I believe the video just because I want too! It's always fun to see someone having such great coverage.
As for the video, the edit at the end of the 3 miles was a given. But there are a few spots where there's no vehicles on the road and all of the sudden one appears coming right at you or the buildings in the view suddenly change.
I will admit that streaming video can do some strange things, dropping frames and yet the audio continues. Yeah, that's what it was...
I did my best at holding it stable while I had a driver, Sping pot holes get rough and it was on easter so the traffic was next to nothing.. most stores closed etc, Was a great day so people where randomly out bad angles sometimes at intersections and you dont see the other cars coming etc... its from a phone cam what do you expect 🙂
I can hear the flasher going at every turn etc.. I meen everything is live as it is.
The cutoff at the 3 mile point was not to cover anything up? The range started to suck at the 3 mile point and we had to drive a few more moments to find a spot to turn around and come back, During these few moments I cut out cause it was just noise and us talking as we where turning around finding a spot etc.... But the video on the way back starts from the cut off point ... well maybe a couple hundred feet or so I admit its not the dead on spot but as close as I could eye it for the edit...
We have quoted 73.3550, "...use whatever ID...so long as no confusion results with a station for which the FCC issues a license..."
But I have thought of how that rule could be totally obscured in a very murky way...
If a licensed station issued a letter of permission to re-broadcast the licensed station, and if the part 15 station had no self identity, the call letters of the licensed station would air legally. In essence it would be a very low power translator.
In Canada maybe CJFL could write a letter of permission to the Procaster and be heard there in Cochrane on the AM dial.
You guys have me all lost. Good luck figuring it out, Those who helped I thank you for the infos.
I think some of you think im rebroadcasting a licensed station with the procaster? Thats not the case. I'm runing a sperate station in my home on AM with the procaster.
Its just noted that I also own a licensed radio service in a near by community. No word that I am trying or asking if its ok to rebroadcast a licensed station in this case the confusion seems to be with CJFL FM. It's totaly a sperate station/issue.
To make things easier to understand, both are operated by me. But in no way do I wish to link them up.
my nickname cjflfm used in these forums are simply my nickname.
The original post was me asking how to maximise my range with the Procaster.... A since then with some hints from the feedback got it working fine and made a movie and here we are talking about something totaly off topic and unrealated.
Hope this helps.....
The questions posed were to clarify things not mentioned about at the beginning but then later added, which without prior mention, could cause a confusion..thus the clarification which has been clearly made defining those added tid bits put into the discussion later on.
Well it's unfortunate you cannot apply for a licensed station in your town of residence. However with the current system in place it seems to be doing quite well despite the current grounding system. Rest assured with an improved ground system as suggested, that great performance your getting now will improve, especially in those areas where overhead AC power lines and neon signs are presenting some problems.
I foresee a great future with this new station! The video shows a bunch of opportunities just waiting to be tapped!
Good luck with everything!
RFB
Ground radials perform just one basic function - reduction of ground loss from the radiator. It won't do for the radials to be anywhere else but directly under the antenna (antenna in center); otherwise all you'd be doing is increasing distance in the return path, and you lose signal again, and unevenly at that.
Also, even though the system is basically called a monopole, ground radials are really like the other half, the ground half, of a dipole. Without the radials (in a 'normallized monopole system), the return path isn't as effective. E.g., if you ground to a copper water pipe, it will really only work well if there are a bunch of other connected pipes. If the pipes are PVC ... well, anyone should be able to see that's no 'earthly' good.
If the TX' ground side is the tower, then as RFB says, it is doing most of the work, not the whip antenna. IOW, the tower is essentially the ground 'half' of a dipole. In such a case, ground radials wouldn't be much help, wouldn't be needed.
Here in the U.S., the FCC knows this of course, which is why the regs restrict the transmission line, antenna, and ground lead to 3 meters altogether. KENC had a similar setup as cjflfm, check it out on his pages.
Here, we can usually get away with a little fudging on a shielded ground lead as long as it isn't too obvious, and, in fact, the ATU for a TalkingHouse TX allows any length of cable to the TX (probably because the final input is seen to come after the ATU not before, even though the ground is in the shield of the cable). But I have no idea what IC would say about any of this.
I agree it looks like the Procaster is generally performing as expected under the conditions. Yeah ... there sure are a lot of power lines and industrial-type buildings in the vicinity, but there was also quite a bit of driving in the test. It's at least as good as it is here, even with my sea-ground.
It was never my plan to generate confusion.
I did not actually think your Procaster station planned to air any particular format, because I don't think you talked about that side of things.
But the idea came to me that a low power unlicensed station could, if it wanted to, re-air the programs from a licensed station if given permission.
It is a separate idea, and should probably go on a different thread.
But I am very impressed by the range from the Procaster shown in the video. Thank you for sharing the experience here.
Ok. I tryed changing the frequency in the Procaster from 1610 to 1620 today.
Much, much better range for whatever reason. I actually could hear the
music playing a half mile or more, but my standards are quite high.
If a radio station is faint or if static sometimes overrules the signal...
who is going to listen to that? I tested the ground rod out near the patio
at 1620. Well, same thing happened again today. The signal (RF) takes a reduction once a ground is hooked up to the ground lug??? I can't figure it out. I would say with the ground rod hooked up my signal faded out at around 500 feet. Then I disconnected the ground entirely and the signal during the midday went back to broadcasting normal---a half mile or further out than that.
I just can't decide when the signal is too much in the background and the music is too faint to say that my signal and music is listenable??? I'd say with the switch to 1620---a quiet frequency in Minneapolis, Minnesota during the day
it is evident without a ground hookup that I have doubled or tripled my signal effectiveness. But like I have said earlier dusk & nighttime creates more competition as signals from far away compete and at around dusk my Procaster signal competes with static in a test tonight I am doing on 1710 where there are no stations at all???? Hard to understand why I would have interference at dusk???But the conditions are changing at that hour, so to really put out you would have to broadcast beyond 100 milawatts to retain the daytime signal effeciveness, if you know what I mean. I will switch it back to 1620 but Omaha has a sports station at 1620 so I can't imagine I will even compete a quarter mile before I am overruled by the dominance of the Omaha signal at 1620
fading in and out. Actually in Minneapolis-St.Paul between 1600 and 1700 every frequency has a dominant station fading in and out. Maybe at night I might have to find an open channel below 1600??? Or maybe I'd be better off to just broadcast only during the day at 1620. I noticed that KDWA, a commercial station in Hastings, Minnesota at 1460 powers down to 45 watts at night. Several nights coming back from the lake I was fascinated to listen to KDWA's 45 watt nighttime signal to see how far it goes. It too has competition on the outskirts of Hastings with other stations fading in and out
against KDWA but with 45 watts I'd say the station kicks out about 10 miles.
So, with 100 milawatts I am testing tonight at 1710 I can still hear my music playing kind of in the background a half mile away. I am doing okay afterall.
And it is still legal. What do you guys think of all this?
I'm thinking we still have an incomplete overview of the setup.
The last picture I saw of the system was with the unit atop the tower. In the last message, it was disconnected. But ... where?
IOW, how could the TX have been connected to ground way up there? Unless the ground wire was connected to the tower, then a wire from the bottom of the tower to the ground rods ... or else there was a wire running down the tower to ground. Either way, it would probably be illegal
Now the TX is apparently not grounded at all (bad idea ... unsafe). Is it still on top of the tower?
Could it be that if it was grounded via the tower, or a long wire down the tower, that the Procaster tuning system is out of limits? IOW, could the meter show good and still not be tuned to resonance, i.e., impedance mismatch
Or if disconnected at the top of the tower, could the tower or something below it be acting as counterpoise?
"The signal (RF) takes a reduction once a ground is hooked up to the ground lug??? I can't figure it out. I would say with the ground rod hooked up my signal faded out at around 500 feet. Then I disconnected the ground entirely and the signal during the midday went back to broadcasting normal---a half mile or further out than that."
Did you re-tune after attaching the ground? Also the ground will work better if it has a few radials on it, extending outward in a circle with the TX at the center. 4 radial wires at least 15 feet long each, laid on the ground surface or buried an inch or so deep.
And re-tune and re-tune because a 3 meter stick setup is incredibly sensitive to external inductive influence which will throw off the tuning. Even your own body in close proximity while tuning affects the tuning as you move away after tuning, so you have to find the sweet spot by a few attempts so the meter peaks when you move away from the unit and doesn't take a re-dive and out of peak.
RFB
"how could the TX have been connected to ground way up there? Unless the ground wire was connected to the tower, then a wire from the bottom of the tower to the ground rods ... or else there was a wire running down the tower to ground. Either way, it would probably be illegal"
I believe cjflfm is using a coax and it's ground shield for the return path from the TX on top to the ground rod/strip/wire below.
Not sure about the legality of that up in Canada with the long ground path. They may view it as nothing more than a necessary element to make the installation safe, unlike down here in the US where simple words are twisted and tangled to mean something totally different and taken totally out of context.
RFB
Yes I am using the coax ground shield as a wire because thats all I had at my disposal.. good ol lmr400 lol.
The reason I did it tthis way was because thats what an email told me to do from the procaster guy. I had originaly just grounded the procaster to the tower and it seemed to work as well. I was tols this setup would work better but its more or less identical and to save the undo work since it still works the same range wise ..I just left it as is....
In the case as is, then, the coax is probably radiating more than the antenna element.
With the exception of the aforementioned TalkingHouse transmitter (75Ω cable to the ATU), this setup is probably illegal in the U.S. KENC in Oregon was shut down for that reason. I recall Keith sent Ken Cartwright a filter which was hoped would solve the issue ... but it didn't.
So far as I can understand, I much prefer the way IC handles license-free LP radio than the way the FCC does it. Glad you can do that up there if it's legal.
Anyway, all the best. ... hope you get a lot of listeners.