As we have heard in past postings, there was talk not too long ago of moving AM stations to TV channels 5 & 6 and expanding the FM band.
As we have heard in past postings, there was talk not too long ago of moving AM stations to TV channels 5 & 6 and expanding the FM band.
In his latest blog, the radio engineer Paul Thurst gives us a status report.
http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/
There would be no radio
There would be no radio station without listeners. Moving the band would require all new radio receivers for everyone to listen in – quite an undertaking (unless, of course, you have a Japanese market stereo, which is capable of receiving those frequencies).
Expanded Broadcast Band
I see no need to pursue using the Ch5 and Ch6 bands for expanded broadcast and, according to the article, neither does the FCC.
There are technical problems with the current AM band but in my view the fundamental problem is in the programming. As an example, I had a trial subscription to XM and listened around and found mostly the same old junk available on broadcast bands. On one occasion while traveling I tuned in to get news at 3:30 in the morning. After listening for 8 minutes to nothing but commercials I turned it off. Why would one expect an expanded broadcast band to be any different?
There is hope for revival of good radio via efforts such as those of Part15 broadcasters and the ALPB. What is needed to get this going big time is relaxed restrictions on signal strength so Part 15 broadcasters can truly serve a community via the existing broadcast bands
Imagine what would happen if we had, for example (use mine or pick your own), up to 1 Watt input power and 10 meter length restrictions rather than what we do now under 15.219.
Neil
AM Under Scrutiny
Another commenter has spoken about possible futures for the AM radio band, and that is John Anderson, PhD of Do It Yourself Media, in his Oct. 4 blog titled “Diverging Perspectives on the Future of AM”.
He quotes Paul Thurst, as we also did up above, and tells us that co-conspirators NAB and NPR are deciding what might be done. Their scenario would not be good, but it appears unlikely.
http://www.diymedia.net/
What Is Needed
“There is hope for revival of good radio via efforts such as those of Part15 broadcasters and the ALPB. What is needed to get this going big time is relaxed restrictions on signal strength so Part 15 broadcasters can truly serve a community via the existing broadcast bands.”
Agreed. But those changes won’t come from distributing programs through a funnel when programs already have an originating source, usually the show’s own website, podcast.com, talkshoe.com, and places like that. Part 73 stations either get their shows from a secured ftp site provided by a program distributor such as audiotracks.info.
To bring about relaxed rules for Part 15 AM and FM requires a little more. Technical issues must be resolved, legal issues as well as considerations to existing stations. We only need to look at history here and see what happened to LPFM and what prevented that seed from taking root the way it was originally intended. LPAM…look where that went…nowhere at all.
For AM, the TIS is a perfect example of what the technical parameters can be for relaxed rules. This is not saying let’s push and shove for 10 watts into a 49 foot vertical. However running 1 watt into that 49 foot vertical is viable and has even far less chance of interference or skywave issues than TIS, and a TIS station is lucky to cover it’s entire city or small town with a clear signal at 10 watts.
Another issue with the TIS example, is that not everyone can throw up a 49 foot tall vertical, so let’s be realistic. A typical TV reception mast height…say 20 feet would be more practical and even far safer than a 49 foot pole. Then there are those in situations like apartments or hi-rise multi resident buildings with 50 or more levels. What will there be for those living in such conditions who cannot throw up a 20 foot pole or even have access to an earth ground?
Defining the “ground lead” issue is also a must. We do know that a long ground path will radiate more than the intended radiator at the top, so that will have to be ironed out along with defining ground lead and separating that from a mounting structure. A station used a choke to kill the radiated signal coming from the support structure, but what buried that station was exceeding 3 meters because it was interpreted by the agent that the mounting structure, which was metal, is the ground lead. Again, clear definitions are badly needed.
FM is a whole other ball game, and most likely will be the most difficult to deal with. I tend to agree about the move of AM’s over to an expanded FM band, mainly not because of the points noted by Neil, but because there are still analog LPTV stations on Ch 5 and 6 in some areas, and some of those are DTV stations. Where would they go? Their power levels would be useless in the UHF bands, meaning they would have to be completely revamped and reclassified, which I doubt that would happen.
Shooting for new regulations is both an administrative and political challenge, one that will not be so easy as downloading a show file.
Commercial radio does need help big time. One of which is getting that right now via a Part 15 studio and location, that is a win-win situation for both Part 15 and Part 73.
It is an example of the kind of direction Part 15 needs to go. As I pointed out before, Part 15 really needs a new sub-part rule proposal that addresses “broadcasting” and not Mr. Microphone or smart toaster as the current set of rules are interpreted to be for, sending a small signal from a phono oscillator to the next room.
Therefore, the rules needs revising with a new sub-part specifically for “broadcasting” or even call it “community broadcasting”. But currently the new idea of “community broadcasting” isn’t including Part 15, but rather LPFM Part 73.
So someone’s got to shake the tree and rattle the cage during the windows of proposals of rule making. I doubt handing the FCC a link to a program distribution center is going to accomplish much. But hand them the right stuff and something is bound to get their attention..if drafted and presented in the manner in which other proposed rule makings are.
NLPBA intends to do just that..from the onset. And with this “melding” of a Part 15 and Part 73, it puts Part 15’s foot in the door..big time.
Anyone have ideas on how the two organizations can accomplish this? Two heads are better than one.
RFB
Hampered By Humanity
The rules, at best, are an attempt to keep people from doing insane things. But people do insane things anyway.
Take CB radio. I recently became aware that several pirates in California, Arkansas, and a few other states, set up powers and heights in excess of the rules and try to reach out during skip conditions with unnecessary gutteral noises and screaming like a bunch of radiactive mutants with seven eyes and giant lips.
Society, regulated or not, seems to rise to the level of its lowest members.
Those of us talking about more lenient restrictions for part 15 view ourselves as self regulating, and indeed we are. But if some of the mutants picked up the scent and decided to go “on the radio” the dial would fill up with howling and trash talk.
Yet, the dial as it is, is filled with bland anemic repetitious fare, while the industry spokesmen go around making speeches about how radio needs “innovation.”
Well the two new organizations standing for “the improvement of radio” and “improvement of the part 15 rules” are exactly that: innovation.
As a radical shift from doing things the old way, I strongly believe the new landscape we are attempting to invent should continue to be “outside the rules”, the only regulation being the limits as expressed in the newly improved version of the part 15 rules.
As self-regulators, we will see to it that the mutants are kept down.
With the AM band being essentially bankrupt, I say… give it to us and stand back.
Doubtful
Regardless of relaxed rules for Part 15, the howling trash talk screamers will be there, are there, and aren’t going to go away anyway.
Part 15’ers are self regulating and do a darn good job of it. Some even go to the extent of purchasing measuring equipment, used or new, and take great pains to make sure their operations meet the rules. That is one plus for proposed rule making in changes for Part 15. We are not a bunch of throw it up turn it up and fill it up with garbage.
The line dividing the honorable and the blatant must also be clarified and pounded into the heads of those who go around and declare anyone using a Part 15 device is a pirate and should be shackled and gagged and hung out to dry.
One thing those individuals cannot deny, is that there are more NAL’s racked up by licensed stations than pirate and Part 15 combined. Wow…imagine that..and it’s no figure of imagination either. Simply look it up.
I don’t deny that programing heard on Part 15 stations wouldn’t benefit commercial radio. In fact, Casper is getting that right now. And I am willing to bet that the programing heard on 94.5 now will become the mainstay of that station.
Maybe while one organization focuses on one angle of changes, the other organization focuses on the other angles. Who knows.
RFB
FM Needs Expansion
Never mind AM (in relation to expanding the FM band).
FM needs a little extra room. Part of the problem part 15ers have finding a frequency is symptomatic of FM’s crowding in the larger population centers, and many contenders would like to add new licensed stations.
This could all change abruptly if the economy causes existing stations to fall away, and we’ve seen some examples of this already, but being optimistic there is a demand for more space.
True, some markets have TV stations below the FM band, but our city doesn’t and the cities that are clear could start adding FM stations.
Other cities can wait for the VHF TV stations to go out of business, nobody watches them, it’s a matter of time.
And what about the space above the FM band? Air traffic you say? Not much anymore after assaulting the public with airport pat downs and lethal X-rays. People will take bicycles rather than tolerate having their property stolen while traveling. It’s in the news.
That’s the plan. Expand FM up and down, give AM to us.
VHF TV Stations
carl blare wrote: Other cities can wait for the VHF TV stations to go out of business, nobody watches them, it’s a matter of time.
While since the conversion to the ATSC digital broadcast TV standard in 2009 there are now relatively few over-the-air VHF TV stations using the old, analog TV standard (eg, translators), there are a fair number of stations using the new digital TV standard transmitted on their old analog, VHF channels — especially those analog stations that used a channel from 7 to 13.
This was an economic saving to those stations, as they could use their old transmit antenna system rather than removing it, and installing a new one for a channel in the UHF band.
There are two of these located even in my rather small city of ~41,000 population.
Are They Watched
rich, are the two VHF digital TV stations in your area watched by the public?
Do you watch them?
Are they well sponsored by plenty of advertising?
Watched?
carl blare wrote:
rich, are the two VHF digital TV stations in your area watched by the public? Do you watch them? Are they well sponsored by plenty of advertising?
Yes, they are watched by me whenever my digital cable service is not available (which is rare), and more so by those without cable TV service — either analog or digital. Their program content and advertising as broadcast over the air is the same as provided on the digital cable feed.
The transition from NTSC analog to ATSC digital TV broadcasting took place in 2009, so after that, viewers not using HDTV receivers to receive broadcast signals needed to use D-A converters, which provided an analog TV signal to the TV set.
Recall that the US Gov’t provided credits to those qualified, to assist them in buying such D-A converters.
VHF Low Band
In his Engineering Radio Blog Paul Thurst posted an entire table of the low band VHF cities and stations, which is interesting to see.
I did not utilize the generous Gov’t Credit for purchasing D-A converters, because I was aware that the “credits” only covered a small portion of the cost and that antenna would be another headache to deal with.
To say that people without cable are watching those stations is only a guess, and people with cable may not be watching them either, as they may prefer other selections.
TV D-A Converters
carl blare wrote: I did not utilize the generous Gov’t Credit for purchasing D-A converters, because I was aware that the “credits” only covered a small portion of the cost and that antenna would be another headache to deal with.
Just to note that the D-A TV broadcast converter I bought with the Gov’t credit works just fine with a primitive “rabbit ear” indoor antenna I had. The credit covered all but about $10 of the cost of the converter.
I am still using this setup to feed an old analog TV set in our laundry room, in the basement (weak signal area).
Happy for Every Success
It is good to hear that some conversions to digital TV went well.
You may not have heard the many stories of people perhaps not so technically capable being roped into more expensive investments to be followed by reception failure.
Knowing that it might work or might not work is known as a gamble, and it was not one I was willing to make.
In many years operating a commercial A/V business we continually upgraded to the newest whatever that we needed to provide service, and we kept apace until talk of Blu Ray, at which time we locked up and turned to part 15.
LOL
Blue Ray is what drove
LOL
Blue Ray is what drove the final nail in the Video coffen for me.
Upgrade upgrade upgrade, To many format changes for me.
So long videos and TV hello Part 15 Radio.
Absurd
RFB wrote: The line dividing the honorable and the blatant must also be clarified and pounded into the heads of those who go around and declare anyone using a Part 15 device is a pirate and should be shackled and gagged and hung out to dry.
Note that those who actually comply with the technical realities permitted by Part 15 for unlicensed transmissions in the AM/FM broadcast bands will not, and cannot legitimately be defined or treated as pirates by the FCC, or anyone else.