, only one of which is in use (13.560), maybe I'll stick the other one up in 11-meter territory.

The more transmitters that go unheard the more listeners don't hear it.

That is one cool thing about 11 Meters.. the Antennas are A LOT smaller!

On eof the reasons I was thinking about 11 Meter Shortwave operations is due to a thread at another forum where a gent from Austrailia mentioned:

"Over here in the land down under we can apply for HF domestic broadcasting licenses for around $500 per year

The cost includes the application fee and 1 year on the license, you are allowed 1Kw carrier power and the antenna must be as vertical as possible.
I have an application in that is being processed now for 5Mhz and the site is located around 3000 feet above sea level in Lithgow NSW, I have
been sent MP3 air checks for my friends station that is in western sydney and the recordings are amazingly stable considering they were sent from Japan!

Most of the guys here are using modified AM Ham radios + linear amps and Ham band verticals, we have a 6Khz bandwidth limit so it fits the bill quite nice,
I am building my TX an all singing Class "F" PWM Fire Box and strangly enough there are no technical specifications for maximim positive modulation

I don't need to have an FCC compliant device just have to get it Proofed by a designated RF Engineer.

It would be interesting if you guys could get an experimental HF domestic license and broadcast out of your backyard like some here do.

Clinton VK2FTDX"

I just find it amazing that other countries allow such types of braodcasting when we are extremely limited in what we can do...

100mw and 1KW Carrier is worlds apart!

Now, I understand about the lack of listeners as well... But if you think about it, it isn't much different that a Part 15 AM station.

Shortwave radios cover the 11 Meter Broadcast band, so there is a decent chance of getting them to tune in.

Teh Jammer problem, maybe, but if someone wants to jam a signal, that isn't hard to do... I think most CB Operators wouldn't be much interested in it due to the fact it isn't a QSO.. it is a one-way transmission...

As far as running power?

Any Part 15 can run power as well... 😉 that doesn't make it any more legal than running an amplifier behind a CB rig on the FCC 40 channels, but people that...

It has often been said here and there that part 15 is of little concern because there's no money in it for the executive class who make big decisions.

But a $500 a year fee for a license? Let's go! Let's start that yesterday! Tell the secretaries they have new ledgers to keep, new bottom lines to calculate. Print forms and post rule changes.

11-meter band legal citizens radio licenses $500 a year? Maybe have the relatives become equipment suppliers and RF field engineers.

Don't mention this to the NAB until it's already happening.

"Since I have two Big Talker shortwave transmitters, only one of which is in use (13.560), maybe I'll stick the other one up in 11-meter territory. The more transmitters that go unheard the more listeners don't hear it."

There probably would be a better chance for all those transmitters to not be heard if their antennas were outdoors! 😉

And I would start seriously getting them outdoors anyway especially when that CC system is about to fire up.

No need to esplain why..I will let you find out why for yourself. :p

RFB

500 bucks is nothing compared to the filing fees and take from NAL's. Oh yes..there is the hardware costs and yearly BMI/ASCAP stuff and such.

They wont touch it unless it's 5 grand or more, and if there are a bunch..I mean A BUNCH!

Let's say they did do that like in Australia. Just count the number of current Part 15 stations on that Part 15 station map at the front of this forum. No where near the number of high priced pocket patting licensed stations.

Oh ya..forget about them..they will stand in the way too..aka NAB.

The cash cow has to be big enough to make a big enough stink to get their attention. Sniff sniff...PEEWWW!!

RFB

And of course the churches would scramble to grab all the licenses so they could save us by raising money.

There is the density of the population too. There are far more larger areas in Australia that are spread out in population than there are in the US. That's one of the reasons why AM still prevails, particularly AM Stereo radio in Australia. Texas thinks it has long lonely roads between towns...heh...just look at a map of Australia!

Most of the population is clustered around the coasts pretty much all the way around. Much of the central part is like that seen in the Mad Max movies...barren vastness of wide open area...wow...wish I was there! 😀

I like the idea of a yearly licensing fee to have a license to push several watts into a vertical taller than the height of the roof in my studio. But as you pointed out Carl, there are organizations already lined up waiting for that wonderful window to open on the LPFM nonsense and have been so for the last several years since the last window, ready to gobble up all the channels and have 20 stations transmitting "ye can be saved", all in the same city. And they will be at the ready to gobble up any new service created, no matter what band it is on.

Special interest never gets any special consideration with me..I don't care if its religious or political or whatever. When the evidence proves the intent is for other purposes than real public interests and putting people to work, I turn my nose up to it and play the hard liner very seriously.

If only things were different.

RFB

I've been thinking of selling un-used hours to religions and vitamin infomercials. The money could be used to pay for the non-commercial hours when the good programming is run.

Or would that be 100% commercial. I am confused.

Man, you are correct about that.

The current state of American Shortwave is incredibly sad.

I'll bet 99% of the broadcasters in that field are religious... the only exception is WBCQ, and they still sell a bunch of air time to religious shows...

So there would have to be a stipulation about "Individuals Only", no "Non-profits", etc...