Mr Blare posted (in part): ... Foremost, and of absolute necessity, the FCC is hereby requested to provide the means accessible to the common person for determining compliance with the rule for intentional radiation on the FM band 88 to 108 MHz. As it presently stands, 15.239 is absolutely meaningless to the ordinary radio enthusiast and compliance cannot be reasonably verified.
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So by that philosophy (for example), are the regulators of the legal speed limits for motor vehicles expected "to provide the means accessible to the common person for determining compliance" to those speed limits?
Kindly note that such is not the case.
OK I sort of get that because of the more narrow bandwidth it takes less power to communicate. But what I'm also trying to show is the fact that moisture and other conditions can effect range even at a lower power level. I've seen that on my FM TX. I suppose the only way a person can really know is to use a FM TX in their area and see what they get. We also didn't even bring up the fact that signals reflecting off objects can hurt or help you depending on the relationship from the TX to the RX. This too is the reason some folks experience more range in one direction and not in the other. I know obstructions also have a lot to do with it as well. This again is another reason the FCC should allow room for learning and experimenting for Radio enthusiasts under an expanded hobby Broadcasting rule.
That isn't even an analogy, Rich.
It doesn't cost 14K for a speedometer like it cost for a Potomac FIM 71. Its not something you can buy alongside of your new FM Transmitter to make sure its in compliance with 15:239. Sorry I do agree with Carl on this one. Its something we started to talk about in the early days of the FM Initiative. And if the new proposal is made into law for 87.9 Mhz at least that will put some of the rhetoric to rest. But again some Anti part 15 folks will always complain no matter what. Its a compromise that makes good sense speaking of the Radio spectrum in mind. I know some Radio's won't receive it but my Boombox I got early this year had no issue with it. Most car Radio's have no issue with it.
Here's a perfect test folks....
take your best radio or car, and go about 800-1000 feet, is the signal still there? Turn it down and repeat until its gone around 800 feet. Thats legal.
Part 15 FM maxes out around 800 feet, noise free reception, around 200-250 feet. Picket fencing and tropo rule the other 550-600 feet.
The law says a certain speed limit and YES it's up to the driver to operate accordingly BUT.....the operator of the car has an instrument(speedometer) to be compliant.....THAT IS MANDATED BY THE GOVERNMENT! All cars HAVE to have a speedometer.
Its not left to the driver to play guessing games and it shouldn't be left to the transmitter owner either.
Carl....the document for the FCC looks good.....if I could help I would but since I don't live in the USA I couldn't be much help.
Mark
Thank you Mark.
Your interest in our effort is a help!
Actually I would not have a issue with 800 Ft. That is a god number of homes and businesses where I live that could receive my station. Here is an analogy for you. I'd rather go 800 Ft with a clean transmitter than go ¼ to ½ mile with a dirty POS (legality aside). I've always been a stickler for not causing issues. Now let me please comment on the speedometer thing and how it relates to a FM Transmitter. There should be an easy and cheap way to measure a transmitter to see if it is close to legal or over the limit. Something for $20-50 that a radio enthusiast could buy at Radio Shack or any Radio transmitter or supply store (CB, Ham, FRS Walkie Talkie's) to see if your in the legal realm. When I was a CB operator I wanted to know how many watts my Radio put out as well as modulation and SWR reading. I bought a 3 meter box. The left meter was Watts. The second was SWR and the 3rd was modulation. I could monitor my Transmitter at all times. With these FM transmitters you can't do that so you don't know what your modulation is, Watts and I guess SWR is irrelevant at such low power (still would be nice to know). If we were allowed X power 25 mW onto a telescoping or Rubber Duck this is something we can wrap our heads around and could buy a watt meter for FM and check are we 25 mW? Now what is the modulation if its too hot we tone it down a bit. We could do this with AM with some of the 160 meter Ham Radio test equipment as some goes down to 400 Khz. But the FM power is so low that I don't think you could modify a 2 meter Ham SWR, Watt, Modulation meter to even pick up the signal because we are dealing in nanowatts.
Just for educational purposes we learned the whole house TX puts out 2 mW on low power (What it was shipped with) and 310 mW (Secret High power setting). Remember 75%-95% of part 15ers have these.
There is a reason I brought this up and I'll get to this. The 2mW setting into that rubber duck had a nice 800Ft range. And with the extended wire over 1,000 Ft (Could be what Frankinmuth was using). This was with 2mW and a wire for the antenna. I was amazed to find that this beat the pants off my 500 mW SainSonic AX-05B making it look like a Fisher Price play toy. Imagine what 310 mW would do. So somewhere between 2mW and 310 mW into a rubber duck, or wire is what we should ask for legally ad as Larry the cable guys says Get Her Done. We have the data about interference RIGHT THERE. Make the Whole House FM Transmitter 3.0 the official transmitter for extended part 15 rules and maybe legally allow the secret high power mode (but at 1,000 Ft you still can get a lot of listeners at 2mW). Maybe Johnny C could be our official experimenter with this indoors to see what his resulta are for sure. But just read the Amazon reviews talking about the range and the high power setting and or the extended wire and what they got. If this is a clean TX lets make it the official legal extended part 15 Transmitter and too I'm sure I could get Brian of Whole House FM Transmitter 3.0 to sign the petition. All the other rhetoric is not needed for the real tests are right there for us to see in black and white.
So many folks are afraid to talk about range because of some sort of retaliation against them. Its time for open expression and to make the change. And we need to comment to the FCC about their 87.9 Mhz proposal making that no longer a gray and debatable subject. You know the Ramsey TX's are 25 mW without the 1 watt board? I've heard some nice range reports with these too. Yes 25 mW into an Inside Antenna. The 30B looks really nice and could be usable for a small Radio station and I don't feel that is a power monger.
Agreed.