ArtisanRadio

I enjoy Carl’s posts.  Even when there may be an apparent lack of seriousness, there are always gems hidden within.

You always have an alternative – don’t read them if you find them uninteresting, or not to your taste.

Surely there is room for viewpoints and discussion other than the pure technical in the world of Part 15 broadcasting.  The a…[Read more]

Running a radio station takes a lot of time.  Particularly a Part 15 station which has limited personnel and resources (usually one person).

I know when I was operating my community station on Bowen Island, the radio station (which broke even at best) seemed to take an inordinate amount of time compared to the real money making activities.  And t…[Read more]

It’s pretty tough to get the EDM transmitter to be FCC Part 15 compliant (I’ve owned one).  You have to turn all power adjustments to their lowest levels, and even then that might not be enough – you would probably have to make the antenna shorter.

Also, that 200 feet is just an estimate.  Range is highly dependent on the sensitivity of the r…[Read more]

With radio news, you have to use your intellect, common sense & logic to come to a conclusion – traits that are ubfortunately in short supply these days.

Radio news tends to be more accurate than other forms.

For example, you can’t show fake video on a radio broadcast.

I don’t.

I play what I like.

When I play public domain stuff for general broadcast, it can be anything from Bach to Fats Waller.

When I broadcast to myself alone, it can be anything.

Life is too short to worry overmuch about what artificial ‘genre’ any particular piece of music is placed into.  If I like it, I play it.

The tendency of humans to slice, dice and classify virtually everything never ceases to amaze me.

I view music as an unending continuum of artistic endeavor, with no boundaries (which is what genres are really all about).

The only thing you can really do with music is to timestamp it, which tells you something (very generally) of its…[Read more]

To simplify things, you have (legally) a choice of using either AM or FM FCC Part 15 compliant transmitters.  I’d recommend that if this is a new venture for you, you purchase an FCC certified transmitter.  These devices have been tested in labs authorized by the FCC and theoretically they transmit within the limits allowed by the FCC.  You may no…[Read more]

If all you’re doing is giving access to a music stream through your wifi (and that can easily be done through an app without giving out your password), then there shouldn’t be any issue.  To be really safe, you could use a separate wifi network for your music stream (and only the music stream), and then you could freely give out the…[Read more]

For a Part 15 station at least, I’ve always viewed streaming as a way to extend coverage in the local area – in other words, to hit those users that you can’t reach over-the-air.

How many of the users in your targeted coverage area do you realistically think are going to stream?  Not many, I’d wager.

It would be different if your coverage area…[Read more]

It does work, or at least it used to. I was having issues with it (I want gradual fade out & a bit of silence – it was activating and getting rid of that). Mind you, that was in Zara 1.4.4. I now always just turn it off and I don’t think I’ve tested it in 1.6.2.

As a side note, I’ve heard it preached that silence over the air is bad. I feel that…[Read more]

It does work, or at least it used to. I was having issues with it (I want gradual fade out & a bit of silence – it was activating and getting rid of that). Mind you, that was in Zara 1.4.4. I now always just turn it off and I don’t think I’ve tested it in 1.6.2.

As a side note, I’ve heard it preached that silence over the air is bad. I feel that…[Read more]

They’d have to have cars in their apartment.

I’m in the same situation as Neil – my intent is to broadcast to myself.  Because the (old) RSS 210 and BETS allows for more field strength than the U.S., and thus more range, I take advantage of the situation by also listening in my car while driving around.

The range in my old neighborhood was probably due to a number of factors.  Low rise w…[Read more]

Head south?  Not likely, at least for a while.

Although, come to think of it, my new place IS south and west of my old one (by a few blocks).

It’s interesting, though.  At my old place, a house in a typical suburban neighborhood, I was easily getting 300 meters range in virtually every direction, and much more in some, with a transmitter on t…[Read more]

I can’t speak for the lawyer, but for me, there’s just something ‘magical’ about pulling a radio signal out from the ether.  Maybe it’s because I’ve worked with computers all my life, combined with the thousands of streaming stations I know are available using a computer, but I much prefer the magic of radio.  Computers I view as tools (and t…[Read more]

There’s nothing to stop someone in Canada from using an existing circuit found somewhere else, gathering together the components, and building a CQUAM transmitter.  You don’t have to be an engineer to do it.

The reason that exception is there in the RSS rules for unlicensed devices is to encourage experimentation.

Of course, it would be nice if…[Read more]

Mark said “And even if you designed your own here, you still need the broadcast certificate or get it certified to use it. ”

I knew that I had researched this previously.  Mark, that is not correct.  Section 7.1.7 of RSS Gen states:
7.1.7 Home‑Built Devices
Except scanner receivers, home built devices (not from a kit) in quantities of five or les…[Read more]

I guess what I was trying to say was that, in the U.S. at least, having a CQUAM transmitter doesn’t hurt.  It adds to your station’s uniqueness.  People can still listen in mono with regular AM radios.  And if you want to hear the full benefits of AM stereo, you can go out and buy a special radio.  Part 15 broadcasting as it was meant to be.  Not…[Read more]

Most Part 15 stations have one major listener – ourself (i.e., the operator).

There are exceptions, of course, such as Thelegacy, who seems to have gotten other listeners through pure hard work, timinbovey who runs his station as a business, myself when I was on Bowen Island, etc.

Regardless, doesn’t it make sense to distinguish our sound from…[Read more]