We'll since all you guys were so great
with my "87.9" question (and I do
appreciate it) here's another inquiry.
I have always loved old broadcast jingles.
We'll since all you guys were so great
with my "87.9" question (and I do
appreciate it) here's another inquiry.
I have always loved old broadcast jingles.
Way back in my Part 15 past, I had used a
broadcast jingle from the 1950s, from a
station that was no longer operating.
That callsign was WRL. I add questioned
the legality of that, since a listener could
believe that my Part 15 set-up was a
licensed U.S. broadcast station.
The jingle had a long musical fadeout, so I
went into the recording studio, and mixed
into the musical fadeout an announcement
that said, "Part 15.219 and Part 15.239.
That way, when the jingle was played, the
Part 15 disclaimer was in there right after
the WRL callsign. I even changed the
pitch of my voice because, frankly, I don't
like the sound of my voice.
I still felt that somehow, this wasn't quite right.
I have always wanted to have a "squeaky clean"
Part 15 operation. I know that REALLY running
into trouble with these small details is unlikely,
but I have a ham license, too, and I have always
kept that operation completely legal. Getting a
ham license really teaches you that sort of thing.
Anyhow, I play a lot of REALLY old stuff, some as
far back as the 1930s. I am also a big fan of
jingles, as I mentioned.
So on the net today, I found a 5 letter
Mexican callsign that is sung in English and it
sounds wonderful. I don't even remember the
exact call - but it was in stereo and it sounds
great.
If I use that ID with my Part 15 station - well -
can you guys think of any problems that would
arise? Nothing is ground in stone here and in fact,
if I was to go back and redo all of my IDs, it wouldn't
be until sometime in the future. I am still working
on the old Gates board and working to get the AM
back up. The only thing that is on right now is the
FM, and man is it weak. Still, it sounds great going
through the 1962 Zenith AM/FM tube table radio
in my house. I do things very slowly because of
my really bad eyes.
Well, if you've gotten this far, that's amazing in itself.
Any comments will be appreciated and will probably
be fun anyway.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
Ya know, I never thought of that.
I don't see a problem with that depending how far you are from the border.
Thanks for replying! You passed the
reading endurance test!
Oh yeah, as far as being near the Mexican
border, I guess it's OK because I'm in
Connecticut!
Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
Bruce MICRO1700
"FCC Section 73.3550 (1) Users of nonlicensed, low-power devices operating under part 15 of this chapter may use whatever identification is currently desired, so long as propriety is observed and no confusion results with a station for which the FCC issues a license."
Your situation is fascinating, Bruce, because the Mexican call sign WAS NOT ISSUED BY THE FCC, so the confusion that may result if someone believes they are getting a sky-wave skip-signal from Mexico is not the same as what this rule describes.
I liked your idea of adding the Part 15 references, because that would certainly observe PROPRIETY.
Maybe the old expired 3-letter call sign is actually a better choice than a currently operating Mexican call sign, however.
Which brings up a question the FCC has not addressed (so far as we know): that of using a call sign SIMILAR TO ANOTHER COUNTRY OR OTHER BROADCAST SERVICE.
Thanks for your comments.
Well, I had also thought of Atlantic 252 (on 252 KHz
of course.) This
once very very famous British broadcaster was on
the longwave broadcast band. 252 had an
incredible history and was one of the stations
that played rock and roll for the European
listeners that were starving for it. This was because the
BBC, and other European stations, weren't playing
enough rock and roll yet. I think Atlantic 252 ran
2 million watts and had a daytime groundwave signal
that was huge!! (I'll have to check the historical sites
and see how huge.) But anyway - since the only frequency I
have that really goes anywhere is 1690, I thought
the 252 would be confusing.
Then I thought of the BIG 8, CKLW. Then I decided against
it, because my programming would never do justice
to that incredible station at it's prime. Again, if you
look at the historical sites, you will see what a big
deal the BIG 8 was. CKLW was in Windsor, Ontario.
But in West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1968, all of us kids listened
to it at night. It even showed up on the local ratings
books. Poor WDRC/1360 and WPOP/1410 really had a
run for their money. Those stations were friendly rivals,
and then the Big 8 comes slamming in. I even knew
a kid down the street who put
up the best speakers he could on his wall in his room
so the BIG 8 would sound good. (And this was AM, 800 kHz,
of course.) There were other stations on the channel, too,
but CKLW was the big one. Years later, when they went
AM stereo, I was able to listen to their stereo signal in
Connecticut on 800 kHz, with the very rare Sony SRF A100,
a receiver that was especially made to decode all of the
AM stereo systems that were coming out at the time.
I do not have that radio anymore. If you ever try to get
one on E-Bay, you will end up paying a lot of money!
Well, that's enough, I guess. So the basic idea is, if
you're playing some cool old music, why not play
some cool old historical broadcast jingles. Just make
sure that aren't from stations in the U.S. That's the
theory.
Thanks again for reading this far.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
As long as I was rambling on about
broadcast history, I should mention that
I was incorrect.
Atlantic 252 didn't run 2 million watts.
It was 500 KW day, and 100 KW night.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, MICRO1690/1700
500kW on 252 khz is probably about 2 million by the time you get to 1690!
Right! Ha Ha!
Bruce,
MICRO1690/1700