Hi all,
So, let me say that of all the research I've done, and all the forums I visited, this is where I landed. I found this site to be pretty well managed and most people here are very level headed. I didn't intend to end up on a Part 15 site, but let me explain how I got here.
I grew up with NY radio. You name it, I listened to it. I still have some tapes I made from those days. I was a DJ at my college radio station for about 2 years (?) and really missed it. I've been podcasting for 10 years, but I wanted to get back into live music broadcasting.
Originally, radio was out of the question. I spent weeks looking at licensing since I do *everything* legally. I wanted to make sure I paid all the fees and such, but I read something that said (and this could be wrong, I never found the article again) that you pay less if you broadcast and stream. Something about how the broadcasting fees trump the streaming fees. I don't know, I have to get back to that.
That led me into researching FM broadcasting. I've always known about pirate radio, but never knew what that meant, other than using the same frequency as someone else. So, long story short, I found Part 15's rules. My first instinct was to broadcast over FM. I mean, why not? It sounds amazing. AM here still sounds like butt. I know all about the field range of FM and this is where things get sticky. I want to broadcast to my town and stream. My town is small - maybe a mile wide? So, I'd like to broadcast out 1/2 mile out, which would cover most of the town. FM seemed out of the question - the low field strength, the demos on YouTube where someone goes 2 blocks and loses the reception, that sort of thing. It just seemed impractical. So, I looked at AM. Talking House, 1/2 mile radius...seemed OK. That was until I found that a friend of mine bought a car which doesn't even have AM in it.
I know this is long, but bear with me 😀
This got me thinking - is AM worth the trouble? I haven't voluntarily listened to AM radio except to listen to the Giants in decades. AM was huge in NY years ago until FM took over. Now car radios are being constructed without AM. That brought me back to FM.
I did a lot of reading and math about the distance FM can travel, but I can't do any testing. See, that's the problem - in the weeks I spent researching AM and FM, man, there's a lot of junk out there from people. Nobody seems to have really put a stake in the ground and definitively said "We tested Part 15 FM and here's what we found". If that exists, please point me to it.
What got me to finally post here after lurking for so long were the Tiger Team posts and how Part 15 FM looks like piracy if you go past 200 ft. because *the FCC said so*. I'd like to know how to dispell those myths. Can Part 15 FM really go further than what people assume? I'm trying to make an educated decision before spending money. Even Part 15 AM has a lot of misinformation.
And then there's the other part of the problem - the people that love to bust others. All I'd need is some yahoo saying "bleh, this guy's a pirate because I can hear him across town", and since I live in one of the lovely states where radio piracy is a class D felony, yay for me.
It's almost daunting to want to get into this hobby. On one hand, I want to do something good and fun for the town, something fun for myself, and really enjoy it. On the other hand, Tiger Teams and radio vigilantes.
So how can this be fixed?
First, welcome to the forum. Your posts were delayed a bit but they are all up now. You are not being ignored 🙂
Here is my experience with AM. I have built a station which is basically a high efficiency transmitter mounted at ground level over buried radials and feeding a 3 meter long vertical stick. The signal is very strong around my 1/2 acre property and can be received several hundred feet up and down the street on a hand held portable. With my truck radio I can hear it out beyond a mile. Unfortunately, it is hard to draw conclusions about usable range from this since both receivers were not exposed to the electrical hash typically present in most homes. I have no data regarding in-home reception except for my own home.
I also transmit on FM but the purpose with this is to enable my wife to hear streaming programming while she moves around with her portable. I adjusted the antenna length to give a usable signal in our house and around the yard and on a car radio it can be heard about 300 feet from my house. This is not an example of the maximum range obtainable since I adjusted this for limited range and not for field strength. It is not possible for me to tell what my actual field strength is but according to "guidelines" it is probably within the legal limit.
Regarding the situation with people turning in "pirates" I can imagine that when it happens to one, one gets very angry and vocal. The chances of any one person operating legally of having this experience is not zero but it is not as high as it may seem. There are many of us here who have never had problems.
The FCC publishes the NOUOs (Notice of Unlicensed Operation) cites and for FM it is almost always documented that the field strengths greatly exceed the legal limit by orders of magnitude. There are very few cites for AM violations and all with one exception that I know of have been for too much power or for too long ground lead lengths.
At least when the FCC makes this determination it appears that they use proper equipment and techniques. They are not the problem for hobbyists who try their best to abide by the rules. The danger I see is having unauthorized and most likely untrained people getting involved in "pirate hunting" and putting others in a position of having to prove they are operating within the rules rather than having the agency responsible for enforcement having to prove otherwise. This is especially apparent when state lawmakers get involved with what has always been a Federal matter.
Having said that, I still believe that responsible hobby broadcasting is not fraught with peril. I have been doing both AM and FM under Part 15 rules on and off for over fifty years and have never had any problems. It is a great activity and if you understand and stay withing the imposed limits there should be no need to worry.
Neil
ArtisanRadio has posted in another thread some information which you might appreciate. Here's the link:
http://www.part15.us/forum/part15-forums/transmitter-talk/fcc-part-15-fm-misinformation