I hope this shows the FCC the need for hobby Radio. Like what was said about it too. Good stuff more work like this needs to continue.
It's called Part 97.
What is part 97 I never heard of that. Is it the same as LPFM or something you need a special license for? I'm thinking in terms of Free Hobby Radio here.
Part 97 is Amateur Radio where the HAMs hang out.
Different kind of Radio. Its communications between one another not Broadcasting Music, Programming and the like. I'm talking about DJing. Yea I thought that was what it was and wanted to be sure. But like I said maybe the FCC will consider Hobby Broadcasting as a worthwhile medium for both the hobby broadcaster and the people who would be listening to a hobby broadcaster.
I saw this article yesterday. There is ZERO chance that the installation as described is legal under Part 15 rules. ZERO. There is no way .2 watts into a dipole is going to come in under the field strength limit for Part 15 FM. Covering the entire "compound"? Unless that camp is no more than a city block in size and is completely clear of any obstructions, they are not covering a compound with legal Part 15. I notice critical details like location and size are completely left out of the article. No mention of actual range.
Clearly what they have setup is not certified, opening them to a complete FCC inspection and analysis. Remember class, when you're "rolling it yourself" you better be in a position to take actual field strength readings. You cannot simply say "well, it goes about 200 feet" and be legal. You have to know. As we've discussed even when using a certified transmitter it's still up to the operator to know that he's legal.
How many have actually measured out 200 feet? With an actual tape measure? It's not very far. Even in my small town it's less than half a block, in fact about 3 lots or houses long. That's a pretty small camp.
Tim in Bovey
I have a 240 dipole that fits in my yard. Good point! Also Tim: There was a reason I shared this link and you picked up on it. Maybe Ralph Barlow from the FCC came by, did an interview and had his boys "tweak" the station for "substantial" compliance.
Its interesting that a well known person who we thought was an anti FM and part 15:239 bible thump-er did endorse the entire installation read the comments. After reading how this could be an illegal setup I had to take another look at the comment section and yup there it was. Looks like its not what you know or how you do it its actually who you know at the FCC that will inspect it and say its OK. So who did they have to blow at the FCC to get this one passed? If you say your an educational station and have a few kids in your studio and get known that your an educational station you can skirt past the all too famous 15:239. Now we know why certain people are hero's in part 15. So like I said there seems to be a double standard with the FCC and this one is a HUGE example of that. Apparently 15:239 does not apply to all folks and there are some sort of loop hole we don't see. Now if we want more field strength we need to not let this one slip by and do our homework find the loop hole and let us use it as well to gain that range we want for a neighborhood or ½ to 1 mile station as we damn well know 2 watts will get you farther than ¼ mile on a rubber duck and if your using a dipole? Now that one I must admit did slip by me Tim thanks for your quick observation. I want to bring this up at the meeting Tonight. Again we need to find that loop hole or who we need to blow to get our FM stations endorsed because all I'm asking for is ¼ to 1 mile tops not even anything close to 2 watts into a dipole. Please tell me what am I missing here in the chapter of part 15?
There is an undue respect attached to "student radio stations," stations where as-yet ungraduated non-degreed so-far under-educated kids can basically play in view of the surrounding public. It's equivalent to showing a sandbox on TV.
Learning is not of interest to anyone but the student and is not an audience participation event. Being on radio does not educate youngsters with headsets and turntables, it only amuses them and their friends as a kind of electronic baby sitter.
When the "educational band (88-92 MHz)" was first etablished there was something different in mind. The idea then was to present programming for distant learners, produced and prepared by qualified educators. The practice existed until television took over.
The notion that student broadcasters are being trained for a profession is a myth, given that playing records and talking about record artists amounts to little more than speaking on a public address system and is only a copy of so-called "professional" radio, where careers in disc jockeying have moved to the museum.
The only professional jobs in radio are engineering and management positions, for which bona fide college courses exist, the campus radio station being nothing more than a laboratory not suitable for public consumption.
Radio sales can be lucrative for individuals who can resist the temptation of spending the day in bars or movie theaters.
It would be foolish to think that the right-wing radio hosts represent a career category, given the small number of such positions and the non-existent turn-over rate.
How often has Rush Limbaugh been replaced by a graduate from a school radio station? It hasn't happened.
You have a few points there but education can mean far more than throwing on the top chart pop/rap tunes. Education can mean bringing back the type of Radio a youngsters parents use to listen to. Classic Country (Not the new country music which seems to want to be a mix between Taylor Swift who doesn't know if she wants to be Rock when she sang with Deaf Leppard or a Britney Spears). Real music is a precious commodity that Today is shackled to Rap and Top 40 and what little Classic Rock (if you want to call it that these days) is what is on some corporate chart. Do you even know that some Classic Rock stations refuse to play the full 8 minute plus version of American pie by Don McLean? I've heard a 5 minute version of that song on the Radio and was about to choke and throw a hissy fit when I heard this. Play the song the way the artist intended. My station was meant to Educate Americans (And when I play a famous song cut off by regular Radio I'll mention “we played the Real Version of this song and you'll only hear this on The Legacy”. When the public realizes their stations are ripping them off they will turn to Mine period. I make a conscience decision to teach true Rock talent to the old (who almost forgot and was willing to accept this type of musical censorship and dumped down Rock shoved down their throats by the RIAA). Education has a broad perspective. I feel that The Legacy needs to be considered to have a high honor in the Progressive Rock (Album Rock) genre. After all True Die Hard Album Rockers I know have spent over $7K on Stereo equipment. I'll break this down. $100-500 per channel for oxygen free XLR cables for the right channel and left channel of the pre amp to the power amp of a Album Rock acceptable Stereo system. Now you have the cost of the power amp and pre amp. You can expect to spend $600 for the power amp and another $600 for the pre amp. A good CD player with the digital processor to get rid of the harsh ringing sound of many CD's in the USA is $1100 for a Luxman or suitable German CD player. Now you have the two left and right channel oxygen free cables again $100-500 (Per Channel this means left and right). Speakers are usually $1500 for something like KEF 104's or B&W's or Band And Olfsen's. Now don't forget oxygen free speaker wire for the left and right channel ($100-500). Turntables should be considered too $250 plus diamond head styles for the turntable $100. Now again oxygen free RCA cable for the turntable $100-500 per channel). Tuner to listen to FM Radio with high sensitivity like a Mac tuner $350-400. Oxygen Free RCA cable again $100-500. I'm getting at the pure need for great sound. People who visit a station need to be educated on what audiophile sound truly is. This type of education will bring back jobs as well. Part 15 stations should be truly endorsed if they take the pure value of music seriously and bring back that true early 70s-1984 Radio feel. I lost a lot of my stuff due to financial woes and that hurt but if I get this stuff back ever again or ever have the opportunity to be an audiophile again that is my education I will offer to anyone who wants to be a part of my station. I admire Bruce for he has it right up the ally for an educational station which should be honored with gold metals not called names. We have a responsibility to re educate the dumb down American public who will embrace what we are all about.
None of the dumbed down seem to mind their plight so long as they can shop and make cell phone calls.
If you never know something then obviously you never needed it.
I agree that radio can be used to help dumb people up, but here in the Homeland it's not about educated knowledge, it's about money and power.
An extremely wealthy man is blundering his way into the White House by calling women "Fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals," but when he added "I don't have time for political correctness," the American public shouted "Ya!"
The "bimbo" (that's what HE called the news person asking about the name-calling), didn't think of explaining the context in which the wealthy man slurred the entire feminine gender.
People don't have time for details. Bringing back classic country could alleviate this somewhat.
Nowhere in the article referenced above did it say that anyone from the FCC ever looked at the place. Just that an engineer took out the old, clearly illegal stuff and replaced it with likely more potentially less illegal stuff. I don't believe the FCC accepts "substantially more into compliance" as a legal status. the right, complete answer to the story would be "Field intensity readings with a Potomac FIM-71 indicated a field strength of 240 uV/m at 3 meters were taken after the installation and adjustment". THAT would be a proper end to the story. Note how I left a bit of a fudge factor in the reading :).
But my point here is there are comments above that indicate an observation that soeone at the FCC approved this when in fact that is not mentioned in the story.
Tim in Bovey
You have somewhat of a point but here is mine: In several cases we have learned that to advertise your station means a sure inspection of the FCC. Take KENC for an example and the all too famous Radio station in Norwich, CT who advertised on Facebook, had a Facebook page and asked some questions on Facebook about toning down a part 73 transmitter to meet part 15 rules because he didn't like the audio quality of most mass produced part 15 transmitters. After that incident he was called names and convinced to shut down his station because of people talking and assuming he was not operating anywhere close to part 15:239 rules. But this story is posted blatantly and the operators were not satisfied with the range they were getting with their past equipment. What if someone would have given them a 50-100 watt part 73 transmitter and antenna and said “here you go this will certainly give you the range you want plus more.” would they have thrown it on the air? From what I gather they already was getting out a few miles. It doesn't answer to the fact as to why if I advertise on WTKR Channel 3 news “Hey I have a part 15 Radio station in Elizabeth City, NC on 1640 AM with a Talking House AM Transmitter with a wire antenna and I can broadcast 1 to 2 miles from a part 15 transmitter reltors use to sell houses. Or Hey I have an FM Station and I want to have all you guys know I have a great bedroom station so check me out!” Just how long do you think it would be before uncle Clarlie is gonna pound on my door and say Open Up this is the FCC and we want to see your station NOW! They would then come in with their test equipment and often deciding I need to shut down and hand me an envelope with a nice NOUO or NAL inside as a parting gift? It most likely would happen even if I were to advertise my AM station at the library on their bulletin board. Its why I am so afraid to make noise about the station even if it was certified. Yes I may put the ALPB certificate on my porch with the frequency but I've learned that over advertising of a part 15 compliant or certified station spells T.R.O.U.B.L.E. But here we are with this article spread all over the internet like an outbreak of the plague and yet no visit, no questions from the FCC no nothing. What because its called a Radio camp? OK so I buy some land and there is plenty of country here in North Carolina and I set up a station I get out 2-3 miles I guess I'm OK for I can say its a Radio camp for all ages and we have tents and generators and part 15 transmitters on AM and FM for kids to build and play Radio DJ with. Well I guess I need to get busy with sponsors and I could have my Album Rock station on both AM and FM and have that 100 Ft dipole antenna along with 300ft of wire connected to my Talking House AM Transmitter. Yup find an oak tree in the woods run the antenna as high as I can get it and a grounding rod and I'm good to go for I'll never get inspected because I'm a Radio Camp!! I mean I think its cool what this guy did. But obviously there is a loop hole where the FCC will turn a blind eye its our job now to find and show more observations of the same stance here. We all can benefit from this for we could advertise our legal stations without fear. NOTE: I would not put up a 300ft piece of wire up it was just my observation and proof of concept. Anyone who tries this your on your own and I'm not responsible for any actions (if any) that would result from these actions. This is for educational purpose only for study and review. Thanks and best regards to all.
Below is the text I posted a few minutes ago in the Comments section of the link given in the opening post of this thread.
_______________
The only thing the FCC is interested in is whether or not an unlicensed system using the 88-108 MHz band and subject to their jurisdiction meets 47 CFR §15.239, for the maximum radiated field at a distance of 3 meters from the transmit antenna. Transmitter output power, coax loss and antenna gain all are irrelevant to §15.239.
Also - there is no provision in Part 15 for unlicensed use on a camp or campus for intentional radiators to produce greater field strengths in the FM broadcast band on a campus than otherwise -- as is possible for AM broadcast systems under §15.221(b).