this is my house whats yours look like 😛
Nice looking spread RadioHAM... with such a large garage it looks like a fire department.
I am located in the Internet Building which can be seen somewhere on the ALPB website.
Your missing the point.. It's not "tower envy". I've had my transmitter mounted high before in the past and acheived in excess of 5 miles too. But it's not legal. You have a very long radiating ground in play - You may not have a wire connected directly to the ground lug, but you definately still have a compleate circut going on which is causing you to have a 30+ foot antenna system.. wheter if its to the sheild of your leads or otherwise.
If you tried the experiment described above it would prove this to you.
Sure there are people mounting on 30, 40 and higher installs and claiming it's compliant, and there always will be, some have gotten away with it for years, and others have received NOUOs and have to discontinue use. If you want to do it, then go ahead, just don't try to kid yourself - or anyone else that it could ever pass an inspection.
Bottom line; a compliant part 15 install of a single transmitter, under any methods, technics, or conditions at best might be able to acheive a 2 mile RADIUS - but even that would be wishful thinking and almost impossible. A mile is more realistic, but a half mile radius or less would be more common.
Do what you will, but know that it is pirate activity and not even close to being part 15 legal.
Many of us have been around for a long while (myself, over 10 years doing this) and do know a thing or two.
You're right in the sense that the rules are just words on paper, and subject to interpretation. But there's no disputing the INTENT of the rules - to limit the length of radiating elements on your transmitter, to limit the field strength (i.e., range) and thus limit interference.
Now, many years ago FCC inspectors were a little more forgiving in interpreting the ground lead aspect of the rules, to the favor of the unlicensed broadcaster. But in recent years, the interpretation of 'ground lead' has been significantly tightened, particularly for elevated installations. KENC is one example.
If you have an elevated install, unless you take great pains to ensure that all connecting wires are not radiating, you are likely going to be found to be operating illegally by an FCC insepctor. To put it quite simply, it's not the elevation that is causing the increase in range - it's the length of the radiating antenna elements (and everything that acts as an antenna element).
You might get away with it if you don't get inspected. But don't kid yourself that you are meeting either the specifics or intent of the rules.
You're much better off to install at ground level, and ensure that you have an excellent ground (such as radials). I (and others here) have been able to achieve 1-2 miles range to a sensitive receiver with a perfectly legal, ground-mounted installation.
I am not a rule thumper. But those who do not have experience in Part 15 broadcasting need to know and understand the rules, and what is possible to achieve operating within those rules, before moving forward and doing what they're going to do. That is the reason that this Forum exists.
.. You appear to be out in the middle of nowhere so it's unlikely anyone would ever bother with you about it. You'll probally be fine with it for years to come.
My whole point is not to promote it as "Part 15" and legal. Because it just isn't.
My ground is almost cleared for an outdoor antenna using bamboo poles to form a tripod based tower.
Being near the ground seems risky regarding thieves but putting it above easy reach creates problems of access... someone suggested a tower that tilts down to the ground but that's no good for two reasons:
1.) If I tilt it down, so could a theif;
2.) If the transmitter is peak-tuned while tilted to the ground, it would go out of tune when raised in the air.
Fail fail fail fail fail.
Anyway the wooden tower would not radiate and I would be saintly, using solar power and wireless audio.
I've come so close to being smart but there were no witnesses.
Hi All: Radioham great job behind you all the way !!!!
Now as range goes anything can happen due to I have used 10 am tx in my test as well as 30 antenna which is NOT including home built antennas I tried.
I have great luck with antenna as well as down fall at times but I found the secret to making antennas for low power and STAY WITH LEGAL LIMITS IN RULES !!!
Look at the range that Tim in bovey gets,But do you question him NO YOU DON'T!!!
BUT YOU GO AFTER OTHER,THAT'S NOT NICE!!!!!!
Here is something to also sit on and think about,Way is it always certain people beingJumped on and not others!!!!!
Before anyone making comment about someone setup and legal issue you should
Know the complete setup story before making a comment so there will be NO massConfusion.
Until some people get off there butt's and try what I tried you don't know what your talking
About!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is to be a fun hobby for everyone and TEACH NEW AND IMPROVED WAY OFMAKING YOU STATION BETTER FOR YOUR AREA!!!!
I approve what I said and you don't like talk to me and I will give it to you
Straight!!!!!
Station 8
Not sure what all that said.
But all I'm saying is 100mw input combined with a 10 foot antenna system is not capable of transmitting further than a mile or so radius in the upper AM band of the public airwaves.
Putting the ten foot antenna high in the air won't change anything, but attaching a longer radiating element will.. That is all that is happening.
Someones head is in the clouds with that transmitter won't change facts and factors either. But feel free to do what you wish.
As to the great benefit of height, I do not know.
As you all probably know, I have a Procaster mounted on a PVC pipe, affixed to the side of my wood house at an attic window. it's about 30 feet above the ground. I have no ground connected. I use the provided 4 conductor cable to run from the transmitter to the studio. These are two audio wires and the + and - power. Again, I have no ground connected. Also note, that the clamps on the transmitter itself ARE connected to the same "ground" within the transmitter as the provided ground lug. So, were it mounted to a metal pipe rather than PVC, that pipe would be radiating. In my case, it would amount to a 3 foot piece of pipe mounted to wood, but the transmitter is bolted to a piece of electrical PVC conduit. It is isolated from everything except wood and PVC.
And this is where someone usually says "then you're grounded through the power feed or audio". Well, no. Because I checked continuity from the ground lug to the terminal block where the wires connect and there is none.
My motivation for a elevated install was not range, but the fact that 6 months out of the year a ground install would be under 4 feet of snow.
Further, lets say that somehow the provided cables and connectors, which were clearly used in the lab when the transmitter was certified, are somehow acting as a ground, perhaps coupled by inductance, stray fields, or magic. Were this a ground installed transmitter, the SAME cables would be used, and would likely be even longer as it would have to reach from my second floor studio down to the ground 30 feet below. So it would still be a long ground lead, but somehow be considered legal because the cable goes from the studio to the ground mounted transmitter rather than an elevated transmitter? That would make any cable used with any popular certified AM transmitter a long radiating element that would be illegal, connected to Earth ground or not. This would suggest that any legal AM installation would require an underground studio with the wires coming up through the ground to the transmitter. Again, this cable and it's connectors and power supply were that used when the transmitter was certified. I have the lab report.
Now, I mark my listenable coverage at 7200 feet. Under a mile and a half. Less than a 3 mile radius. You can hear it further out but it's mighty noisy and you wouldn't want to listen to it for long. And this is listened to at 7200 feet with not only my car radio, but a goodly variety of other radios from vintage boom boxes and CD players to hand held four dollar pocket size transistor radios.
I attribute my acceptable coverage to the fact that I'm in a town of 700 people on a good day, with no industry, virtually no electrical noise except in very small isolated areas, and my puny signal has to fight very little man made noise floor. Once the sun goes down I don't cover a block, as the noise and skip comes rolling in.
I have zero experience with the Rangemaster transmitter. If it is like a Procaster the mounting brackets are part of the ground -- if you bolt it to metal, that metal becomes part of the radiating system. If that metal is a tower that entire tower becomes a radiator.
When I was first installing my transmitter I had originally bolted it to a metal mast, again, with no ground attached. And the field strength jumped. And this mast was not grounded-- it was about 20 feet tall but bolted to the side of the wood house. I also discovered that attaching a hunk of wire to the ground lug and dropping almost to the ground but not connected to anything made a substantial increase in field strength.
Now, this was three years ago and I don't have my notes at hand. But I took actual field strength readings with a Potomac FIM-41 AM field strength meter -- so I wasn't judging by reception on a radio. Having anything metal at all connected to the clamps, ground lug or case made a substantial difference.
A true test and demonstration of the benefits of height would be to run it from a battery and an mp3 player AT THE TRANSMITTERS HEIGHT with short wires between batter/sound and the transmitter and see what happens. Don't use a battery on the ground with a 30 foot wire or you defeat the purpose. Don't run the audio leads to the studio. And be sure the transmitter itself is isolated from the mast. If height is really making the big difference, the transmitter with audio and power self contained at height should give the same results.
Also grab your VOM and with the transmitter disconnected check for continuity between that gound terminal on the wire connector block in the transmitter to the transmitter case, mounting bracket and external ground lug and see if you have continuity. if you do anywhere along the way, that case and clamps are ground and clamping it to a metal object creates a giant, long, illegal radiating element.
The internet is full of thousands of "Part 15" operators who insist they're legal and brag about stellar coverage, both AM and FM. Unfortunately, like Scotty, they "cannot change the laws of physics, Captain"
TIB
Or he is a jealous broadcaster organization who is bent on putting a kibosh on usefull range.
I have 3 Hamiltons one new one and two older ones and all of them have separate continuity
on all of its screw posts inside -/+ VDC don't short to ground the -/+ AF as well do not cross over to ground which is separated in the hard plastic PVC case which is non conductive the mount and screws and u clamps are all non-grounded if you ground the Hamilton you did it on purpose there's no way to accidentally ground it because nothing but the ground LUG and circuit board and a and screw separated from the other screws so there's no way to make the opposite side of the dipole unless you plainly hook it to the GND LUG or ground screw inside..
this being said I want to lower/tip over my us tower it's a 80ft telescopic 1.5-ton monster and place the Hamilton on the top mast ungrounded and let it rip... at 30 ft 60 ft and 80 ft and see who's spitting nails and who is just spitting 😛
Radioham
FINALLY somebody is going to do more than talk and make claims and give unfounded opinions...
RadioHAM just announced big plans: " I want to lower/tip over my us tower it's a 80ft telescopic 1.5-ton monster and place the Hamilton on the top mast ungrounded and let it rip... at 30 ft 60 ft and 80 ft and see who's spitting nails and who is just spitting :P"
This will be very interesting!
Be careful with all that tonnage.
Actually, I can make this really, really simple.
There is a theoretical limit to the size of the field strength that a truly Part 15 legal transmitter can generate. By truly legal, I mean 3 meters of radiating antenna + ground only, along with 100 mw input to the final stage of the transmitter. This isn't an ungrounded (pun intended) claim. This is physics and scientific law.
The FCC knows that limit. It's actually been calculated here as well. If you search, you can find it (I believe it's been discussed by both Rich Fry & radio8z).
That upper limit translates to somewhere between 1-2 miles (at most) of range on a sensitive receiver, depending greatly on the receiver, of course.
If you're getting somewhat more than that kind of range, then something else on your transmitter is radiating. Period. Because range = field strength.
When the FCC investigates your station, they don't get out the tape measure - at least at first. They measure your field strength, to see if it's grossly over that known limit. If it is (and sometimes, depending on the install, even if it isn't), then they will get out the tape measure and investigate further.
You (RadioHam, that is) hopefully will be more respectful to the FCC inspector than you've been to some of the members here who are taking exception to your unfounded (to date) height/grounding claims.
The ONLY real way to determine if your station is legal (i.e., has no other radiating elements) is to measure its field strength, and compare it to that limit. Plus, as an added bonus, you're doing what the FCC would do if they decided to come around for whatever reason.
Yes, I suppose that you could approximate a truly ungrounded transmitter, elevated, by running it with a battery, and supplying audio via an MP3 player or something similar. But the FCC is not going to accept that as proof that you're legal. Nor would I, quite frankly. You're not going to be operating it long-term in that fashion.
There have been many claims by others of getting huge range (substantially greater than 1 mile) with supposedly legal setups. I've yet to see any real proof of that (that they're legal, that is). For the most part, they've consisted of transmitters with long ground leads (or something else acting as part of the antenna system) installed at height, and it's been pretty obvious that the operators have taken liberties with the rules.
I can buy greater range from a transmitter such as the AMT5000, which claims greater efficiency in the final stage, and thus will be able to produce a more sizeable output field strength, the antenna system being equal. But even that has only been talked about ancedotally - the AMT5000 performed rather poorly in the only Part 15 comparison test conducted to date (there were reasons for that, suspected to be largely operator error, but there's been no retesting on it).
Why am I going on about all this? Again, because this Forum is about LEGAL, unlicensed radio broadcasting. While it's not about enforcement, those wishing to operate in a legal manner need to understand what the true capabilities of Part 15 compliant transmitters are. And if you then decide to go beyond those rules, it's entirely on you.
Hey, guys,
I am a put your money where your mouth is, so I will film each
of the details and what we will find in a real attempt
to show height over the ground..
Details to follow film at 11
It takes 35-45mins mins to crank the tower over one way, but just mins to let it telescopic up/down with its 1/2 horse motor. The crank up/tilts over massive towers use a 5-1 gear ratio to let them handle the load when it safely but slowly tilts over
( I will film it so everyone can see what i mean..
Radioham
The negative power lead acts as a ground, the audio path not so much but it certainly can and will if nothing else is available. All RF needs a ground of some sort, thats the very nature of RF. RF has to complete a circuit in order to function.
My Rangemaster is on a 9ft pole with no ground lead, however it was easy to determine that my power path was acting as the new ground. I've let it be since I plan on moving anyway, the new location will use a radial system.