Part15

License Free, legal, low-power radio broadcasting

Fun Locations

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Being on a boat sounds like a wonderful place to run a radio station. I once considered the idea of buying a railroad passenger car for a studio.

Being on a boat sounds like a wonderful place to run a radio station. I once considered the idea of buying a railroad passenger car for a studio.

In early 80s I became somehow aware of a magazine called Private Varnish, about people in this country who have refurbished old railroad cars for use as a home or office. The cars can be parked on sidings near downtown areas or anywhere there are sidings, and if kept up to standard, can be hitched to trains and taken wherever.

At that time Amtrak was mentioned in the paper as having a string of passenger cars for sale in a railroad yard so we went through them, they were asking $3k per car. Trouble is outfitting them to railroad standard would have required more like $250k, but before abandoning the idea we made one more stop, to a very fancy office in a train car parked downtown with a business that professionally restores train cars.

Also at that time I read in a trade journal that a radio station on a moving train was operating somewhere in Switzerland, so the idea was alive.

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  1. Parking lot radio
    In addition to looking over what it will take for me to install and manage a TIS for San Juan Island (looking at radio links for our new Scenic Byways program), possibly funded by the state, or a grant from same …

    … I’ve also been contemplating putting a Whole House or C Crane FM transmitter system in my car and also in all Bob’s Taxis (the taxicab company I work part time for) with a bumper sticker that says “If you can read this, tune 102.1 FM” and have a 5 minute prerecorded message advertising deals on services on the island, including a “Tune to 1650 AM or fhtinyradio.com on the web for announcements, ferry updates, live broadcasts, and 1000 tracks of all local music” … “All brought to you on Friday Harbor Tiny Radio”

    … Sump’n’ like that.

    • New Ideas
      Imagine that….new ideas of un-conventional traditional thinking. Amazing.

      Yep..for that taxi cab your gonna want to develop an antenna quite different from the traditional 3 meter plain stick. FM wont be a problem, stick the flea TX in the back window. But the AM part…that would be a good challenge without having an ugly mass of whip with a fat coil sticking up in the air off the bumper.

      Let the creativity begin!

      Cheers

      • Ken, I had your station on
        Ken, I had your station on one night not to long ago, and you were live talking abut something or other.. when suddenly your taxi radio interrupted you! You said something like “I got to take this, it might be important..”
        Then I listened to a brief conversation with the taxi company about some problem (can’t recall what it was, but it wasn’t a call for a ride), then you addressed yourself back to the station and said you had to leave for a few minutes, and left is with a few tunes to fill the time.

        And then on one of Carls programs, being interrupted by the UPS man with a delivery needing to be signed for, and listening to that transaction..

        These little episodes gave me a kick! Something enjoyable about those little surprise episodes occurring for some reason. To me anyway.

        Carl, I think the train cargo bays are probably considerably cheaper than the nicer Amtrac cars. I have known at least 2 or 3 people here in Georgia in past as well as recent years, who, out in the backwoods who had several of them filled with misc storage, or used them as workshops.
        I never asked what they paid, but in knowing them, I know they would only have purchased it at a bargain price.
        I imagine their biggest cost was in having them transported to their property. They’re big and dry, but I suppose would only be suitable for placement out in the country – I don’t think it would go over too well with the neighbors of a sub division!

        All in all, I like the idea of the station on a boat though. I planned to do that this summer, but it may have to wait till 2012.. That is if the world doesn’t end.

        • About the Part 15 Transmitter in the car
          I didn’t know it was still on, but I just
          found out that elsewhere in Connecticut,
          there is a guy with a Part 15 AM transmitter
          on his truck.

          This really isn’t relevant here, because the
          installation is only for when the truck is
          parked. He puts up the antenna and lays
          down some ground radials and goes on the
          air. He does it on weekends in a central
          location in his town near a lake, I believe,
          where other cars park.

          It is called Radio Collinsville – on 1620 kHz.

          Again, not really relevant here, but still a
          cool story. I guess he gets out about a
          third of a mile, which is pretty good coming
          from a parked truck.

          Best Wishes,
          Bruce, MICRO1690/1700

          • Mobile Madness
            I know of a Part 15’er who has both an AM and FM setup in his RV. Whenever he and his family go on trips and finds a nice camping spot, he fires it all up and gives out information taken from park or camping site info booklets and reads off that information on the air.

            RFB

  2. Lay Down Ground Radials
    What kind of ground radials are there which you can just “lay down” where there is apt to be foot and maybe vehicle traffic? That is a secret we need to know.

    • cite> What kind of ground
      What kind of ground radials are there which you can just “lay down” where there is apt to be foot and maybe vehicle traffic? That is a secret we need to know.

      A couple of interesting items..

      http://cgi.ebay.com/MFJ-1932-All-Band-Ground-Radials-New-/300529473341
      and..
      http://cgi.ebay.com/Military-Ground-Rod-Assembly-A-A-55804-IIIB-/180555657165

      And here’s a super sweet deal I meant to post a few says ago when I first saw it (not portable though)
      http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=150574021327&si=IE6HNur7CBBbn%252B9beJoGymrcyW0%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT
      This guy has 400 – 5/8″ x 10′ copper clad ground rods for $15.00 each, local pickup offered -he’s in Coldwater, MI, – I really wish I lived closer to him to pick up a few of them.. the longest I’ve seen is 8′

      • Mobile set-up from a while back
        Those familiar with the “Mercer Mess” – a famous traffic jam site in Seattle, WA, might remember the company that parked vans with company logos near intersections with known long waiting times.

        The vans had an FM transmitter inside and graphics on the van gave the frequency and urged customers to tune in while waiting to hear some great info.

        The company was Fox Internet services (No connection to the TV network) and IIRC, they stopped the practice because the vans were constantly being broken into and the transmitters stolen.

        Here in low power radio Washington State (according to the map Jim created) the ferry terminals seem like great opportunities, especially since state budget cuts will likely reduce the number of runs and increase wait times.

        • What a bummer!… I know the
          What a bummer!… I know the feeling.
          Has anyone else ever had their transmitter stolen?

          • Borrowed For Good
            Not exactly stolen, I’ve had a transmitter “borrowed,” which has never come back.

          • Insta-Ground
            For those on-the-go situations your best solution for a mobile ground radial system is to use lengths of solid copper or strand wire tucked underneath scraps of carpet or artificial turf. It is the same technique used to cover snake cables at concert performances that are in open areas that run from the stage to the sound mixing point some distance from the front of the stage, usually well in the crowd area.

            If your on dirt, then simply tag along a hoe and cut you a grove into the ground and lay the ground wires in that, cover and place over that the scraps of carpet or artificial turf.

            I think the idea of stringing wires across parking lots or roadways where you have cars and trucks going to and from is a BAD idea. Find an area where there is NO vehicle traffic whatsoever. Last thing you need is your ground wires getting tangled up and caught in a vehicle wheel or other part of a passing vehicle, and taking you and your setup dragging down the road or parking lot!! That would be not only painful, but quite embarrasing.

            RFB

  4. Answer About Part 15 Station In Truck
    Hi Guys:

    This is in response to your question regarding
    Radio Collinsville, 1620, Part 15. And yup, this
    is the Part 15 station in the truck.

    You guys are right to question his grounding
    practice. I saw a picture, though, and I think
    I understand why this works for him. First of
    all, he is in the corner (at least it looks this way)
    of a parking lot overlooking a park, and there may
    be a lake nearby. He has been doing this for years,
    and I think he is out of the way of other cars and
    people. He is also well known in the town. So I
    think people are used to him being there. The
    transmitter and antenna are on the back of the
    truck. I think the truck is part of the ground system.
    The parts of the ground system that go out from
    the back of the truck look like flat metal on the
    ground and they don’t go very far. That’s all I
    can tell from the photograph. If you guys Google
    Radio Collinsville, 1620, I think you can probably
    find a picture. The truck is marked, and he is on
    from 9:AM to 3:PM every Saturday, I believe.
    I guess he produces promos and such at home.
    He only transmits about 1/3 of a mile.

    I think his idea is brilliant, and other people who
    are parked in that area, or driving around it can
    listen. And he is Part 15.

    I can’t see well enough to make a link to his
    picture, but if you guys use Google and get
    his photograph, I think you will get a kick out
    of it.

    I’d love to hear your comments on it. I think
    it’s great!

    Best Wishes,
    Bruce, MICRO1690/1700

    • Rollin’ Radio
      Pretty cool!

      I checked out THE LINK to this page with pics and info about the station.

      Suppose the ground wire down to the radial system would pass muster?

      Another page has a picture of the station owner with some comments from the owner. Follow THIS LINK to read the article.

      • I enjoyed that! Thanks for
        I enjoyed that! Thanks for posting it.

        I am curious as to why his transmitters circuit board was exposed though.

  6. Wonderful to See
    What a wonderful picture to see a radio train setup. Thank you, J. Ganley, for sharing. I’ll bet the story would be great to hear. Can you tell us more about it?

    • Radio from a Train Car
      Hi Carl,

      The station was WDME, a 6Kw FM in Maine that I owned in the mid-nineties. The previous owner was a railroad buff and he bought the car, a 1940’s vintage passenger car, from Amtrak in the 80’s and moved his AM and FM into. The AM was shut down before I bough the station.

      Operating a radio station from a train car posed some interesting challenges, particularly keeping the dishes in alignment as the car was still on its springs, and the frost heaves would wreck havoc on hitting the birds!

      In the summer time it got quite toasty, as the windows did not open, although that got better after I replaced all of the tube-powered boards and tube powered cart machines! And of course the original audio processor, a CBS volumax.

      That volumax feed an “equalized” copper circuit to the hill, where a CCA transmitter spit out the audio, controlled by a stepper relay that was actuated by a rotary telephone dial back at the train car turned studio.

      The CCA transmitter was an intersting box: When RCA stoped making transmitters someof their engineers went off and started another company (CCI, I beleive). Then some of the CCI folks broke away and started CCA, made a few boxes and went out of business. We had a 15 year old orphaned transmitter, with many of the control markings done by hand.

      We ended up replacing everything end-to-end except that old transmitter, which when cleaned up and fed good audio sounded spectacular.

  7. Truly Interesting
    JGanley, I hope you will contact me

    [email protected]

    and allow me to phone you for a conversation (Low Power Hour) about your interesting experience.

    I am so glad you shared the story. By the way, since you’re here at part15.us, are you a low power operator now?

    • Life after Commercial Radio
      Carl,

      I ran a part 15 for about 4 years, running news feeds, weather and some long form programming. After a couple of the news providers shut down and the weather service I used went away, I did not have the time to put in to program new sources, so my little rig has sat idle for a few years.

      I will drop you an email off line.

      -Jim-

  8. Ground Loop
    That looks like a very manageable ground method, but it also gives me a chance to ask a question that lingers in my curiosity.

    The complete circle or ring of metal at the center of this design seems like it could be a “ground loop,” of the kind known to introduce hum to the audio portion of the signal. Would it be better to have a break in the circle, using a non-conductive material to complete the circle?

    • Ground Loop
      This would not be known, in the classic sense, as a ground loop. Ground loops are created when the common ground circuits recirculate voltage through two or more common mode power supplies. Hum (60 Hz) or buzz (120 Hz) is created when the floating ground of the power supplies become part of the active signal circuit. In television, we use “hum bucking” circuits which are essentially isolation circuits that allow for the cable shields to stay intact yet isolate the floating ground of each of the of equipment power supplies. Antenna circuits introduce hum back onto the audio by following a similar path on the shield of the feedline cable or injecting voltage into the power supply or audio circuit.

      HF equipment is often delivered with a 3-pronged plug. It is common practice in high power installations to convert the power input to 2 conductors and ground the chassis to a “star” ground system where the chassis’ of all the equipment in common use have the same ground potential. Without the same ground potential, there would be resistance. Ohms law would indicate where there is resistance there is voltage. Where there is voltage there is hum or buzz.

      RF energy flows on the very outside or skin of the conductor. Splitting the loop would only lengthen the ground path for certain radials. This would increase resistance. The noticeable effect would not be perceptible. In short, so what. The only application that this would matter, one way or the other, would be at vhf frequencies and higher, where the width and length of ground conductors could combine to become resonant.

      As a final note, the problem I see with the “portable” ground system idea is that plumbers tape is usually coated with zinc. Zinc is a highly resistive metal and could impact the efficiency of a micro-watt signal. Also, zinc oxide would develop at the radial-loop connections through electrolysis when exposed to moisture and the atmosphere. This would further reduce the efficiency of the system. Without welding the tape, there is no way to solder these pieces together, primarily due to the zinc coating. However, all that being said, this would work for short term emergency communications purposes and remains a very creative and inexpensive, albeit temporary, solution..

      • Location Dream
        Interest in novel location needs to include tents as possible operating locations. There are some very serious tents made for expeditionary, or other professional undertakings, and having a good tent in reserve would provide an emergency shelter following a destructive disaster or simply as an adventurish place to hang out.

        A tent would also be a handy place to install a power generator or solar storage batteries.

        A vacation getaway 20-feet from the back door.