"Why not the type of "converters" used for mp3 players which transmit to an FM frequency?"
Those too are subject to Part 15 certification.
No matter which way we approach this..it will require additional adhering to other parts of Part 15...that is if we intend to market such a device to the public..to which that is our target...the general public.
I see some roadblocks here that will not be easy to overcome, or cheap. Convincing the public they need this converter to tune unused frequencies they have no idea that exist, must less a lot of them not even aware their radio has AM...will also be a difficult task onto itself.
People want plug and play, turn on it works, punch a couple of buttons and they are listening to what they want to listen to. Now to us radio folks and electronic tinkerers, the idea is sound and doable on these levels. But to the everyday Joe and Jane Public....well when the button is pushed and nothing happens..even in the store display room, they move on to something else.
When the current expanded AM band came into being...it took a LONG time for both the public AND the broadcasters to migrate over. You would be surprised at how many households today still have radios that cannot tune above 1610, and those that do have these radios are either likely to be on the FM band, or being fed digital audio from their digital cable radio box, or pumping X-Box/Wii/Playstation audio through them..not to mention the surround sound off their DVD players.
This is going to require a massive public awareness campaign and something tells me that the campaign will fall on deaf ears simply because of the already available options to which most choose the digital or FM analog and rarely consider AM as part of their entertainment choices.
Only the die hard dedicated AM DX'ers will go through the trouble of all this conversion adaptation. And there is simply not enough there to fire off a new market for an old media, even with a further expanded band.
The only real way any public awareness is going to come about is if the big boys are involved and migrate into that extra expanded band so the receiver manufacturers put that into their radios...just like how the current expanded band had to be introduced.
NO..in order to really make this work...the term "hobby" will have to be removed and replaced with "professional" so that there is a viable reason for both the FCC and the radio receiver markets create the doorway for us to do our thing...REAL RADIO.
RFB
Good speech, RFB.
Our promotion department is going way into the think tank to figure a way to promote REAL RADIO. Nobody would want to be left out from REAL RADIO.
"Nobody would want to be left out from REAL RADIO."
It's as real as it gets. How real is the person behind the microphone coming from your radio when they say "It's a wonderful afternoon of..."......................
...(station worker)"Oh oh, the satellite dish is covered with snow again!"
He went looking for REAL RADIO....it was stolen.
RFB
"if the BE heads to the dumpster let me know."
I doubt it will end up going to the big radio gig in the sky. The outer cabinet has a few scuffs from leaks in the roof, but I have not had a chance to go inside the unit to check for damages.
RFB
after reading a few comments on a couple of forums (and talking by phone to a forum member) i believe we may know what is in that 22pg field manual that is so damning and would allow the circumvention (if really true) of the law if it were to become general knowledge. i will not pass it along to those i don't know and will not post it in a public forum. there is a long drawn out explanation why this particular guideline is in the manual and a simple self evident reason why the fcc is so hot to keep this little tid bit secret and also possibly why so many pirates are hard (or never seem to be) to shut down.
has absolutely nothing to do with an extended ground lead. it applies to both am and fm at a minimum and possibly other bands as well.
and it's a good one for sure. now i really would love to get my hands on that manual to confirm this.
Thank god our chairs have edges because we are on the edge of our seats.
Why not disclose the info even if by word of mouth?
Holding back is doing no different from what they are doing.
My seat has edges but I'm not on the edge.
RFB
i will disclose offline to people i know by word of mouth. there is another individual i will not name who told this to me. i'm sure they are doing the same. the fcc trolls these websites so its best to keep it to our selves and try to keep it amongst the part 15 community only for as long as we can. a few long time posters know how to contact me offline. if these posters choose to contact me and state your forum handle in contact i will be happy to disclose the info.
some of you even have my phone # and have spoken to me offline by phone.
it may take a few days to receive a reply for various reasons but don't fret if you don't hear from me quickly i will and do reply.
I smell low power news and I wonder if you, Rev., would talk about your "special inside knowledge" on the Low Power Hour?
We could mask your face so know one would recognize you.
I'll even change my name for that episode, so that Carl Blare won't have anything to do with it.
This all sounds so cloak and dagger!
not so much inside knowledge i heard it via 3rd party its important the info doesn't get too public. especially forum or lph public.
When I said "News Noose" I meant "News Nose," but maybe "news noose" might make some kind of sense, I'm not sure.
Wear sun glasses and a trench coat and meet me by the big pillar at the public library. I will not reveal you as the source.
Well other than curious electronic enthusiasts and die hard DX'ers and such...there isn't much of a "public" per say here or any other "radio" based forum than that of say Lady Gag-Gag's facebook blog!
This "info" wouldn't have anything to do with that claim to right to broadcast at a high power level during a "time of war" nonsense dose it?
If so thats already been debunked and ran through the ringers and even tried on an inspection and didn't impress the inspecting agent.
If its something else...and if that info has yet to be declared classified by the DOD, DHS, NSA or Congress or the President, then its public consumption information especially if there is record of it being in the public domain no matter what site it was once on and now isn't.
Though the finger shouldn't be pointed at the messenger, I believe the messenger here should remind the source that holding back in this manner as it is playing out is highly suspicious in of itself and usually ends up being bogus.
Been there...heard that....read that....done that.
RFB
i sent the info to your email addy on your website. because if the specifics are aired in a public forum my guess is the specific policy (if true) might then be changed.
5.9.9
RFB