Mark said "...only a handful actually post, mostly the same people all the time. Wonder why that is?"
That is pretty typical of Forums. I was a member of the Bowen Island Community Forum - it had well over 500 'members', and yet only a handful (10-20, less than 5%) posted on a regular basis. There could be many reasons for it - some are worried they'll look stupid or foolish, some are afraid of being criticized, some just don't want the hassle of dealing with others, etc. Even on a community Forum we had our share of folks who were, shall we say, challenging to get along with. You have to have relatively tough skin to post publicly.
MorningDJ said "...on a typical day Hobby Broadcaster has 25 to 30 posts...". It really varies widely, both there, here and elsewhere. There have been times where I think there were absolutely no posts on HB, and I've seen that here as well. I don't think you can read anything into it. Besides, I'll go for quality over quantity any day.
Rich is right. For me, it's a "Part 15" thing. My thread about CB Radio was deleted. For the record, I am NOT "all about Part 15." I like to experiment. Try new things. I am not interested in being a Pirate or rebelling against laws. But I like to discuss things freely. But there are "wannabe radio police" ready to strike if they feel "the rules" are being violated.
All too happy to tell you you are "breaking the law"! LOL! Yeah. I learned. So, there are other sites where one can speak freely. Without being reminded that the 100 mw level has been exceeded! OMG! He's broadcasting with 200mw on FM! Call the National Guard! Arrest him! Ha! I have other hobbies anyway...
Doug
delete.. repost
I'm just going to re-post what I said on the ALPB forum last night, in regard to having questionable content flooding a part15 forum.. My public objections and expressions here (which ruffled some feathers.. a couple of my post also got deleted here) they do not come from being judgemental or trying to play some kind of cop against pirates..
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I just want to clarify my stance on a couple things..
I'm not anti-pirate, I hesitate to admit I actually think it's kind of cool. Yes, it's illegal, but it's pretty much a victimless crime, it doesn't harm anyone, except maybe the bigwigs who may lose a few listeners, but they're bloated enough with the proceeds of the industry they can afford the loss and wont go hungry.. Besides, if they're losing listeners it's their own fault, regardless of who they point fingers at.
But part 15 is it's own thing. It comes down to doing something with nothing.. and doing it legally, without having to look over your shoulder while doing it. It's not a rebel cause, it's a casual pastime which has a potential of being something more without needing to resort to stepping outside the law.
There is no reason to blur the line between these two forms of broadcasting, and if you do then part 15 gets swallowed up. The two are not compatible. Pirate Radio is the more powerful entity, the two can exist separately, but it's absolutely impossible to merge them together. This is my objection to allowing pirate radio to invade part 15 forums.
To each his own, do what you want to do, but don't poison the waters in the territories of those who don't live by your objectives.
I see your point. I will keep my posts within Part 15. And so, the reason I cannot tell you all what I am currently doing...but that's OK!
Doug
Here's my take on this Forum (and others).
Forums don't exist as democratic exercises. They have a purpose. And rules designed to uphold that purpose.
Part15.us is meant to provide technical resources to both new and existing Part 15 broadcasters.
Discussions that fall outside of Part 15 *may* be OK, but the basic problem there is that they may also serve to confuse newcomers (and even some veterans). I've seen numerous posts, here and elsewhere, from those who think that it's OK to use 100mw on FM in the U.S. - confusing, of course, the 100mw input rule of Part15.219.
Not everyone reads the rules, or even if they do, understands them - many come to Forums such as this to see what others are doing, and take their cue accordingly.
And most, if they jump in at random periods of time, don't bother looking back at historical posts, where the rules, again, *may* be discussed in detail, but pick up on what people are saying right now. And if they just happen to come in at the above-mentioned theoretical 200mw on FM discussion, they would certainly get a far different view of what may be legal than the reality.
Now, I'm not a huge fan of radio police either, and particularly those that may initiate discussions out of the blue on what might be legal, or what might not. But I see the value in reiterating what is indeed legal if someone is talking about blatant illegal operation (deliberately or otherwise), which is not Part 15. In essence, that's what we're here to do.
So, if you're going to participate in a Forum, you need to understand its rules, and then participate only if you're comfortable with those rules.
There are Forums 'out there' that are far more rigid than here. I don't think that this one is particularly rigid at all, especially since some say that it's not rigid enough, while others are saying it's too rigid. It must be handling the balance OK for that to happen. And there are also some that are far looser (such as the Facebook Part 15 closed group - it seemed to me for the short while I was there that virtually everyone there was a pirate).
You pick your poison, and go for it.
Rich P. said: "I'm not anti-pirate, I hesitate to admit I actually think it's kind of cool. Yes, it's illegal, but it's pretty much a victimless crime, it doesn't harm anyone, except maybe the bigwigs who may lose a few listeners, but they're bloated enough with the proceeds of the industry they can afford the loss and wont go hungry.."
I said: I'm not sure I agree in totality with your comment. Please see this article about a pirate interfering with a non-commercial station in St. Pete , FL.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/officials-silence-pirate-station/1119069
See, right there is the worst part. Not all Pirates operate that way. You never hear about the guy still running 200w ERP, completely within parameters and causing NO interference. He knows his system. His community.
"...it doesn't harm anyone, except maybe the bigwigs who may lose a few listeners, but they're bloated enough with the proceeds of the industry they can afford the loss and wont go hungry.."
Precisely. But, the St Pete Pirate gets all the publicity. Someone in Bottineau North Dakota that might have a blank FM dial, ain't gonna rattle any sabers.
Education is key. A person plugging in a 100 watt FM transmitter and using it like a PA without doing research can cause BIG problems! We discourage this. Big time. It makes us ALL look bad.
Look, I'm with ya on 95% of this issue! I've got my little Signstek FM tx on the lowest power (10mw) and it does fine in this building. It barely gets outside. I like it. I still have testing to do on my Spitfire, and I need to finish building my SSTRAN 3000.
There are things I could talk about...but...I'll play it safe! LOL!
Doug
200 Watts probably wouldn't go unnoticed for long, any pirate that gets attention is usually shut down pretty quick unless they are super rural.
Rich P. said: "I'm not anti-pirate, I hesitate to admit I actually think it's kind of cool. Yes, it's illegal, but it's pretty much a victimless crime, it doesn't harm anyone...
Druid said: I'm not sure I agree in totality with your comment. Please see this article about a pirate interfering with a non-commercial station in St. Pete , FL.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/officials-silence-pirate-stati...
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Your right, I backed away from that attitude in the equilivant type thread over at the ALPB.. I guess I was trying to be diplomatic tworads the pirates.. it's was a mistake for me to have posted the same comment in two places because the followups are incomplete. But yes, it is not a victimless crime at all; not only is it unfair to those who have gone through the effort, time and expense to aquire something which the pirate stations are simply stealing without a second thought, but it's also a disruption of the structures put in place to maintain the airwaves so that a kind of mayhem doesn't evolve which would essentially make the airwaves useless.
My real point behind my comment was actually supposed to be if you are going to pirate, then it's your choice, but don't try and infest and undermine a legal unlicenced group with your methodology, I doubt a legal licenced forum would accept such pirate promontion either. There are plenty of pirate forums for that kind of thing.
In order to protect legal part15 broadcasters from these upcoming partially blind "tiger team" enforcements, then the distiction between part15 and pirates must be emphasized and maintained.
Yes the whole idea with the word Pirate is that you're stealing someone elses stuff. When I think of all the effort I have personally expended to get a LPFM going here I would have a problem with someone squatting on or near our frequency. We get what I call "buckshot" to our west from a 50KW 1st adjacent. This is on the edge of our 60 dBuV countour.
"...it is not a victimless crime at all...
...unfair to those who have gone through the effort, time and expense to acquire something..."
Ahhh. You PAID, I didn't. There ya go. That is the bottom line. I could go on...but really, it's all about $$$.
Doug
I'm not sure what you mean Radiodugger. Is that to imply that those of us that travel through legal means are suckers? BTW, a LPFM license cost nothing. However there are some expenses incurred with engineering. I was lucky enough to have the skillset to do much of the engineering work myself. I (we) did retain Michelle Bradley to help with the Minor Modification to the Construction Permit that allowed us to move the antenna location.
Ahhh. You PAID, I didn't. There ya go. That is the bottom line. I could go on...but really, it's all about $$$...
Everything is about $$$.. Your rent, your car, insurance, food, phone, electric,.. I could go on.. Anyone who actually pays for such things are suckers, all you really need to do is steal it.
I should confess, a long time ago I did tap into my neigbors cable.. he knew about it, but truth be told it was still theft, but I enjoyed HBO for free.
Radio is first and foremost a business, of course its about the money. Money was the primary driving factor behind your favorite Top 40 stations and really just about any station you listen to. KLIF, KOMA, WABC, CKLW, WSM, etc all did what they did because it made them oodles of cash. In fact, in the industry we tend to compare station revenue as opposed to overall ratings. While ratings are important, sales are where its really at.
For Example, you could be #1 in the area playing Oldies but good luck selling it. A more modern example would be Alternative Rock, a format that can get a great following and high ratings but is extremely hard to sell advertising on due to stereotypes of the type of demographics that format attracts.
Other hard to sell formats include Classic Country(local spots can be pretty easy to get), Adult Standards (damn hard), MOR (Dead), Oldies (depends, about the same as Classic Country), Jazz (dead), Classical (usually non-com anyway but WRR still sells ads).