Great resource. Thanks for the link. Someone should add this to the Part15.us links resource.
Great resource. Thanks for the link. Someone should add this to the Part15.us links resource.
Problem is. This organization has had a webpage/site a lot like it in the past. When the interest in the proposed service died so did the webpage/site. So use it while you can! Hopefully this one will out live the last one
I just did a week or so of scanning the frequencies at all times of the day and night...
I found that day time i had a few choices , at night however is a diffrent situation, on all the upper channels ithere is tons and tons of crosstalk and bounce.. and the only thing that will get around that is watts.. not a aption... so i just live with it at night and my signal has much lesss range.. soi just play music all night long after about 9pm...
I used the radio in my truck its very sensitive and i can pull in stations from all over with this.. So i was confident that my channel was clear for my transmssion.
Just remember any cross talk from pig boys will penitrate your signal very easly.. it doesnt take much so find a channel thats really clear..
I chose 1610 as thats kind of set aside for public information in most areas.. so its usually in the clear..
Also remember, higher the better, I could have gotten a really clear channel lower but the power and antenna limitations mean we can TX farther at the upper end of the band.. try to stay as high as possbale, but also remeber some radios dont go all the way up to the 1700+
Jason
Tried this site and did frequency search. it came back with info for a 30w station on all of the extended band channels. It also showed 100w station possibilities.
It showed two full power considerations, one 69 mi from my location on 1590khz and another 315mi on 1690khz.
What it failed to show was 3 other stations in the state on 1660,1680,& 1700khz one of those has a weak but useable signal in the search area!??
So I wonder what they are using as criteria for co-channel separation, or is their data base incomplete.
Hi Jason:
I agree, it takes a real search to decide what's best for each installation.
I'm disappointed that there's a station here in Omaha that broadcasts sports on 1620 and takes up almost the entire upper spectrum. Their spread seems excessive to me. On my truck's radio, which is very sensitive, I can hear the station from 1570 through 1700. On a cheap portable, the spread is just as bad, but the cheap radio can't exclude as well as the digital tuning on the truck radio.
Regards,
Scott
I have found http://www.radio-locator.com/ to be a very good resource for choosing frequencies. You can search a number of different ways. Search on your zip code to display all frequencies receivable under normal conditions in your area. Stations are displayed along with a little meter display that shows relative strength in your area. Go to "advanced search" to search for all stations on a specific frequency. For example: 1610 shows only one commercial sation in Canada, CHHA in Toronto. You should also search on the adjacent frequencies (1600 and 1620) to see if there is a big bruiser near you.
When I have searched in the past, low power traffic info stations and the like were also displayed. They weren't there when I just did a search on 1610. I don't know if they have been deleted or its just something with the site currently. In this area the Valley Forge Park info station is a factor on 1610 (It doesn't appear on the
http://www.lpam.ws/search/site either).
I suggest finding a likely frequency from the radio-locator web site and then verifying it is good by driving around your expected coverage area while checking for signals on your car radio. Don't expect a completely clear channel, but if you only hear a very weak station fading in and out of oblivion, then the frequency is a good candidate.
Also, don't limit your search to just the extended band. In this area 1580 is just as good as many of the extended band frequencies.
Hopefully the link will be used as another resource and I submit it as such. In the field, a digital radio and "just listening" has always been and continues to be the best way to approach finding a good frequency for part 15 transmissions.
I have used and will continue to use other services, "radio-locator", and the FCC database. I think that any of these websites are a good place to start but you can't rely on them as a sole source. Searching or research I've done with the information on these websites has always left me believing that there should be open frequencys at 1640, 1650, 1660 and 1700 in my area. My digital receiver tells me these frequencies are far from open.
The website/page (lpam.ws) was re-activated about a week ago and is in response to a filing made for a new "Low Power AM" service that will allow for, privately owned, commercial operations to 100watts. It's not really for "micro broadcasters" who need the quietest frequency we can find. My search on the site showed 8 open frequencies for transmitters in the "proposed" 30 watt range. With the information I obtained from it, I did learned of another station going dark, that opened up a frequency in my area that wasn't there a few months ago. Though I'm sticking to 1610 for now. It's nice to know 1680 is there, if I need to move.
It's a long read but if your interested in the LPAM filing. You can read the petition here:
[ http://www.recnet.com/fcc/RM-11287_petition.pdf ]
The petition is in the comments stage for 30 days. Comments need to be filed before midnight EST on [i:dbc257bc90]about[/i:dbc257bc90] 11/20/05. You can do that at the FCC website. I'm going to file my [u:dbc257bc90]supporting[/u:dbc257bc90] comments before the end of this week. I will support it, but I'm afraid that the powers that be (NAB, Clear Channel, Infinity) will do to it, what they did to LPFM. [u:dbc257bc90]IF[/u:dbc257bc90] it makes it that far. This service is needed pretty bad in towns like mine. We have a population of approximately 6000. A 50Kw FM and a 500w AM both running satellite programming 24/7 with very little local (20 hours a week FM only) programming. Local programming consists of the deeJay telling corny jokes, playing music and reading PSA's and weather for 4 hours Mon-Fri. No news, weather or PSA's unless the jock is there.
By the way. I'm am in no way associated with anybody authoring any of these links I've provided except as a reader. As for my board name... I just liked the "handle" at the time. 🙂
I'm disappointed that there's a station here in Omaha that broadcasts sports on 1620 and takes up almost the entire upper spectrum. Their spread seems excessive to me. On my truck's radio, which is very sensitive, I can hear the station from 1570 through 1700. On a cheap portable, the spread is just as bad, but the cheap radio can't exclude as well as the digital tuning on the truck radio.
Gee Scott,
Shouldn't a little complaint be filed with the Fine Candy Company about that lousy engineering! After all the big boys can be pretty quick to complain about Part 15 operators! 😆 (Ha Ha).