New Guy Here

Welcome to the forum.

The answer to all your questions above is yes. There are basically no restrictions on what you program or do but it would be wise to keep things in good taste. One thing to consider is how you identify your station. The FCC states that it should not create confusion with a licensed station. Some of us don't use call signs for this reason.

For FM you need to know that your range will be small, typically hundreds of feet.

For AM the range is better with some of us getting up to a mile on a good car receiver. An effective AM station is more difficult to set up than FM but the range is worth the effort.

You should read the FCC rules for Part 15, specifically 15.209, 15.219 (this is the one most AM folks follow), and 15.239 for FM.

Feel free to ask questions. There are many experienced folks both in technical and programming topics who post here. Also check out the ALPB which is affiliated with this site (link is in panel at top of page).

Neil

Thanks for the advice Neil.

My friend just brought up a good couple questions.

1. Can we get a local business to let us put a transmitter on their roof?

2. Does it matter which of us owns the equipment?

In your opening post you mentioned "temporary ignorance," which is better than my state of permanent ignorance. But I know a few things.

A part 15 station is restricted only by the technical limits found in the FCC rules.

It can be commercial, either profit or non-profit, hobby or professional.

You can ask ANYONE'S permission to locate equipment on their property, and you can operate more than one transmitter.

The law of physics requires that more than one transmitter on the same frequency must be separated far enough that they do not interfere with each other.

There is so much useful information on this and other websites that you can learn something new anytime you come here and browse.

You have a good practice of asking thoughtful questions.

One thing -- it CAN INDEED be a business. You can sell all the commercials you can, and of course you can run local, State or national PSA's or anything else you would like. 

I have operated my station as a professional station with music, news, weather, commercials, psa's, local events, etc for two years.  I've worked in (and continue to work in) commercial broadcast radio as a morning show host and chief engineer of a directional AM and a 100,000 watt FM station, and started my part 15 station to serve the tiny town I live in. 

I sell spots at 30 cents each but only to businesses outside my listening area.  My small town local businesses get free ads.  If you can hear the station over the air, ads are free. The surrounding larger towns that can't hear me have to pay a bit to reach my listeners. I more than have covered my costs, and I spend the rest supporting local community causes, like our annual Farmers Day Celebration, running ads in the local news paper, supporting the local schools with ads on their sports posters and in the yearbooks, etc. 

There are literally NO restrictions on what you air, as long as you don't try to confuse yourself with a licensed station.  And of course wisdom would prevent one from being a potty mouth lest someone complains and the FCC comes to check you out!

Curious where you got the idea you couldn't sell commercials?  Many Part 15's run as mini-businesses. 

Tim in Bovey

I found out about this website from a Yahoo Answers page. One of the users mentioned that you could not profit from a part15 station. I've known for some time that Yahoo Answers and similar sites are not always correct though so I should have known that he/she might be wrong.

If I want to sell commercials and I am doing this with a group of friends then would it be correct to assume that I would need to set up an actual company? If that's the case then I would also have to pay my friends who would effectively be considered "employees" right? (Maybe I'm thinking too much into this).

Did you set up a business Tim?

You are free to decide.

You can open office space, obtain a business license, pay employees, or not.

Otherwise you can all work as a labor of love.

Hobbies don't need to be registered with the government, and self-styled names and logos used can be merely part of the hobby, like on-line fictitious names.

I have discussed this with my corporate attorney (I am now retired) and he sees no need for me to establish any kind of business entity. The talks between him and me are not closed, so some different viewpoint might emerge in the future.

At this point the attorney and I are equal in our understanding of what I call a "professional hobby."

I already had a business, the Roller Derby Radio Network.  We (obviously, I guess) broadcast live play by play of roller derby bouts in our area, on the internet. When I started my Part 15 it became part of that operation from a business standpoint.  "Edwards Broadcast Service" includes the RDRN and KEBS radio.  The RDRN has contractors who work for me.  I hire play by play announcers to do the actual broadcasting.  KEBS-AM is a one man operation.  But both are registered as a business in Minnesota, I have a tax ID for them, and They go through their own group bank account (same account for both operations but both names are on the account/checks).  You could simply operate it for "fun" and pay no one.  You could set it up as a non-profit and have volunteers, or you could be business partners and come up with a plan to share any profits (if any). I woujldn't say I really make a profit, but I pay my RDRN people, pay for the gear, cover all operating costs, etc. 

Your options are somewhat limited by the laws and what's available in your state. Mine are simply sole propriatership. It's been suggested I set up an LLC, and I may do that. 

The the radio I did rent a small office space on main street with a front window an d door right in the middle of downtown with a big red KEBS sign over the door and a neon sign in the window.  The main street presence has really helped awareness. 

Keep in mind I'm in a town of about 650 people, in the boonies with good coverage courtesy of very little interference from big buildings and industry.  The band is pretty quiet here.  And small towns mean low expenses.

TIB

That is some really good info guys, thank you! I guess I'll need to get the crew and decide whether to go commercial or non-profit.

Any tips on how to get someone to let us put a transmitter on their building? Ask nicely? 🙂

I wonder what the legal issues would be for them. Can the FCC come knocking on their door if they need to inspect the transmitter? oh sheesh.

Also would you all suggest I get a broadcast engineer to set up whatever transmitter I get? I'm not very savvy on that end and I'm beting that he/she could optimize it better than I. 

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

If the FCC homed in on your signal they would inquire at the building where it is located. If the owner is agreeable to this, he could then contact you or put the FCC people in touch with you. The FCC has the right to inspect any wireless activity above 9 kHz, and that includes the AM FM bands.

Perhaps the sure way to get your equipment on a building is to lease space. Otherwise you can hope the owner likes the idea or maybe you or someone you know is very charming and can talk them into it.

Having a broadcast engineer consult on the project would be good, just make sure he is familiar with Part 15 rules and not opposed to unlicensed operation as some have been known to be.

One issue that I can see for anyone owning a building is insurance (i.e., potential lightning strikes).  Also, how will you feed audio & power - you will be using their power, and may need to have space/power for a computer, internet (if you are going to remotely control the computer, etc.).

Honestly I don't even understand how to ground the transmitter in a way that lets me have it higher up than ground level. I see people explain it but it's always in engineer talk so what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't really know what to do if someone gave me permission to put it on their building. Hense why I'll have to get a broadcast engineer to help me.

To answer your question. As far as the power thing goes I would need access to their power and internet connection because I would use a barix exstreamer to recieve the signal. I live a town over from the town that I want to broadcast in. My "studio" will be in the garage and the signal will be sent over the internet. (that way I don't have to put much gear at the transmitter sight).

Didn't really think about lightning insurance. That's another hoop to jump through now lol.

That was one reason my Landlord didn't want me to have an outside antenna for my AM transmitter. She was afraid that it would be a liability if lightning were to strike the 6-10 foot antenna. Plus being I lived in town next to a library and people could see it she didn't want an eye sore up in the air. If your house has a second story and or an attic you can put the antenna/ATU an an attic on AM. This would get you better range and often you would not have to involve the landlord. Just open the door and stick the coax underneath the attic door and then after you go up there and tune the antenna you close the door and leave the antenna out of sight and out of mind. You run your station and might get out a mile or more. If I were to have had an actual attic I'd have done that with my AM transmitter. If the new rules for wireless devices is true soon you'll be able to run FM @ 87.9 Mhz and at either 50mW which I think it is supposed to be we are still in study mode on this one to be sure but if we get that green light Oh boy ain't we got fun.

I am probably wrong on this but, would a 100mW AM station get better range than a 50mW FM station?

We haven't tried it so I don't think we know how 50 mW FM would compare to 100 mW AM.

The 50 mW is only a guess at this point, depending on whether the linked FCC document (above) pertains to FM transmitters.

The FCC might not equate wireless mics with Part 15 transmitters, even though I personally believe they are arguably the same thing.