Effective at once KDX Worldround Radio suspends Part 15 transmission of daily program service. All AM and FM program transmitters are closed indefinitely.
This action results from recent disturbing reports of asset thefts from reputable Part 15 operators outside of normal enforcement tactics. Until better clarification arrives as to the state of Part 15 such broadcasting will be considered too risky to pursue.
The KDX facility will continue limited Part 15 activity as an experimental station during very short periods, producer of the Low Power Hour, participant in the ALPB, and a continuing participant here at part15.us.
Hmmm....Fearmongering takes its toll, I guess. The opinions of one field agent does not policy make.
Maybe he was having a bad day....you know: His kids both got sent home by the school Principal, car broke down on the freeway, Doctor told him he has prostate cancer, his wife announced she's in love with his best friend and is filing for divorce, the widescreen TV went on the fritz in the middle of a playoff game, lost his investment in the Stock Market, and his dog died....
Carl,
I wouldn't worry about it, keep transmitting as usual.
Carl, that's an extreme thing to do! You have always been a huge part 15 advocate. I'm sure you have inspired many others.
As always, an NOUO is not a big deal. The mighty1650 "inspection" is a real one-of-a-kind action and should be viewed in perspective.
You have always used indoor antennas that don't have significant range outside your house. You are way, way down on the list of potential FCC action candidates.
As a guideline to use to compare your AM indoor installations with a very good, legal outdoor installation (ground-mounted 100 mW transmitter with 16 radials, each 30 ft long), expect a maximum range for a 100 uV/m listenable signal using a sensitive receiver in a low-noise environment of 5330 feet (~1 mile). To mix measurement units and distance, this corresponds to 1,270 uV/m at 175 meters. Compare this to the 1,800 uV/m at 175 meters reported in the Gerry Gaule NOUO.
Gentlemen, I appreciate your views on this situation and I've been thinking a lot about what the change will mean.
For one thing, I wasn't kidding on the front page of my website where I say that Part 15 personal radio is my way of having excellent radio in an age when there otherwise isn't any, at least not in my area.
And yes, I have been strongly promoting personal radio stations for everyone in the public to replace the dinosaur power wasters known as licensed stations. I think transmitting power above 1kW should be discontinued so that many more radio stations could exist.
But I can't recommend a pastime that will attract domestic terrorists from the government to descend all at once on any day or night.
Just being personal about it now, I last night noticed that I have no loudpeaker/amplifiers to listen to programming. I was doing all listening 100% on Part 15 radio.
Then I remembered that a couple of these radios have line inputs and can function as amplifier/speakers. One problem solved.
And while I maintain this "off air" stance, I look forward to bringing these matters to the ALPB (Association of Low Power Broadcasters), the very group concerned with making Part 15 a viable activity. Sometimes thinking should be spread around and not done by one person alone.
Call it an excercize kind of like "radio silence in war time."
It is important to get an explanation for the low class behavior of the agent in Texas. Will his ill-gotten gain turn up on eBay so he may afford new patio furniture and baseball memorabilia? To be sympathetic, maybe his personality was damaged by military experience. We should find out.
I listened to a radio station this morning and heard a commercial for tea, another for enough food to feed the family for 25 years should the grocery stores go out of business, and a discussion about some movie star that I don't happen to know. That radio is now off.
Just a couple of thoughts...
I would agree with perhaps shutting off FM operations. This seems to be where most problems/complaints originate. I have never purchased nor operated a Part 15 transmitter.
Secondly, Commissioner Pai seems receptive to ways to revitalize the AM band. He invited comments from people interested to contact him. So I took time to write him a personable letter with some ideas. In the same letter, I did criticize the selective and sometimes heavy-handed enforcement techniques that has been the "norm" for a while. Keep in mind, I wrote this BEFORE the Jerry Gaule and mighty1650/LibertyNT events occurred.
In my market, 98.7 of the listeners are not tuned to AM. The choices are three black gospel stations, one sports and one EWTN station. One of the gospel stations has a small rating. If Arbitron is correct, AM is already dead here.
I looked into purchasing the station that is now EWTN. This 5kw daytimer is one I worked at for 13 years before it was leased to the Catholics. He wanted $400k for this station in a dilapidated mobile home that had no ratings and around $10k monthly revenue. Or it could be leased for $5k a month. Due diligence turned up possible liens against the station..so no deal. I figured there might be more liens than the ones I found.
I have been on Part 15 since 2003 and seldom listen to other local radio. Most of Big D Country's listeners are listening to the stream, so the AM is no big deal. It mostly gives me a way to listen while working in the kitchen since I do the cooking in our household.
I can't seem to go back and add to this so the second sentence of the lead paragraph should read I have never owned nor operated a Part 15 FM transmitter. Can't edit on the iPad for some reason..
Currently have a Talking House with a wire antenna. It about covers the farm. Which I think is about all it needs to do for now. Others will have to listen via the Internet or wait for the LPFM.
Perhaps Carl's reaction is the intention of some of these recent and very selective enforcements. I don't blame him, though. If I were in the U.S., I would seriously be looking at my Part 15 broadcasting activity.
As I suggested earlier, I think I'd stick with plain, vanilla, Part 15 certified (with that FCC number) equipment, using whatever antenna the equipment was certified with - at least until these situations are clarified.
For a long time, Friday through Monday have been 24-hours a day for KDX, and this schedule will be maintained for our streaming stations, but the AM and FM picture is much different.
All intentional radiators are off except for an experimental signal from an AMT3000, which usually resonates a triangular loading coil and the Wintenna; half-indoors, half outdoors. The signal normally covers the yard, block, and parts of other blocks.
But it will be cool and rainy all weekend, so listening will be indoors for awhile.
The experiment: bypass the coil and drop the effective radiated signal so the peak seen on the spectrum analyzer is way below normal. Result? Indoor coverage is excellent and during periods when we won't be listening the transmitter will be shut off.
We are adapting quite well to the state of uncertainty.
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It sounds like maybe Dad blew a gasket when dinner was interrupted and gave federales all the transmitters. I was that kid once. Here is a link;
http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=230156.30
ArtisanRadio, do you mean a station like Gerry Gaule was reportedly using?
I say reportedly as that is what was stated-a Part 15 certified transmitter with a compliant antenna system. It is curious though, the reported field strength obtained from the indoor setup as measured by the agent.
No details have emerged regarding an interference issue so one is left to assume this action was due to the high profile nature of the station. There was no "interference" rather an annoyance.
That being said, even though the field strength of Gerry's was reportedly a bit above a calculated expected value, the 2nd harmonic of a licensed station would far surpass what we have here. I can routinely receive local AM stations at their 2nd harmonic and although they are not licensed for harmonic frequencies, these harmonic field strengths are permitted by the rules while surpassing our operating frequency field strength.
Operating our stations is a priveledge granted by the Communications Act.
If our stations cause interference I agree that corrective action must result. However, I do not agree with such actions when the complaint is annoyance, not interference.
As for confiscation, where equipment is willfully operated in violation of the rules I can agree. In the case of an unintentional, unknown violation - corrective action is appropriate, not confiscation. In any case, confiscation should be limited to the transmitter alone. Removal of support equipment is just wrong on so many levels.
"Silent Running"is a submarine term for being submerged underwater with all technical systems turned off to avoid detection by the enemy. Only dim red lighting is used inside the vessel.
KDX is in "silent running" mode. All transmitters are off for the night.
We are thus protected from a knock on the door in the middle of the night.
The "enemy" has to go somewhere else. Maybe they'll check the licensed station that runs without an on duty operator to correct the dead air when the automation equipment fails. Try knocking on that door.
We are not anti-FCC. There is a job to do to maintain order on the airwaves. But the fact arises that factions of the FCC may be anti-part 15 station operation. When government turns against its citizens civilization goes out of balance.
A hearing on this subject is expected to take place at the next ALPB Meeting.
...the 2nd harmonic of a licensed station would far surpass what we have here. I can routinely receive local AM stations at their 2nd harmonic and although they are not licensed for harmonic frequencies, these harmonic field strengths are permitted by the rules while surpassing our operating frequency field strength.
To clarify, hopefully ...
Per §73.44, the FCC requires harmonics radiated by licensed AM broadcast stations to be suppressed by 43 + 10logP decibels, where P is the licensed carrier power in watts -- or 80 dB, whichever is less. The 80 dB value applies to AM stations using 5 kW and above.
According to the FCC's groundwave propagation charts for "average" earth conductivity (~5 mS/m), a 5kW AM station on 1000 kHz using a 1/4-wave antenna with 120 x 1/4-wave buried radials produces a 25 mV/m field at a distance of 8 miles, and a 50 mV/m field at a distance of 5 miles.*
A 2nd harmonic field that is 80 dB below the carrier has a value equal to the carrier x 0.0001. So the upper limit for the 2nd harmonic of 50 mV/m is 0.005 mV/m (or 5 µV/m), and for 25 mV/m it is half of that, 2.5 µV/m.
If the radio noise level was low enough, those radiated harmonics might be detected by a good communications receiver using a good antenna, but those actual fields are far below the fields that a compliant Part 15.219 system can produce, even a mile away.
Also to note that in the presence of a very strong fundamental signal some receivers will generate harmonics of that signal internally.
Sorry for all the math.
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* If the "inverse distance law" applied here, the distance to the 25 mV/m field would be twice the distance to the 50 mV/m field. In this example it is only 1.6 x the distance.
The reason it is shorter is due to earth losses over the lengths of these paths. The inverse distance field requires a perfect, zero-loss ground plane, which can be approximated by an extremely short path over real earth (within several hundred feet from the transmit antenna).
Yesterday I broadcast on AM with a detuned loading coil under the belief that my reduced signal would be less likely to draw attention, but I was being mathless.
As it turns out, and upon startup this morning I did a sweep with the spectrum analyzer, and found several of the upper harmonics were actually much louder than the fundamnetal! How smart can't I get!
That's right, a loading coil only supresses the upper harmonics when it's tuned to the fundamental. I've got to write that down somewhere.
Anyway, we're on duty.
MRAM, not sure what post you are responding to.