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This morning while driving to town, Stephanie and I thought that noisy signal on 89.7 FM was Blue Bucket Radio carrying a choppy signal past the confines of our 200 foot invisible barrier that is supposed to restrict our station from being heard beyond our property line.
Almost giddy with excitement we listened until we realized that we had travelled 4 miles and there is no way that signal on 89.7 was our BBR.
Finally catching a break in the noise the signal went full quieting and the announcer mentioned the call letters, WKYU and NPR. NOPE! Not our BBR at all, somewhere between our road and the turn onto the main road there was a very sneaky switch over from Blue Bucket Radio to WKYU FM from Somerset Ky.They are the 100 KW NPR station for Western Kentucky University with a handful of translators and hybrid stations scattered all over the FM band in Ky.
The transition from our noisy signal to theirs was so slick we jsut assumed it was our talk programming we were hearing and not WKYU.
Their coverage technically misses us here in Eastern Ky by as much as 80 + miles but conditions were good today and their oddly sounding mono signal was making a pretty good dent in the otherwise silent 89.7 Mhz.
The signal stayed in our receiver all over Hazard,Ky and even though their station was in mono even at full quieting the programming remained dry and boring, needless to say i turned the radio down and talked to my lovely wife instead.
When we got back to the radio ranch i switched off the Ramsey Fm 25B, at least until the next day, if WKYU is still there in the morning i may have to find somewhere else to park my road caster fm.
Barry of BBR Worldwide
Total posts : 45366This station might be allowed under the FCC white space rule
Total posts : 45366Stations on the fringe area of reception can change with atmospheric conditions, solar flares, temperature inversions, etc. That station from Somerset may normally not be heard in your area but on the occasion something changes and you get it and the next day or two can see it dissappear again.
You don’t have to worry about your station because even if the odd time you get this station at your place it’s not a good signal and no one would be listening anyway. It’s temporary.
My station with a Broadcastvision is in my house and normally received around the block and down the street quite good but sometimes when I check it it’s fading in and out where it’s normally perfect even though nothing was changed or touched and this is just what I’ve described….other factors affect how the signal is getting out and this changes day to day.
Mark
Total posts : 45366Appreciate the link regarding White Spaces.
For a long time I’ve used a wireless mic intentionally sold to me by the vendor because its 184.3 MHz frequency (part 15) is on top of channel 8 VHF, but there has not been a channel 8 operating in this area.
This leads to a new question I’d not previously thought of…
Will the re-packing put stations back on the same VHF channels previously assigned in particular areas, or might they be an entirely different set of frequencies?
Further, part 15 radio stations are wireless microphones and logically therefore have a claim to 87.7 or 87.9 MHz so long as no licensed services use those channels in the same area.
Such is my opinion.
Total posts : 45366It’s easy to find pocket FM radios that will go down to 76 mhz, go to Ebay now and search on “FM receiver 76-108 mhz” and you’ll find several models from TECSUN and other portables with continuous tuning in that range, analoge and digital tuning.
It might be good for campus broadcasting of any kind, hospital, retirement village, where you could issue radio receivers to potential listeners.
Gave up your Smartphone, GASP! Once hooked I’ve never known anyone to quit cold turkey, but more power to you, good that you have that option. It’s good to use that as an example to show the kids that they have the option too.
Total posts : 45366It is easy to find radios to receive those frequencies, but for the general population, maybe not so much. Nor would there be much incentive – I don’t think that you can fairly compare the TV digital conversion to radio.
And a question, maybe I missed something. Has the FCC given approval for Part 15 use under 88 Mhz or is that just a wish?
Total posts : 45366Artisan asked: And a question, maybe I missed something. Has the FCC given approval for Part 15 use under 88 Mhz or is that just a wish?”
Yes, for the time being but… yeah that but gets in the way don’t it?
This maybe only temporary but refer to DJboutit’s post or rather the link.
https://spectrumbridge.com/tv-white-space/It’s been kicked around by the FCC for some time now and has finally been given the green light for Part 15 use with some conditions of course.
Give me some time and i will look up the details (rules) for this section.
50 mW is the maximum allowed on 82 – 88 mhz with either an indoor built in whip or an outdoor antenna.Off to search for the rules on this band, unless of course someone beats me to it and i won’t be hurt if they do. 🙂
Barry of BBR WorldWide
Total posts : 45366I guess I did miss something. According to that link, Canada is also going to be giving access to those frequencies as well. I’d be very interested in seeing either the FCC or Canadian rules.
Total posts : 45366Boring reading from the FCC adoption of new part 15 unlicensed use of tv white space channels and 600 mhz. https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-99A1.pdf
More to come.
Edited: Here is the More. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/15.707
Barry of BBR WorldWide
Total posts : 45366The FCC document linked within the link from DJboutit DOES NOT address part 15 radio transmitters of our type, but it DOES specifically address wireless microphones being permitted in the white spaces.
My “conclusion” that we, therefore, are permitted to sprawl into the white spaces is based entirely on my claim that we are, in fact, “wireless microphones”.
Semantics matter when translating the “law” (these are “rules”, not “laws”), and I take great care here not to mislead anyone.
Therefore you will be obligated to make an independent decision as to whether our part 15 devices are “wireless microphones”.
I have taken a stand on the matter and am prepared to suffer the fates.
Also, all I have is my opinion… I am not currently operating in the white spaces.
Total posts : 45366Here are the draft rules for Canada: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf10930.html
There is apparently going to be harmonization between Canada and the U.S. so that equipment can be used in both countries.
Interesting enough, the draft contains a specification that the white space device communicates with a database via the Internet to minimize the chances of interference. The ideas are very similar to what Thelegacy has been proposing – if a channel suddenly becomes in use from a licensed station, the white space device will stop transmitting.
I’m still having some difficulty in seeing what the intended purpose of these rules are, at least in Canada. It appears to be wireless network services, particularly when you consider the certification and testing processes.
And it’s interesting that these rules are under the RSS bailiwick, which doesn’t include broadcasting in Canada (everything but). So Canadians might not be able to take advantage in the broadcasting arena, although I suppose it’s possible that Industry Canada might extend BETS-1 to include these frequencies.
Only time will tell – I don’t think that they’re in force here yet.
Total posts : 45366By the way, I saw mention in the Canadian rules of 100mw EIRP (20dbm) for personal and portable devices, and 1 watt for fixed devices (30dbm), which makes me think that this is intended for wireless microphones and wireless network devices. But I could easily be wrong.
Total posts : 45366So i wonder, since most of the transmitters i have seen that will transmit on channel 6 for example are expensive, could an agile cable modulator be used on channel 6 with the video carrier supressed or turned off? I have seen a lot of Blonder-Tongue catv modulators on ebay going for cheap.
Total posts : 45366I have a Blonder-Tongue modulator used mostly for analog TV experimentation on Channel 9, though at times I’ll bump it to 6 for the audio on 87.7 FM. It can and does work quite well. I’ve pushed about 2,000 feet of coverage with the unit turned up to max and rabbit ears up on a pole outside. So it DOES work, though the modulation is naturally a bit lower since its intended for television which uses less audio modulation than the FM broadcast band. I’ve had a hard time noticing a diffrence in loudness however.
Total posts : 45366According to the Google Spectrum Database, 82-88 is a no go for my area.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzRiT8fHwT9NMnU0Z0xwWkFUdmM
Now that doesn’t mean I can’t use the other bands but really, why would I want to?
Most of this is geared towards Wireless Microphones and WIFI which personally I have no interest in. This doesn’t mean I can’t experiment with channel 6 WSD in a controlled fashion, like maybe into coaxial cable running to a receiver on FM or TV.A closed circuit transmission. Meanwhile, the band between 88.1 to 107.9 is wide open in the lower section of the broadcast band, i have plenty of choices.
Currently, WKYU-FM is not heard here so 89.7 is back on the air.Barry of BBR Worldwide
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