So after having given up on a basket case talking house v5 transmitter almost 12 months ago, I drug it back out and tried something different.
On previous setups with the TH I had it up on 1610 AM but the hum and range was horrible.
I managed to get the hum out of it but never got more than 1/4 mile or less even on 1700 khz.
Yesterday I tried it on 530 khz, still has a slight hum but the audio is better with one draw back. The range is way worse down on 530 khz, no where near the 1/4 mile or whatever it was 12 months ago on the higher frequencies.
Now I didn’t expect stellar results on 530 because well it stands to reason that the wire antenna provided with the transmitter is just too short for a frequency this low in the AM broadcast band.
But that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful, I plugged a Bearcat BC74XLT Scanner into the TH and programmed the scanner for 162.475 Mhz which is N.O.A.A. Weather radio for my area.
So for 130 feet (give or take a few feet) there were at least two houses that could hear it if they even bother to tune around looking for something to hear on AM Radio.
I just might leave it like that or perhaps fire up an old Windows Xp machine with Zararadio and Weather Watcher for a constant looping of the time, temperature,humidity and the call sign WXW 530 Willard,Ky.
Included in this post is two snapshots taken from our security cameras which kind of sort of shows the distance covered by the TH v5. (this is not the modified version btw)
Just messing around out of sheer boardumb erm boredom eh whatever! lol
Concentrating On AM
We all know that the FM band in part 15 is easy to implement.
Buy or build a transmitter and throw it on a clean channel.
Limit your FM signal to 200 feet or less and forget about it, in fact the only challenge you have is setting up the processor and providing some music, shows or whatever.
It really presents no challenge, set it and forget it. We aren’t going to set any distance records legally with FM so there it is, fm is fun but not as fun or challenging as AM.
I decided this evening to do away with the FM service at Blue Bucket Radio and just concentrate on the AM side of things. I guess i just need a challenge.
Things that need my attention on AM 1520 are:
1. building the outdoor antenna
2. setting up a real studio
3. fine tuning the audio chain
4. programming
Biggest hurdle is just getting the antenna built for AM 1520 which i have a start on already. The weather however has been slowing things down with rain.
The audio chain will be perfected only after the antenna is built and tuned to the transmitter. There really is no point in putting the cart in front of the horse, the sound will change when the SSTran is paired up with a more efficient antenna and ground system.
On those day’s when antenna work is not possible and if time permits, i can work on the studio which at this point is an extra bedroom in the back of the house.
For about two years now, that room has been only used for storage and even now i am debating whether or not to use that room or build a studio somewhere else.
I have two other options besides the extra bedroom,
Option 1. add walls, a door and electrical service to a gazeebo we don’t use in the front yard. (problem is cost of materials and the neighbors kids arcross the street)
Option 2. close off the front porch and add an outdoor type outlet or two.
(not as expensive and only requires three walls.)
Option 3. Not sure there is any other option
What we need is a quiet room to record our shows, do production and live shows on the air. Right now our studio is in the front room or what was the living room and it get’s a lot of traffic. One thing that is annoying to me is noise in the background while doing a show or recording a promo which comes from working in commercial and public radio over the years where the studio’s were isolated from external noise.
Just a few things need my attention here and i have a lot going on around here as it is that are not related to Blue Bucket Radio that are far more important.
Barry of Blue Bucket Radio 1520 AM
P.S. Don’t get me wrong, I love FM and will still use it from time to time.
I just feel AM will be more satisfying than FM.
Noise is something I have to
Noise is something I have to deal with all the time when doing my shows. Can’t seem to get folks in the house to take consideration that when I’m doing a show people need to be quiet. Yet some of my Stepson’s room mates will be loud and whatever. I don’t have a private room for the Radio shows like I did when we lived in the old house until his girlfriends kids were moved into the Radio room which at the time I was not happy about. In the old house however I was online only due to the fact that the coast guard base was like no more than a mile away. As far as your plans I’d make the front porch the studio. Going outside to a building may be cold in the winter if not heated. Plus you have to figure the cost of running electricity and hope you have good insolation to keep it warm in the winter time. But if you have kids it may be a better option to keep them away from the Radio equipment until they are old enough to understand. Good Luck.
Analog AM
To me analog AM is real radio. The sense of other stations in different cities all sharing the giant air space really gives the feel of being alive in the spheres.
We’ve got the atmosphere, stratosphere, ionosphere and spheres that challenge masculine speech.
With a Part 15 AM transmitter/antenna putting it out there is always the belief that it might go somewhere unexpected, like two blocks over or a ship at sea.
FM is just too perfect. It sounds live, like announcers and music groups are right there on the living room table with no equipment in between. It needs to be less perfect.
The kids are alright
The Legacy wrote:
“But if you have kids it may be a better option to keep them away from the Radio equipment until they are old enough to understand.”
Naw, my kids don’t really mess with the radio gear. My youngest is 4 and is pretty good at not touching knobs and pressing buttons, but, she can get loud at time as you might remember from this last meeting on TS. Just kids being kids.
Carl Wrote:
“With a Part 15 AM transmitter/antenna putting it out there is always the belief that it might go somewhere unexpected, like two blocks over or a ship at sea.”
In a way i wish there were blocks here rather than mountains, tree’s, rocks and hillbilliies. haha! The terrain here offers a challenge for part 15 for sure and blocks are easier to manage than a random mash up of homes scattered here and there.
Now if i lived on that ridge above me where the landlords woods are, there would be no obstacles between my antenna and the houses i was trying to reach.
To give you an idea what his view is, you literally can see the tops of the tree’s for miles around. Walk about 2000 feet towards the East on his land and you’re looking over the Hal Rogers Parkway. Look to the West and you can see a cell phone tower with close to a dozen microwave antenna’s mounted on the side of it.
Your cell phone locks on to 3 towers up there for data, usually 3g and lower.
There is no doubt in my mind that the antenna will have to use ground radials to help project our signal towards our target audience which is spread out on this mountain at varying elevations. Each home having something in it’s path between my antenna and their receivers.
If this doesn’t work well for me in terms of useable coverage, i just might consider going with carrier current AM, with just a few watts i think this station could have
a useful signal despite the terrain. While the power lines don’t run next to the road the same way they do in a small town or city, the signal should make it’s way into homes using the house wiring with a radio plugged into an outlet.
We’ll see. Now if mother nature would just work with me and not against.
Barry of Blue Bucket Radio 1520 AM
I may have underestimated
The Talking House and the SSTran were both heard in the same places the other night.
At about 1200 feet from the house and around the corner I was hearing both AM 530 and AM 1520 just barely above the noise floor.
Both channels are presets on the car stereo, preset 1 is AM 530 WXW and preset 2 is AM 1520 Blue Bucket Radio. So they have equal coverage from indoor antennas and as a friend stated “i wonder if you got some carrier current going on there?” , i probably do.
On my road the power lines are across the road, as you turn right off of my road the power lines follow the adjacent road for another 500 feet before disappearing into the woods. The fact that I could barely hear the two signals above the noise floor confirms that it probably is some carrier current type coupling to the power lines because both antennas are run up along the walls in two different rooms.