Now we're actually getting something accomplished Tim. As far as no religious content? We have enough God casters out there. Hobby Radio or Broadcasting should be different than what is already out there. If you are just going to copy what the big stations are doing why bother? Progressive Country, Progressive Rock, Polka, Classical, Oldies, Big Band, collipso stuff like that is not redily available in most areas unless your in a major city like L.A or Long Island, New York. As for field strength into a ½ wave dipole and finding out how many mW's it would take to go about ½ mile to an average Digital portable Radio with some decent selectivity should not be too hard. Knowing that too much power at close range will cause bleed over and issues with nearby Radio's is one reason I say keep it just shy of a Watt MAX!! We have to be nice to our neighbors nearby. As I've been campaigning on those Pirate sites asking if some folks would just use some reason when they fire up these transmitters and think about your poor neighbors who want to have a choice in what they listen to. I've got some positive feedback. I want to educate to make that change. I remember when licensed stations in the Lansing, Michigan area all wanted to put their transmitters in Holt, Mi. They all wanted to put them up around Pine Tree Road. Well problem was that when you got to the border of Lansing and Holt and had your FM Radio on Oh my God the inter mod and wash out was hideous. Between WITL, WJIM, WFMK all I heard was a total wash out. Even on a good Keenwood Stereo this was an issue. I got so P'd I called the FCC and also wrote to them and explained the situation. It took several months, but after that slowly but surely the issue was solved. Point is I know what it feels like to get washed over. So this is why I'm not asking for 7 Watts, 5 Watts, ect. A dirty 310 mW transmitter can cause several issues to neighbors. After finding out what the Whole House FM Transmitter 3.0 done on out of the box power I decided NO WAY!! There is a fine line between reasonable and a power hungry fool. There has got to be guidelines if we are going to use 100 mW plus into a ½ wave dipole. I think we need to do some tests (Underground since it is not going to be illegal since the signal is blocked by the earth). Tim you being an engineer you may get special permission to do tests in a cave or something.
... Perhaps a new rule might include that if a certified transmitter is purchased the maker is responsible for compliance, so a buyer who doesn't own expensive metering equipment isn't taking the risk. ...
But the potential for interference by unlicensed stations to licensed AM/FM broadcast stations greatly depends on the electrical and physical installation configurations used by those unlicensed systems. Transmitter power, antenna system configuration, and many other factors may not be the same as when that transmit system was certified -- depending on the choices of its operator.
Logically then, wouldn't the responsibility for compliance with FCC Part 15 ultimately belong to the operator of such a system, whether or not the transmitter in use was "FCC certified" for a given, single set of conditions?
Rich I think it would be obvious if an operator somehow figured out how to jack up the power. Lets say that to go ¼ to ½ mile to most decent Digital home Radio's requires about 200 mW into a ½ wave dipole placed on the roof at about 20 feet above the roof on a pole. Obviously a car Radio would probably receive the signal for about 1.5-2 miles in usable quality signal before it started to fall off. Now if that station was heard 5 plus miles we know something is wrong. I'm sure the FCC would know about what it takes to go X feet when using a ½ wave dipole antenna. If someone jacks up the power its quite obvious. However if they had the antenna indoors and jacked up the power to go the same distance it may not be quite as obvious unless an unusual amount of wash or bleed came from that transmitter. At that point we'd know if the operator was indeed using an excessive amount of power to compensate for the antenna being indoors and thus giving the Radio's nearby a blanket effect. The only other way to solve that issue is if the transmitter was sealed like a brick power supply with a separate compartment for the batteries. It would have to be placed inside a heavy plastic or metal case and sealed. This may put a kibosh to some of the folks who may want to crank it up. Not only that but put an end to the cheap plastic transmitters. Yea for me. There is always that slight possibility however I think most folks will be happy with ½ mile on most decent digital Radio's and it would just be too much trouble to break open the transmitter just to get a few extra yards. Junk transmitters are the culprit of interference, but good engineering design will put a kibosh to the harmonics and spurs. Plus stop malicious use of the transmitters. We still didn't talk about having the dipole as part of the transmitter sealed into a plastic T made of a very hard piece of plastic. The sony cordless phone was made that way. You could not open that plastic antenna to add more to it. Then you could have the antenna indoors and get your ½ mile range to a Digital boom box from inside a wood house on the first floor at about 500 mW. Easy solutions.
As for the programming rules it's not that bad.....same as commercial stations....if you can't say it on there you can't say it here...The CRTC which regulates programming says for BETS-1 that you can't have any political or religous messages and an agenda I guess is trying to relay messages or personal opinions relating to those two subjects. You can't rebroadcast other things like a hockey game for example...taking a feed of the play by play and putting that on your station...everything has to originate with you.
As for 35% Canadian content I'm not sure how it applies to BETS-1 but since my music is all prior to 1980 I wouldn't have to do that much anyway. I figure I'm doing about 20% but this only applies to 6AM to 6PM. The rest of the time can be anything you want. I'm sure Artisan can verify all what I've said.
Mark
I remember it like it was Yesterday. I got my FM TX June 5th 2015. I connected the rubber duck and set the volume to half way, connected it to my 2nd sound card and set NextKast to FM Transmitter so that the compressor was all set. Set the volume to 18% on the card as suggested by the makers of NextKast and I was on air on 96.3 Mhz as of 11:00 AM Friday morning. I took a walk past a company called Michael Matters, INC. The dude saw me outside with my boombox and loved what was coming out of it. Told him I was testing my FM Transmitter. He said “Really what frequency?” I said 96.3 Mhz. Walking several houses down and still hearing it I then was happy as a lark. Well I didn't think much of it as I didn't hear any requests from people saying “I got your station on FM.” However tw days ago I made a statement as we were going to lose power if I didn't get $200 in to the electric company before 5PM that day. I explained how my Wife was a cancer survivor and with two nervous breakdowns money was very tight. 5 minutes later I got a phone call from a listener. He said he first heard my station on FM after he saw me walking with the boom box running happily back home as I yelled F'in Aye IT WORKS!! He wanted to know my website to donate as he Downloaded the app for his phone. Point is that FM will get you listeners if your in the right area. I don't think I'd get a donation from an AM station. I got a few more ideas for the initiative too I'll post later.
I'm posting this here in response to a statement made in another thread and we need to keep all FM Initiative stuff in one thread to keep everything in one place.
I think right now we need to work on a document that will work as again you'll find out more about how I am wishing to construct a petition. I may include 87.7 and 87.9 Mhz in that petition although 87.9 is no longer safe heaven here as there is a licensed station that seems to have turned up their power in Hampton University. I've moved my frequency back to 96.3 Mhz again. No longer using 87.9 nor anything below 88.1 Mhz until the white space proposal becomes law. Even then not sure how this will help. Please direct all your questions to I believe in so we don't get off topic in other areas.
During the ALPB meeting we talked about setting up regular FM Initiative meetings. Im on vacation now and may be moving soon but id like to know if Friday nights or Sunday nights may work. We really should get this thing moving if we expect results. ABC, NBC, and CNN talked about low power part 15 in California. this brings public awareness. One step closer.
...ABC, NBC, and CNN talked about low power part 15 in California. this brings public awareness. One step closer.
You do realize those national news broadcast were from 1995, right?.. At the time, stations like Ken Cartrights were going strong and local communities were being served.. Billboards broadcasting under part 15 across the nation were being utilized for advertising, as elevated installs were not of question, and the "ground lead" was still just a "ground lead"...
It was a much more fulfilling and satisifing time for part15 broadcasters and their audiences, and the FCC was not interfering with such broadcasters until certain outside needlers began to frequently complain in radio forums, and pester the FCC on the matter, which eventually prompted the 3 meter rule enforcement to no longer be defined from tip of antenna to the actual ground lead itself, (as it is worded in the rules)... and that's when radiating grounds became emphasized as matter, and when a lot hobby stations got stomped to the ground.
It's been a decade since part 15 radio broadcasting was really in the public awareness. one step back.
I would love to see another "One step closer" today.
sigh..