Hi everyone- I work at a summer camp and wanted to set up a radio station that covers about 1 mile for the kids. Can someone fill me in on the steps in order to make this happen? I am new to the radio world! thank you!
It's a "funny" thing, but setting up a legal
unlicensed Part 15 AM station can be a
pretty big undertaking. I don't want to
discourage you, but most good legal set-ups
transmit about 1/2 mile to high quality
AM radios. After that the signal fades
out. Some people have had better luck
and some people have not done as well.
Anyway, that's my opinion, and I welcome
anybody to chime in and add to the info
I'm posting here. It's sort of a complicated
subject with many variables.
On the right side of this site, there is a link
to various forums here. If you click on that,
you will see discussions on transmitters, antennas,
studio equipment, and the legal aspects of
the whole thing.
You can also Google something like "Setting
up a Part 15 AM station." I just tried that
and there were quite a few web pages that
came back, including some from this site.
There are some Part 15 stations on YouTube
also. It's a good idea to take a really close
look at the FCC rules. There are people out
there that are running "pirate" stations - I'm
sure you recognize that as the term for illegal
transmitting outfits with higher power than is permitted
here. So on this site, we don't really talk about
pirate radio much. Maybe once in a while to swap
some stories that we've heard. But people on this
site stay within the Part 15 regulations
(Again, I welcome anyone to chime in here -
I've never tried to explain this to anyone
before.)
I guess the other question is - how much money
do you have available? There are a few good
AM transmitter kits for around $100 to $200 but
you have to build them. Manufactured AM
Part 15 transmitters cost a lot more generally.
There are quite a few Part 15 AM stations on the
air and there are people that get interested and
actually listen to these stations.
I hope this is of some help. It's a
pretty big subject and it's good to
read a lot about it.
If anyone else here has anything to
say, that would be good, too.
My station is not on the air
now, but when it was, I have to
say - it really was a blast! It
was really fun! If a person is
into "techie" kinds of things, it
helps, too.
Best Wishes,
Bruce, The Dog Radio Group
I took a look around the web a bit. There
are some people that are running pirate
stations - but they do not explain the fact
that their set-ups are illegal. This can be
very misleading and confusing to a person
who is looking at this subject for the
first time.
I actually have to leave here in a minute,
but you will want to take a close look
at Part 15.219, which, in most cases I
think - covers legal Part 15 transmitting
on the AM band. There are also manufacturers
that sell illegal equipment, but they don't mention
that fact to the customer. This is particularly true
for Part 15 FM, which is very very restricted, and
doesn't go much further than you can toss a frisbee.
(Again, that's sort of a simplification - but Part 15
FM does not go much further than several hundred
feet on a really good radio, such as a radio in a car.)
I hope this helps a little more.
Bruce, The Dog Radio Group
Hi Bruce-
Thank you for your advice. It does appear to be quite a complicated process, and I plan on using your ideas of where to research the equpiment/ legal aspect of the set up. Where do I find the "Part 15.219" information?
Thanks again!
Hi Anna, I would start here ( http://www.part15.us/content/part15-radio-resources) for a link to the 'official' FCC documentation and then work my way from there.
Cheers!
Jon Paul
You would definitely consider AM (not FM). With Part 15 AM, you have a pretty good chance of getting a 1 mile range. I used the Chezradio Procaster AM transmitter and the setup was pretty simple. The hardest part was mounting the antenna mast and boring holes for wires. The setup will cost you around $800. I hear the Hamilton Rangemaster is also a good system for about the same price.
If you don't have that kind of money, you can go the kit route. I built 2 ssTran AMT300 AM transmitters and they are about $100 plus maybe $50-75 for antenna and loading coil. A very well designed kit that can be built in 5-6 hours if you have soldering skills.