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Default AM Frequency
Do any of you think 1610khz should be the default channel for part 15 broadcasters?
A frequency search shows no fulltime licensed commercial outlets.
Of course this will not work for those who have a strong adjacent signal on either side.
Total posts : 45366Undecided, especially since 1610 is used all over the country by numerous organizations transmitting low power info such as Airport Parking info, Road construction info and National Park/forest info. Us Part 15 guys would then have to move off 1610 if the Department of Transportation etc set up a x-mitter near-by as THEY would have priority on the frequency.
Total posts : 453661610 in my area is open with no adjacent channel interference during the day. Nearest road construction transmitter is 30 miles away and can’t be heard “normally” during the daytime.
At night. Forget it…too much skywave.
Total posts : 45366Same here in Dade City, FL. That’s why 1610 is my frequency of choice. All other frequencies come booming in at night.
Total posts : 45366[quote:cd67099860=”lpam”]1610 in my area is open with no adjacent channel interference during the day. Nearest road construction transmitter is 30 miles away and can’t be heard “normally” during the daytime.
At night. Forget it…too much skywave.[/quote:cd67099860]
What are you hearing on 1610 at night in your area? the last time I checked it in my area all I could hear was a weak religious station from somewhere in the Carribean.
I haven’t checked it in long while as my receiver (Radio Shack DX-398) is laying in a pile waiting for parts.
Total posts : 453661610 is a marginal frequency in my area. Valley Forge National Park runs an info station that covers a radius of about 5 miles. I’m right on the fringe. Also, the PA Turnpike operates a traffic alert station on 1620 or 1630 (I forget which) that is a factor here. I have found that 1580 is relatively clear in this area and is better than 1610.
Frequencies above 1610 are relatively undesireable because many radios don’t tune higher than 1610. The expanded band was authorized back in the ’80s, but it took a long time for manufacturers to catch on. There are still many car radios and digitally tuned radios in use that don’t go above 1610. I assume all of the new ones do.
Phil B
Total posts : 45366[quote:d3806510b3=”Unforgiven”][quote:d3806510b3=”lpam”]1610 in my area is open with no adjacent channel interference during the day. Nearest road construction transmitter is 30 miles away and can’t be heard “normally” during the daytime.
At night. Forget it…too much skywave.[/quote:d3806510b3]
What are you hearing on 1610 at night in your area? the last time I checked it in my area all I could hear was a weak religious station from somewhere in the Carribean.
I haven’t checked it in long while as my receiver (Radio Shack DX-398) is laying in a pile waiting for parts.[/quote:d3806510b3]I’ve never checked it on a better radio then the radios in my vehicles, a 2001 Hyundai and 2003 Ford. I’m sure the selectivity is pretty bad on these radios. I think it gives me a idea of what I’m up against on the things that pass for AM receivers out there. Man it sounds like you’ve got a nice rig! Is that one that Sangean manufactures and sells under their name also? Are you using a external antenna? Just curious. Anyway, back on topic…
I’ve heard the Carribean station your talking about. It’s occassionally in there and usually pretty weak. For the most part adjacent channels bleeding over here are the problem. I live in NE Oklahoma.
I have never listened long enough to get call letters. On the high side (1620) it sounds like one station and then another. Usually the sound “wobbles rapidly between the two” so much so, that if you listen for very long. It becomes almost “hallucinogenic” so I tune away from that mess pretty quickly. Unless I want to irritate my wife and daughter.
On the low side (1600) there is some religious station telling people about how to get rich and go to heaven if they’ll just send them 10%, or more, of every dollar they make. – – Master Card and Visa Accepted!
Total posts : 45366[quote:a8c9ee76f8=”lpam”][quote:a8c9ee76f8=”Unforgiven”][quote:a8c9ee76f8=”lpam”]1610 in my area is open with no adjacent channel interference during the day. Nearest road construction transmitter is 30 miles away and can’t be heard “normally” during the daytime.
At night. Forget it…too much skywave.[/quote:a8c9ee76f8]
What are you hearing on 1610 at night in your area? the last time I checked it in my area all I could hear was a weak religious station from somewhere in the Carribean.
I haven’t checked it in long while as my receiver (Radio Shack DX-398) is laying in a pile waiting for parts.[/quote:a8c9ee76f8]I’ve never checked it on a better radio then the radios in my vehicles, a 2001 Hyundai and 2003 Ford. I’m sure the selectivity is pretty bad on these radios. I think it gives me a idea of what I’m up against on the things that pass for AM receivers out there. Man it sounds like you’ve got a nice rig! Is that one that Sangean manufactures and sells under their name also? Are you using a external antenna? Just curious. Anyway, back on topic…
I’ve heard the Carribean station your talking about. It’s occassionally in there and usually pretty weak. For the most part adjacent channels bleeding over here are the problem. I live in NE Oklahoma.
I have never listened long enough to get call letters. On the high side (1620) it sounds like one station and then another. Usually the sound “wobbles rapidly between the two” so much so, that if you listen for very long. It becomes almost “hallucinogenic” so I tune away from that mess pretty quickly. Unless I want to irritate my wife and daughter.
On the low side (1600) there is some religious station telling people about how to get rich and go to heaven if they’ll just send them 10%, or more, of every dollar they make. – – Master Card and Visa Accepted![/quote:a8c9ee76f8]
Yes the DX-398 is a Sangean in a gray case. Bought it on clearance several years ago. I use 70ft of long wire in a sloping configuration along with an MFJ-956 antenna tuner, the tuner makes a big difference on the lower frequencies particularly AM.
By the way do you do much listening to internet radio, I heard something this morning that was pretty repulsive.
Total posts : 45366[quote:73066b3d4a=”PhilB”]1610 is a marginal frequency in my area. Valley Forge National Park runs an info station that covers a radius of about 5 miles. I’m right on the fringe. Also, the PA Turnpike operates a traffic alert station on 1620 or 1630 (I forget which) that is a factor here. I have found that 1580 is relatively clear in this area and is better than 1610.
Frequencies above 1610 are relatively undesireable because many radios don’t tune higher than 1610. The expanded band was authorized back in the ’80s, but it took a long time for manufacturers to catch on. There are still many car radios and digitally tuned radios in use that don’t go above 1610. I assume all of the new ones do.
Phil B[/quote:73066b3d4a]
Wasn’t there a federal mandate(fcc)that required receivers built after a certain date have the capability to tune the extended AM band?
I don’t remember!
Total posts : 45366[quote:e7355b85d5=”Unforgiven”]
By the way do you do much listening to internet radio, I heard something this morning that was pretty repulsive.[/quote:e7355b85d5]
I sometimes listen to “Air America” to get a break from all the Hannity, Savage and Limbaugh programming that prevails on the AM and even a few FM’s around this area. The rebel in me says to get clearance and air it! Another part of me, the common sense part, tells me that the PSA Air America plays once every hour asking for people to support gay marriage. Could get my house burned down.
Could you suggest good internet programming?
Total posts : 45366[quote:5c02dbc88d=”lpam”][quote:5c02dbc88d=”Unforgiven”]
By the way do you do much listening to internet radio, I heard something this morning that was pretty repulsive.[/quote:5c02dbc88d]
I sometimes listen to “Air America” to get a break from all the Hannity, Savage and Limbaugh programming that prevails on the AM and even a few FM’s around this area. The rebel in me says to get clearance and air it! Another part of me, the common sense part, tells me that the PSA Air America plays once every hour asking for people to support gay marriage. Could get my house burned down.
Could you suggest good internet programming?[/quote:5c02dbc88d]
You won’t get clearance to air it, however if you do try to contact them for permission to air it you will get nothing in return, trust me on this.
So by not responding to your request, they are essentially telling you air it at your own risk. You will find this policy not at only Air America but others as well.
It’s funny you should mention the PSA by P-Flag as I had the same gut reaction, and quite frankly I wish they wouldn’t air that particular PSA.
And before anyone here wants to flame me as being homophobic, please don’t go there, my issue is that Air America is a fledgeling entity and needs as much broad public appeal as it can garnish.
Airing PSA’s for P-Flag won’t win over any mainstream listeners.
More than enough political comentary.
There is plenty of good internet content out there for those of us with open minds:
Shoutcast(music and spoken word)
Bradshow
Guy James Show
icecast.org
White Rose Society audio archivesGoogle or Yahoo the above for a start.
As far as the repulsive content, it was nothing more than Gary Burke from Radio Free Colorado going off on streamrippers and folks supposedly taping or burning to c-d his broadcasts with Gary using some really foul and unwelcome language this morning.
Total posts : 45366If you have newsgroup access on USENET, there are a bazillion podcasts available for download there.
Everything from a very bootlegged daily upload of Howard Stern, to old time radio recordings uploaded by enthusiasts.
Wonder what’s on XM or Sirius? People upload that, too. Opie and Anthony, Mignight Truckers, etc.
Get a free yenc compatible newsreader like Xnews, download a couple of free PAR applications, get a copy of the free unzipthemall for RAR rebuilds, and you’ll find far more stuff than you will have time to listen to.
Try:
alt.binaries.sounds.radio.misc
alt.binaries.sounds.radio.oldtime
alt.binaries.sounds.radio.opie-and-anthony
alt.binaries.sounds.radio.don-n-mike
alt.binaries.air-america.radio
alt.binaries.sounds.radio.bbc
Enjoy
Total posts : 45366Howdy all,
I confess I’m still sidetracked by writing my column for the local newspaper. One two-part series is published in its entirety in a major webzine, too. I have one more subject to write about and then I think I’m through.
In the meantime, I have been checking out the frequencies. I decided I wanted to be in the main band, so my old home entertainment receiver and my 1993 car radio can receive it, too. 1610 is busy with a distant but readable city signal. I’d like to use 1600, but there is a buzz from a yet unknown source on it. 1580 is the best I can do. It’s clear during the daytime and usable at night, should I want to broadcast at night (I do, on Saturday nights). Adjacent channel interference should be no problem because, for years, the bandwidth of AM receivers hasn’t been as wide as what stations transmit.
I have good ground conductivity here (15-30 umhos), so any loss of range due to less antenna efficiency at the lower frequency should be made up by the increase in range at the lower frequency.
I did compile and post, at my web site, detailed equipment and material lists for my station.
http://members.aol.com/K5BY/MP_Radio/MP_Radio0.htm
As to what programs may be available on the Internet for rebroadcasting, I plan to simulcast some of the following:
“Patriot” broadcasters on shortwave radio, those hosts who provide alternative news and talk shows, also simulcast on the Internet (and on satellites). Many seem happy to learn when a microbroadcaster (or a pirate — the hosts don’t know the difference, yet) rebroadcast or simulcast their shows. I assume the deal is to just let their advertisers’ messages be broadcast, too. It’s a sort of an unspoken barter arrangement. I’ll just insert a disclaimer at the beginning and at the hour break of each show. Some daytime shows are repeated late at night.
For these shows, on the Internet check out the Genesis Communications Network, the Republic Broadcast Network, and — I think it’s called — the Liberty Radio Network.
Good broadcasting,
Bill in SE Texas
Total posts : 45366Thanks “Unforgiven” and “scwis” for the links. Been checking them out. Pretty interesting stuff.
Appreciate it!
Total posts : 45366Since you bring up Air America (which I find refreshing to finally get a 2nd Alternative choice to the “right Wing” broadcasters, PBS does a good job too) I think you’re right. In order to gain and hold a handful of listeners in you’re neighborhood you either have to spend alot of time and effort to cover the local neighborhood, such as doing a live Jr High sports broadcast or a remote at the local farmers market, or offer an alternative to programming available in your area such as Air America or an alternative music format. Of course you risk being labeled the local “liberal” which in my book is nothing to be embarassed about.
There are numerous alternative music formats too. I believe Radio Sausalito found a nich combining Jazz and local event coverage. I am airing a combo of Classic 70’s-90’s Rock, 60s-70s AM hits, Reggae,jazz,Americana,Country Rock, retro and new wave, plus new music, similar to a free form station I worked at in Phoenix in the 80’s. A true alternative to the generic small town AC/Hit and country formats in my area.
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