Would work better if those ground radials were laid out in a circle and the tower/tx in the center of it and away from that tree. Might even help clear up a little of the under the power line noise issue in the near range especially near those businesses and their neon signs.
Too bad you cant park that thing in the center of that little pond. Be perfect.
Looks good and sounds good for what it's working off of. Let's just hope IC don't care about that ground lead length you have on it. That is what's doing the radiating on that setup and down here in the US..would be a violation.
RFB
I'm confused. I thought you said you had a range problem. That video makes me want to cut my coax.
Seriously, I'd say that Procaster is doing a fantastic job.
Your AM band must be super quiet up there. I have a machine shop at the end of my street. The computer controlled machines can be heard on the AM band for a good 1/4 mile around. Then in general, the power lines around here are extremely noisy.
That does it, I'm climbin' the tower this weekend.
We've got to head for Ohio right away. I think MRAM might be thinking of jumping!
Or, maybe, just raising the antenna.
Trip's canceled.
Yeah, I think I'll try it on the tower for a bit.
I'm am curious about the video. The sound track is very constant but the video appears to edited with abrupt scene changes.
Was this an April Fools joke? I remember early on when I joined this group there was a post about someone here finally getting that low power license. Had me goin'.
I started with a Rangemaster, got frustrated with the long winters here in Canada and no propogation during the nightime, put my trusty Decade MS-100 back into service, but am now going back to AM - the last semi clear frequency here in Vancouver now has a U.S. station from Seattle coming in, and my range has halved in the past month or so.
I'm now very curious about the ProCaster and I think I will dig it up and install it in place of the Rangemaster. I'll report back on my findings over the next few weeks.
I will watch the video again, now that MRAM has pointed out a very curious fact. If the video changes, normally the audio also takes a jump. But if it didn't, that suggests a whole different level of production which is achievable, but puts into doubt whether the audio follows the video.
Here is another odd thing that no one has mentioned. At the start of this thread there was every reason to believe we were talking about part 15 in the United States.
All of a sudden we were in Canada. that appeared by surprise, but was allowed in the good mannerly way we have of shifting with changing reality.
But i have to ask, how can you stand to drive on those potholes and does Canada reimburse you for costly damage to your vehicle if their roads look as if a bulldozer drove down them??
I hope no one takes offense to this but could cjflfm get on camera just once and say About. Usually that is a good indicator this guy is from Canada. Again no offense was meant by this. Hell i am from Cleveland,Ohio originally but i have been down here in the South so long i hear myself on mp3 (today's version of magnetic tape) and i sound like a darned ol' hill billy.
Very nice work on the station and i am impressed as well with your range. Enjoy.
By the way this is a link to a part 15 AM and FM Facebook group you are welcome to join.. well everyone here is...oh you know what i mean..shucks!
Nice job. Sound really nice. I agree about fanning out wire from the base. Should make a great sound even better.
Lol the only edit in the video is at the 3 mile point where its mostly noise I cut out maybe 30 secs of finding a spot to turn around and start again on the way back.. it only takes a few moments to note past scenery! and not to mention the few noisy spots under the neon sighs and such I been complining about.
If you want to know if this is real or not just look up my call sign CJFL fm is a licensed FM station of mine in our area. Iroquois Falls ontario to be dead on the spot. Look up cochrane ontario on google earth. This is where this AM station is located. If your wondering Its just a procaster doing its thing. I'm used to FM perhaps thats why I complained about the range 😛
"look up my call sign CJFL fm is a licensed FM station of mine in our area."
And the IC doesn't mind you using an assigned identifier to your licensed FM on the unlicensed AM?
Doesn't your FM cover your town? If so, why mess around with this when you got a licensed FM?
You were expecting clarity and coverage comparable to your licensed FM with this 100mW unlicensed AM?
Why not just apply for a license on the AM band for your town, shouldn't be a problem since you have a license now for your FM.
A few things could be clarified now that the cat is out of the bag.
RFB
Boy didn't know this could get this confusing. I simply log in here with CJFLFM as a user name ... its a standard of mine cause of the relation that its my station to explain to the very detail, The station that is mine does not run in the town I live in... I am located about 30 mins away.
To explain some more... in Canada CRTC regulated broadcasting stations, Because of the town size where I live, The market is capped because there are already lienced stations here. An application to the CRTC would just get denied at this point. So the only other option is a lisencsed exempt system.
In Canada you can only do this with equipment that has got TAC serial number for the Canadian version of FCC part 15. This TAC number needs to be assigned from IC to the company who makes such transmitter, It passes a serries of tests to qualify as exempt. Now when we operate this equipment in Canada.. Some have mentioned the decade fm100. It is both certifeid for FCC part-15 and IC TAC in the BETS-1 Category to be more presise.....
So we can't really make our own stuff or build a kit and run it for "broadcasting use" Only experimental is permited.....CRTC rules get blended in here making it a little more confuzing.
The only way around this and use equipment for broadcasting is it has to have a TAC on it. Then if there are complaints once IC identifies the unit as exempt with the help of the TAC. Then they leave you alone cause its out of their work because the logic to this is the transmitter has already passed a series of tests to be a Canadian consumer based product for the user to broadcast what ever he wants with it.
Yes its pretty much the same here as it is there, with the exception down here we can build transmitters or use kits or a certified unit. Pretty much common knowledge there..for both
countries.
But that doesn't answer the question about the licensed FM covering your current town of residence nor does it answer about using it's assigned call sign identifier on the unlicensed AM.
One thing for sure down here, you cannot use an already assigned call sign on an unlicensed station, regardless if you are the owner of the licensed station or not. I would imagine it's the same up there as well, despite the fact you own the FM license.
Why not apply for a translator station to extend your FM into your town? Would the community get behind you to help with petitioning for that translator or even obtaining a license for another station in that same community..if that option has not already been explored that is.
An odd situation IMO. The AM band being clear day and night on that channel (1700) and there is a cap?
How much power does that licensed FM run?
Well good luck with it all. Appears there is more here than initially told at the onset, but that AM still could use a better ground radial system and would clear up some of that near range AC line noise and extend the overall coverage a bit more.
Happy B'casting!
RFB
I really dont know much more what to say. Where do I mention that I use CJFL FM as an identifier for my AM station? I'm lost here, Please shed light for me on this?
Poeple where not sure if my movie was real or not or even my country. I then used an exemple more or less "hey look at my user id it sais cjflfm. Look it up, It was just to trace the location, an indicator that I was who I was is all....
I already explained the link that I dont live in the same town that CJFL runs at. But its close by......
Even in the movie there are no station ids as cjfl fm. I would know that you can't use a station id on a none licensed system ..come on now people!
Again id love to see where this confusion comes from.
Don't mind us down here in the U.S., our odd behavior has something to do with genetic testing and our tainted water supply. lol Confusion is a way of life down here.
Thank you for sticking with us even during our confused phase.
CJFL can be found on Wikipedia and is an LPFM in Iroquois Falls, Ontario at 104.7
There is already a different station on 104.7 in Cochrane, CFDY.
Two other Cochrane stations, CHPB 98.1 and CFCJ 102.1
It's amazing such a small place has so many stations.
I am very impressed with how well your Procaster does with your antenna, and it makes me want to hurry up with an outdoor antenna.