OK so the Talking House puts out 92.5 mW so that is good then?
It is doubtful that the Talking House puts out 92.5 mW. That is the input power. Considering the lossy components in the matching device maybe it puts out 1/2 of that if you are lucky?
Is there anything closer to the 100mW mark on AM I can run with an inside antenna? And why did that one dude get busted for running over 100mW with a Talking House? Maybe he did a mod with it however supposedly not.
From post #31 "OK so the Talking House puts out 92.5 mW so that is good then?"
I don't know what the output power of this transmitter is but in general we want it to be as high as possible given the 100 mW limit on input power. My AM transmitter produces a measured 86 mW output into the antenna system and I have never seen documentation which cites a measured output power such as this for any other transmitter. This power was measured both with a bench dummy load and the actual antenna system in use here.
That being said, a power output of half this would reduce the range to about 70% with the same antenna system so it is not necessary to fight for every milliwatt out, but the higher the better.
AM range is primarily determined by what happens to this output power. The largest losses happen in the ground system and the matching coil (internal or external) so the use of an indoor antenna without a proper RF ground is unpredictable in terms of power radiated.
Neil
I'm currently experimenting with a ProCaster, and replacing the supplied pipe antenna with a (just under) 8 foot whip. The whip will be inside my garage (or at best, just outside the garage right beside the outside wall so it can't be easily seen). I'll let you know the results once I've got them (assuming I can tune the Procaster with a slightly shorter antenna).
I suppose you could also replace the whip on a Rangemaster with a wire - you can tune the Rangemaster to give you exactly 100mw input to the final stage, but you'll need a multimeter for the measurements (I'm not sure I'd trust the supposed auto power tuning circuitry).
The problem is that both the ProCaster and the Rangemaster are expensive - probably $300-400 used. And you're going to have to find a good non radiating ground for them (the Talking House uses the power connection).
You might want to look into the Grain transmitter - I don't know much about it but it was tested over at that other Forum with good results. I also don't know what it costs but I think it's comparable to the ProCaster (the Rangemaster tends to be more).
From what I can gather from your budget and needs, the Talking House is probably your best bet. It's not going to cost you an arm and a leg, you can run it easily indoors with the supplied wire antenna, and it gives reasonable results in terms of range. If you want the best audio quality, you'll need to use the newer IAM unit, as they improved it over older examples.
I know some say Transmit over it anyway because 96.3 in Morehead City is out of your service area in Elizabeth City, but I don't operate like that. I believe in proper Radio etiquette and wish others who operate on FM practice the same. My Wife told some of her friends about my station and their concerns were the station in Morehead City. I did tell her to tell her friends I don't operate when that station is coming in. Sometimes its every night and sometimes not. But at least if I get the Talking House I can operate at night too. OK when you talk about range what are we talking about? If I can get it to the second story if our room mate moves out I can get it upstairs. I'd need to save up for a Wireless AV unit that can transmit several feet away. Maybe if I can find a carrier current one that would work well. Something so I can get the signal upstairs. I know I had a cordless phone that could travel upstairs nicely and it was 5 Ghz so maybe a 5Ghz AV unit could be the way to go as well. I have someone who is trying their best to get me a TX at a good price too and trying to see what they can do to help get the Album Rock sound out of AM a feet that is hard in the first place. If I could get ½ to a mile I'd be happy with that. It might also keep the anti Fmers off my back until we can get more field strength but really I don't know if I'll be on FM after 6PM with the inversions we get here. I think too we get a lot of effect from the ocean that I didn't get when I lived in Michigan. If I had the same inversions all the time at night up there I'd never had done my shows even back in the day as I use to check even back then. At least tonight I didn't have to go off air till 2 AM. Anyway I appreciate all the help I can get. I do wish I could have got the Stereo AM Transmitter that did sound good just a little bleed from left to right channel and a little extra base on the youtube video but still would work for Album Rock. I heard California Dreaming which was a song everyone uses as a Stereo test song. Or The Beatles – Number 9 which I use to check as well to see how the transmitter can hold up to different sounds. You can also use 8 Miles High by The Byrds as well as one guitar is on one channel and the other guitar is on the other. I wonder what it would it would take to make the Talking House or iAM Transmitter Stereo? It probably would cost too much and certainly might break the certification. Would it get me busted? Hmmm. Still mono could sound OK as I heard Genesis on the iAM transmitter and it didn't sound too bad.
Referring the part 15 troll's statement on facebook here is what was said:
Powell---Way Said: 1710 is NOT a legal frequency for Part 15.
A member from here said: Powell---way do your homework before posting incorrect info. Part 15 is allowed, different levels.
Another member said: You *can* use it, but the power level on that frequency is greatly reduced compared to 1700 and below.
Powell---Way said: Then it is useless
Standard power 15 levels themselves, legally, are "toy" level. I have some part 15 transmitters.
Someone from here said: Powell---way What do you care? Are you another Part 15 Troll?
Powell---Way Said: No, I think the FCC rules on Part 15 are wrong. And the FCC rules are selectively enforced. Power lines that are noisy radiate far worse than any legal Part 15 broadcast station. And as O said legal part FM won't cover a large yard. AM rules aren't quite as bad, but if your USABLE coverage has the word MILE or MILES in your claims then it is illegal. Where I am a watt would get me less than 10 potential listeners on AM.
Name powell---way above was slightly edited for a reason.
That's the discussion from that closed group.
Thelegacy wrote in Reply #22: I don't know otherwise, but for the FCC to come to a person's house who runs a Talking House AM Transmitter again no mods no long ground leads or roach clip attached to the wire to make it longer and nothing other than how the transmitter came out of the box. ...
If the FCC inspected the operation you described and issued an NOUO to its operator, then there should be a link to that NOUO on the FCC EB website.
If it isn't there, then the information you presented about this lacks authenticity.
If it is there, could you please post a link to it? Thanks.
Rich: Somewhere (I can't remember where) on the FCC Website there is a disclaimer staing that the NOUO/NAL/NOV sections may not be complete. However as you recall, the NOUO was for 15.209 which I though was strange.
Actually I don't recall anything about a TH NOUO. But if you report that it referenced 15.209, wouldn't that have been made public via the EB website?
This topic about the Talking House AM Transmitter was talked about on another forum (The one with the SBE engineer). But not only was it talked about here, but the member of the ALPB who is helping me with the AM Transmitter and trying his best to make it affordable for me to transmit on AM as you can get more range on AM than a 500 mW FM Transmitter and I would not have to worry about temperature inversions or anti FM Trolls if I actually got listeners on AM. I told him I'd give it the college try as a science experiment to see what happens. After the wright brothers were told they could never fly and look at the airplanes we have in the sky. So as he said I should not be closed minded about Album Rock on AM and go ahead and throw up an AM 100mW Transmitter even if I have to use an indoor antenna. So we're looking into an antenna for AM indoors. Now I I know the Talking House AM transmitter can't possibly be illegal because 1 it is certified and 2 lots and lots of Realtors use these transmitters. Macinaw island in Michigan uses it to talk about the bridge. It goes a long way too. I'm not too sure how high they have the antenna but the audio sounded like they put a mic up next to a cassette recorder. But you can hear it all the way across the bridge and around the little shops in the town in the UP. With that said against what the troll said on Facebook that transmitter gets out well over a mile. This BS about a few feet on AM does not cut it. As long as you keep the antenna and ground at 3 meters and no more than 100mW your cool. The rules did not say you can't construct an AM beam antenna less than that and elements less than that and hey if its a high gain antenna the other rule about size and power apply. I don't understand why more beam experiments have not been made. Also water is a ground too. So you can have a ground 1 inch and stuck in Lake Michigan and you'd have the effect of a beverage antenna. They can go for miles and with very little power. Hams have worked with QRP stations and some at 50 mW and worked stations on the other side of the world. So anything is possible while you follow the rules for AM. I'd still like to see the inductance trick work where it followed the power line and got out city wide.
Thanks. It all comes back to me now.
" I heard California Dreaming which was a song everyone uses as a Stereo test song. Or The Beatles – Number 9 which I use to check as well to see how the transmitter can hold up to different sounds. You can also use 8 Miles High by The Byrds as well as one guitar is on one channel and the other guitar is on the other. I wonder what it would it would take to make the Talking House or iAM Transmitter Stereo?"
EVERY song you've mentioned here I grew up listening to on AM radio and had no problems with it. EVERY song here is played on the 5000 watt commercial oldies station I've worked at for the past 27 years and every song sounds just fine. No, it's not in stereo but it's all there. We have an awful lot of hardcore music fans who listen to us broadcasting these rock classics in mono 24/7 for the past several decades.
Don't know why the heck anyone would want to even try to set up AM stereo, unless you just like to do it because you can, or as an experiment just for the sake of playing with the technology. How many people do you know in the general public with an AM stereo receiver? I've been in the industry since 1973, and I'm a collector of electronica. I've yet to come across or own an AM stereo receiver. I know they're out there, and I know you can buy them. Most people who remember the great rock and roll music of the 60's and early 70's remember listening to it on AM radio. I listened to it on KDWB and WDGY in Minneapolis. Both AM rock and roll powerhouses when I was a kid. I say put the effort into making your mono AM sound great, rather than messing around with stereo when so few out in the wild are equipped to hear it anyway.
Tim in Bovey
Tim I can give it a good try and see what we get. Car Radio's in the Olds are Stereo and sound good. AM doesn't fence post as bad as FM so I could get listeners who are at the hamburger joint who love Album Rock, Classic Rock to listen and being AM is more of something that the FCC seems to prefer I may be able to put a sign up in front of my house or hanging off the porch The Legacy Classic Rock, Album Rock, Progressive Rock transmitting @ 1640 Khz. But do that on FM and the FCC would be at my door so fast my head would spin. I thought about modifying the Talking House or getting an AM Stereo transmitter but my budget may not allow it. Instead I'm gonna work on getting a good indoor antenna for AM and if needed I'll have to use Stereo Tool on the 2nd sound card to clean up the audio. If I'm lucky to get the iAM transmitter or have my friend tune up the Audio in the Talking House 5.0 I can at least have a nice AM signal without too much base. I'd rather work on a clean Mono signal first to see what happens. I'll tell all my listeners to buy Tecsun Radio's to hear my station better too. Some listeners won't bother to buy the amplified speakers to hear me in Stereo as I think one Tecsun Radio had AM Stereo on it. We'll see what a clean Mono signal will sound like first. Stereo won't do any good if the transmitter only goes 50 foot like Bruce's AM transmitter did. Not going to help.