Total posts : 45366
“No no no! You folks totally got me wrong.
I am in NO way blaming our 100mW stations! We actually follow the rules!”
My bad! Apologies for misunderstanding your post.
“I’m talking about our technological wonders that are grossly out of Part 15 specs.”
Agreed. Most of the consumer products today are manufactured on mass scale and using very loose tolerance components, which are also manufactured on mass scale. The variance between like components are not really within their claimed 5 or 10 percent. Much much more variable. It’s amazing stuff even works, but it also explains why these devices put out such blatant noise and interference and why they don’t last very long..if lucky they last just barely past their 1 year warranty!
But the big problem is this. People want cheap and have demanded it since the 80’s. Back in the 80’s when people were screaming for lower priced commodities such as electronics and even larger ticket purchases like vehicles and household items, the manufacturers were more than happy to oblige and produce cheap stuff..flooding the markets everywhere with it, and down the prices went. At first when new stuff was introduced, they would be quite expensive, but still cheaply built. Then after 6 months or so, those prices would drop because of market saturation of the product. This has continued ever since.
Remember those good ol electronics that did cost a pretty penny..like the Realistic and Pioneer and Samsung and Kenwood stuff? Built in metal frames and 1/4 inch wood sides and weighed 60 pounds or more?
Try to find equipment like that these days brand new. Even those back in the day with metal coverings were made of higher grade metals than the cheap thin junk today.
Bumpers on cars used to be metal coated with chrome plating. Now all there is is plastic covering over a thin skinny low grade metal bar behind it. Dash boards used to have high grade metal in them covered with padded and insulated covers. Today…it’s all plastic.
Anyway much of the stuff producing radio spectrum interference cannot be helped. To relieve some of it, those devices would have to be built and designed with greater quality components and the price would go up..and people don’t want that.
Society asked for cheap..and they got it. Too late to cry foul over it because not only did it saturate markets with cheap commodities, it closed down domestic manufacturing and the jobs went along with the closings and overseas relocating.
Cheaper is not better. We get what we pay for. We also get the side effects..such as interference from those things that did not exist a short 30 years ago and is why the radio spectrum then was a bit cleaner than today.
“I did consider the Dallas jungle of power lines, homes, buildings, ect. If 50kW has a hard time punching through that, wouldn’t a lower power be even worse?”
Actually no. Receivers can be designed to filter out those crackles and pops. Also with better designed devices that are connected up to the power grid system. All those neon lights driven by switching supplies, traffic light systems, home electronics..all of it can be better designed and fitted with better filtering.
Those high tension voltage lines have been there for a very long time, far longer than our computers and cell phones and plasma tv’s. True those devices do generate problems, but they only added to the existing causes of interference not so noticed in years past like today. So having stations increase their power will not solve the once in a while crackle and pop. Those kinds of interference..ie from mother nature in the form of lightning, and our own man made stuff even 30 years ago, is a must accept fact and jacking up power to a station won’t cure the problem.
The issue isn’t about a 50Kw’s local coverage concerns. The issue is those 50Kw stations occupying spectrum in areas where they should not be, and the likelihood of remote listeners in another city or town tuned into that 50Kw station when there is one much closer providing a clearer signal is next to nill. Then at night those stations really have no right to be shoving their local programing or weather reporting or local news into 5 other states, along with duplicate network programing on frequencies where more local stations could be on the air providing jobs to the local economies.
Those 50Kw stations should be required to kick back their power levels so that they maintain their daytime coverage contour during the overnight hours. There is no need for that daytime coverage to extend out 700 miles or more reaching into other states and cities where local stations are already there, and those frequencies occupied by those clear channel stations can have local stations on them, again providing more local jobs and growth to those communities.
A town 500 miles away with businesses would rather advertise on a local station than expect some station 500 miles away be willing to run said advertising on their airwaves for a business 500 miles away. Imagine what the listeners of WBAP would think or say if they heard a commercial for La Bodega located in Odessa. And La Bodega can advertise on KCRS and pay the local market rate and get their ad heard where they want it..in the area where the business is located.
Same is true in reverse, if KCRS was a 50Kw clear channel station. What business in Dallas/Ft. Worth would be willing to advertise on KCRS when WBAP is there? And business in Dallas/Ft. Worth won’t bother calling up a 5Kw station in Midland/Odessa to advertise, even if KCRS was 50Kw clear channel!
“I think the FCC should inspect every new product that gets put out on the market, to make sure it doesn’t trash the band.”
Looks good on paper and sounds good. But again 99 percent of the electronics..including those noisy plasma tv’s are NOT built here in the US. The DUT submitted might show and test to have low interference potential..and pass muster..but the plasma tv’s beyond the unit submitted for test wont and usually don’t. Inspecting each and every item as it comes off the assembly line belt before they are boxed up and shipped out is impractical in today’s mass production factories. Perhaps if it was implemented, it would have to be done domestically as the FCC has no jurisdiction in countries like China or Korea, where most of this stuff is manufactured. And to un-box stuff as it is unloaded from cargo ships just to test would be a logistic nightmare.
“There is no reason that something can’t be engineered to not make a mess of the radio spectrum.”
100 percent in agreement! But the bottom line is this…manufacturing and design are in business to maximize their bottom line. If their products can just meet the minimums, that’s all they are concerned about and move on. Again it is a matter really outside of the arm of the FCC and even US government. The only way to return to the high quality products we used to find in stores 30 years ago is to return that manufacturing and design engineering BACK to the US..where it belongs.
Those things that are designed and built here in the US..such as broadcast electronic devices using switching power supplies and CPU’s etc, do not produce that garbage because they ARE constructed with higher standards and higher quality components made HERE. That is but one example of the differences.
RFB
