Messages

46

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: FCC vs God

« on: September 24, 2020, 0957 UTC »

Somewhat related and something I'm curious about.. about two weeks ago Walmart has converted 160 of their parking lots into pop- up drive-in movie locations. You listen on your card fm dial.... So, are they paying licencing to broadcast on fm for all these free movies for the next year or so? Or are they doing it licece-free ie: part 15?

https://thewalmartdrivein.com

Maybe the churches should look into however Walmart is doing it.

47

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: FCC vs God

« on: September 22, 2020, 2115 UTC »

That's an opportunity lost, but a good solution already exists with the Part 15 AM Rangemaster and Procaster products (plus the upcoming Parking Lot Radio should that make it to market.)

But AM is not their preference, as you might gather from Rep. Green's FM-centric letter to Ajit Pai.

Paul Riismandel of Radio Survivor just published an article addressing this same topic and emphasizes the illegal fm transmiters on Amazon as compared to the legal C Crane model. He goes on to point out the advantages, despite it usually requiring a substanstially more expensive initial investment, for the churches to opt part 15 AM instead of FM. Also mention of the new Parking lot Radio transmitter, potentially soon to be another certified AM option.

He himself uses a Talking House which he considers sufficient for his purposes, but acknowledges the pricey Rangemasters and Procasters to be superior.

Anyway it's a good read, below are a few lines excerpted from the article..

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2020/09/21/social-distancing-sparks-interest-in-part-15-unlicensed-broadcasting-but-caveat-emptor/

"...It’s notable that Rep. Green’s request was for FM transmitters, which are far more limited under Part 15. While the regulations for the AM dial.. ..there’s no explicit limit on the signal distance. Clever and careful engineering can wring out a little more reach, and distances closer to a half-mile or more can be achieved....

..That said, I can actually empathize with the FCC on this one.... I can also imagine the waivers would be challenging to enforce. Without a license to revoke, how would the FCC ever verify that anyone is keeping to the new limit, ... ..That doesn’t mean churches, theaters or other organizations can’t leverage Part 15 broadcasting. As I mentioned earlier.. Despite the AM band’s diminished reputation, you can still get very good sound...."

48

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / FCC vs God

« on: September 18, 2020, 1243 UTC »

Congressman Mark Green request the FCC to allow churches to exceed part 15 limits, Pai says no, just use more transmitters instead.

http://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/fcc-wont-raise-unlicensed-power-levels-for-churches

49

Part 15 AM and FM Station Operation / Re: This Knight lit up a lot of potential broadcasters!

« on: September 17, 2020, 2236 UTC »

Wow, cool to see hfunderground has added a part 15 specific section. Anyway , there's some cool knight broadcaster stories at knightkit.com/fanstories.html  They were apparently very capable. The range seemed to average from a few blocks to a mile, but some of the more non compliant installs faired much better, as one of the stories explains:

Excerpt:
".....Our antenna ran about.. 900 hundred feet, a simple long wire, strung about 30 feet over the ground. Our tests showed us getting pretty good coverage out to about 10 miles. As kids, we didn't know any better and thought them rules about antenna length didn't pertain to us.
Our shows were the latest "Nifty Fifty records," news from last nights newspaper and assorted comedy skits...."

There's another story the antenna was fabricated using a fishing pole to support the wire on top the house which got out a solid four miles in all directions.

Elsewhere there is a webpage about someone who still uses one of the original knight kits for broadcasting today, but he only does it one day a year.. every year.. I forget the details and now I can't find the link, but it was a license AM station who does it.. Does this story sound familiar to anyone? It's probably the same story which Kingbear refers to.

Also recall someone at the antiqueradio.com forums mentioning they had utilized a knight kit for their drive-in theatre in the 1960s

Another cool story involved an FCC visit at https://nofars.net/jacksonville_radio_collection/fcc_visits_fun_radio
Excerpt:
"..... The polite FCC official made it clear that we could not use another licensed call sign, WFUN, that our antenna length was excessive giving too much coverage area.  There was about 20 feet of coax from his two story home going to a 3 foot metal antenna up about 35 feet above ground..."

Lastly, of worthy mention, in the late 1950s at least one of the National parks had been using the knight kit broadcaster in a lead car for the tourist caravans following behind.

There are now Knight Broadcaster replicas for about $200 on ebay, but he doesn't supply the tubes with the sale... What the heck!

50

General Radio Discussion / Re: hfundergrounds wiki pirate list error

« on: February 24, 2019, 1420 UTC »

  part15ers' are protective of their status.

51

General Radio Discussion / Re: hfundergrounds wiki pirate list error

« on: February 24, 2019, 1409 UTC »

Myteaquinn, I'm just a leisurely part 15 AM broadcaster hobbyist, when I say it irked me it's only because of the implication of Sausalito's station being illegal.. I could care less if someone pirates or not, it doesn't bother me, but it kind of "irks" me when part 15 and piracy are considered the same thing (although it's true there are those who profess part 15 when they're not).

I like there be a distinction is all.

It really irks me when someone says "I could care less" when they actually mean the exact opposite.
FYI, It's "I couldn't care less" 

Well actually...

"I couldn't care less" would mean "it's the least I could care"
Whereas, "I could care less" would mean "I could care even less than I do"

But enough of semantics... I don't care if someone decides to pirate the airwaves. It may be an infringement on licensed broadcasters, but if a pirate station manages to draw listeners away from a licensed station it's only because the programming is in some way more appealing.. Legal or not, the more popular station is of course the better one, and it's only the flaws of the less popular station which makes it the loser, but they can do things to improve their operations.. Competition leads to taking actions to improve ones self.. which would actually indirectly help them not hurt them.

How's that?  My whole point was; Pirates aren't licensed stations. Licensed stations aren't pirates. Part 15 stations are neither licensed nor pirates. There are clear distinctions between all three - right? But I'm just rambling now..

I don't care what anybody does as long as it doesn't hurt someone else.

52

General Radio Discussion / Re: hfundergrounds wiki pirate list error

« on: February 24, 2019, 0352 UTC »

And by the way... Upon re-reading my original post I realized I came across a little more asinine than I realized. Which I supposed is why the responses didn't seem too friendly coming back.

53

General Radio Discussion / Re: hfundergrounds wiki pirate list error

« on: February 24, 2019, 0347 UTC »

I believe that anyone who's already signed up on HFU can edit the wiki. I just went there and it had my username and password already loaded up.

Oh.. ok, I see when I clicked login it had my user and password already loaded.. simpler than I thought it would be. However it wasn't necessary for me to edit it. Since my last post someone had already did it. So thanks to whoever did that.

And as more icing on the cake I've learned how easy it is to edit wiki should I ever be compelled to so.

Anyway thanks again.

54

General Radio Discussion / Re: hfundergrounds wiki pirate list error

« on: February 24, 2019, 0049 UTC »

I'm really not out to pester you all, but would someone who's already a member to wiki and knows how to do it be willing to edit the Radio Sausalito "placeholder" out of the hfunderfround pirate list for accuracy? I believe I've already provided ample proof pointing to the stations confirmed wiki page as well as numerous published newspaper and magazine and even national TV broadcast news sources and awards to clearly show they are definitely  not a pirate station.

I've browsed around your forum and see a lot of interesting stuff but not really much I could contribute to in discussion. I do however have a bit of an interest in shortwave but currently am not primed to engage.. so perhaps in the future. But as for the present, I'm really not being unreasonable or asking for much.

55

General Radio Discussion / Re: hfundergrounds wiki pirate list error

« on: February 23, 2019, 0304 UTC »

Also, I haven't examined the list closely but am curious how many part 15 stations you might have listed there. Do you not distinguish between legal unlicensed operators and pirates?

Did you consider that many 'part 15' stations are run by former pirates, busted or not?  Many folks have a brush or two with HF, and perhaps the station in question has as well.

It is also entirely possible that someone else has used that name for their station, and serendipitously there is a part 15 station using the same name.  There currently is no Wiki article for this station, maybe you should make a page for them and 'set the record straight'...

+-RH

I suppose it's always a possibility another also uses the name, but in Sausalito? They do have a wiki page by the way (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Sausalito, and pretty well known considering it's just a part 15 station. If your interested there's a pretty big compilation of news articles about them from over the last 20 years at https://part15lab.blogspot.com/2018/12/he-just-wanted-to-listen-to-jazz-in.html as well as a general overview.

Myteaquinn, I'm just a leisurely part 15 AM broadcaster hobbyist, when I say it irked me it's only because of the implication of Sausalito's station being illegal.. I could care less if someone pirates or not, it doesn't bother me, but it kind of "irks" me when part 15 and piracy are considered the same thing (although it's true there are those who profess part 15 when they're not).

I like there be a distinction is all.

56

General Radio Discussion / Re: hfundergrounds wiki pirate list error

« on: February 23, 2019, 0225 UTC »

Well I was just trying to understand it being listed, I'm not familiar about editing a wiki page - mostly I was inquiring why it was there at all.

And Myteaquinn, sorry my post irked you.

57

General Radio Discussion / hfundergrounds wiki pirate list error

« on: February 23, 2019, 0122 UTC »

Hi, I've never been here before, I generally hang out on part 15 hobby forums, but I happened across your wiki page listing pirate stations and noticed "Radio Sausalito" was included in the list, but they are not a pirate station! They legally operate under part 15 and have been doing so for 20 years! It kind of irked me when I saw that.

I'm interested to hear your comments concerning this.

Also, I haven't examined the list closely but am curious how many part 15 stations you might have listed there. Do you not distinguish between legal unlicensed operators and pirates?