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New Community Station in San Antonio, Texas

A

AM1610

Guest
Hi!

I just want to make everyone aware of my Community station. DJCR - Dewberry Jam Community Radio - AM1610 - San Antonio. Streaming on the web at http://AM1610.net

I have been lurking on this board for a while. I hope to contribute to the discussions in the near future. Please allow me to tell you a little about our station. We are working diligently toward acquiring a Low Power FM FCC Radio License and awaiting the next filing window. At last notice, LPFM was on the agenda for Congressional consideration.

In the next day or two we will finish installing an FCC Certified Low Power AM transmitter. Our microstation will broadcast on 1610 kHz AM and coverage is expected at approximately one - two miles from the transmitter site. The antenna elevation is approximately 37 feet. Clustering is in the near future and we already have interested parties considering it.

We currently stream our content from the site, but plans are to simulcast on LPAM/LPFM and the Internet in the future. We intend to invite special guests from the neighborhood and surrounding areas to participate in local broadcasts to service our neighborhood associations.

We feature royalty free/ publically licensed music and syndicated programming. We recently became an affiliate for the Kevin Smith Show, which is a long format show (120 minutes) covering everything and anything paranormal. The show airs from a live feed on our station at 9pm-11pm CST, Monday through Friday.

Kevin Smith, although syndicated, is very supportive of Part 15 radio and will help you in every way to provide his show to your station. No money involved and you get 6 avails during the show. He has been instrumental in shortening my learning curve in broadcast radio. You can obtain immediate temporary clearance to broadcast at http://steeleyemedia.com/prop.htm. I recommend him highly for anyone looking for talk content of that nature.

We feature Americana, Indie and Local Bands during the daytime hours and air Metal Madness Radio immediately after the Kevin Smith Show at 11:05 CST. Local weather at the top of every hour.

The overarching mission of our station is to provide emergency relief for the neighborhood in the event of bad weather, disaster or other Acts of God.

We are currently soliciting original material to run royalty- free on our station. Email us from the site for consideration.

I would like you for allowing me the opportunity to tell you about us. Look forward to many technical queries from me in the near future.

Regards and 73,

Dew (KI5QY)
DJCR - Dewberry Jam Community Radio
AM1610 - San Antonio, TX
 
AM 1610 Congratulations on your new station! I am also getting ready to start my PART-15 on am 1610. I was wondering if you
had any advice on setting up a website and streaming audio such as the costs and what you found through your searching.
You have a great website GOOD LUCK!
P.S. I am in Chicago so I don't think we will have any overlapping coverage issues ;D
 
Hi and thanks for the kudos. I got kind of lucky on my streaming. I had an extra computer and a friend had given me Windows 2003 Server (which is quite expensive). I decided to load it on the computer and set up media services. I have broadband so I opened up the correct ports on the router and broadcasting data upstream. At first I was streaming directly from the server, but when I became an affiliate for the Kevin Smith Show, he suggested I download (free download) the encoder from Microsoft and begin using ZaraRadio Automation Software (free download). So far, it has been great advice. I am encoding and sending directly to my server on the same machine through Zara, but you could just as easily send the output from the encoder to a server anywhere.

My web site is a little primative compared to what I could do with my own software. I let my sister borrow it a while back and waiting on its return. I did a lot of it with Notepad directly and recently began using a free download called Komposer which is hard to get used to, no bells and whistles, has some limitations but works ok.

Most of my airplay material comes from Garageband.com, 3-hive and FreeCulture.org. These are all for the most part free for download and use. I stay away from anything licensed by BMI, Ascap etc. due to licensing fees, but that may change one day. I also get a lot of material submissions from bands local to the San Antonio area and always try to include them in the playlist to help develop my local audience.

What brand transmitter are you going to use? It was a hard decision for me but once I choose Hamilton, I was very pleased.

BTW, if you affiliate with The Kevin Smith Show (see info above), they do have provisions where you can use the JetCast player and they will stream you free from Steeleye Media and JetCast with unlimited bandwidth. But there are some minimal restrictions such as audience development on their behalf, but nothing you can't live with or you wouldn't ordinarily do. There is also a chance to get paid based on a volume formula. You can't beat it if you have no other way to stream. I am not sure of all the details and I decided not to go that route because I have my own server and striving for LPFM which has restrictions set by the FCC for advertising. Kevin will also build really nice streamers for you to run as well. He is definately Part 15 friendly.

Regards,

Dew
 
I forgot to mention that with the broadband in most cases comes a dynamic IP address. It is virtually impossible to get a static IP from my provider as a residential user. I use No-IP.com for my domain names and DNS. They have an application that you can install on your computer that will aquire the IP address from your computer and ftp it to their DNS server when it changes. It runs as a service and resides in your task bar. It can be configured to run automatically at startup. The domain name is then associated to your current IP address at the DNS server. It works very fast and in most cases immediately after IP address change. This service is free. They also have many free domain names to choose from but it is always best to own your own. They are very reasonable and have been using them for years. They are very reliable.
 
Hello AM-1610. I help operate an LPFM, it has been on the air for almost 6 years24/7. I also have a Rangemaster on 1620 in Marysville, Ohio and getting good coverage. BTW the FCC is going to act on LPFM on Tuesdays docket. They say they are acting on expanding the LPFM service. Could this mean a new window soon?? Who knows... Good luck with your new station, it will be a lot of fun.
 
WRPO - Thank goodness, finally the FCC may take some action. The new report about allowing the 3rd adjacent channel was good for us. It has been a long time coming but NAB will probably rear its ugly head again. I will be watching CSPAN for sure. They have postponed it a couple of times. I seriously want to check your station out on the web but got an error. Will you post your web site for us. Question: Did you find a non-profit or organize one? I may have plenty of questions for you later and thanks for the info. Dew
 
WRPO-LP is licensed to the village of Russells Point, Ohio..I just run it for them. The "bill" ( to do with 3rd channel ) has passed the House and is ready for a vote at the Senate, as I understand it. The action to be address Tuesday is something else to do with LPFM I beleive. Our web site is off line at the present, but hopefull we'll get it back in a few days. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] anytime. Best, Gene
 
What other info can you share with us? I have a freind that wants to start a station in Austin for his church and im trying to help them apply for a low power any ideas?
 
AM 1610 Thanks for all the info it is going to be very helpful for me in getting started. Right now I am definitely just getting
started in every sense of the word. I have been wanting to start a PART-15 AM for sometime and I am going to eventually
get a rangemaster, I just can't throw that kind of money out there right now. You know how it goes you get the money for
something you WANT and the next day the car breaks down always works that way. The only reason I started now, is I just
for the fun of it I went on E-BAY and typed in am transmitter and a Wild Planet Radio DJ popped up and I bid 9 bucks on it.
It really is like a kids toy and can only operate on AM 1610, which luckily in my area is a pretty open channel,but for a toy
it really has a very good sound comparable to any of the commercial AM'S better than the IBOC one's. I have not grounded
it outside yet and only have a wire antenna on it and I am actually surprised with it because besides the hum from not
being properly grounded I am getting about 0.2 miles from it before it fades into the background noise (that is at night on my
car radio) I have been busy over the holiday and have not been able to try during the day. So I hope when I get it grounded
and get an outside antenna I will get rid of the hum and get the signal to radiate a little farther. Once again thanks for all the
advice and good luck with your station! Maybe I should go with a talk format because I sure can babble on for a while don't
ya think? ::) :D
 
I feel that anything that advances your hobby is ok and sounds like fun. You might take a look at SSTRAN if you haven't already. It comes as a kit and very reasonably priced compared to the Hamilton. It is not not FCC certified, but FCC compliant. It has its own on-board compressor/limiter and reports are that it sounds great and greats about the same range as the the Hamilton. You have to build the antenna, but there are full instructions on the SSTRAN web site. I jumped in and built a modified version of the antenna including a top hat and antenna matcher to mount in the enclosure. But, at the last minute changed my mind and bought the Hamilton. I will use the antenna I built for a cluster station later on.
 
AM1610,

Congratulations on getting your station going, and best wishes to you.


Also, to omega,

You might want to get in touch with John Broomall at http://www.ccbroadcasters.com.

He's helped a lot of broadcasters get started with LPFMs.
 
Thanks, Alan. I bookmarked the site. I like the idea of them doing frequency searches and help with filing. Appreciate the link..
 
Thanks for asking. So far, so good. I managed to grab a couple of supporters. There seems to be a lot of interest in this area for community radio. Still working on the sound of the station and have an Innovonics 222 on its way. Trying to decide what I need as far as audio processing and wondering what others are using? I am looking at the Behringer MDX1600 Autocom Pro XL Processor. It is reasonably priced and looks like it would do the trick. Some features below:

Switchable IKA (Interactive Knee Adaptation) program-adaptive compression circuitry combines the advantages of hard-knee and soft-knee characteristics

Adjustable dynamic enhancer with level meter for brilliant, lively audio even with heavy compression

IGC (Interactive Gain Control) peak limiting circuitry combines clipper and program limiter for reliable and inaudible protection against signal peaks

Switchable de-esser removes excessive sibilance from your vocal tracks

IRC (Interactive Ratio Control) expander/gate circuitry for virtually inaudible noise suppression

Automatically or manually adjustable attack and release times

Switchable low contour filter prevents "pumping" due to low-frequency dominated compression

Stereo couple function with independent output level settings

Switchable side chain input with side chain monitor function

Ultra low-noise 4580 operational amplifiers and state-of-the-art THAT� VCA's

Separate 12-segment LED meters for input/output levels and gain reduction

Dedicated "traffic light" threshold and enhancer level displays

High-quality detented ALPS� potentiometers and illuminated switches

Servo-balanced inputs and outputs with � in. TRS and gold-plated XLR connectors

Manufactured under ISO9000 certified management system
 
AM1610,

Wish you all the best on you am. Expect the FCC to open up LPFM within a year.
Make sure you do a freq search, dot the eyes and cross the " T" on you 318 filing.
You should be good to go. :)

educ-engineer
 
AM1610 you ever heard of RPM Radio there on FM I was just wondering where Ron the guy runs the station is?? If you know Ron of RPM Radio hit me up on AIM DJboutit5
 
Thanks for the tip on LPFM. I will probably get an engineer's help locally and possibly a lawyer. We have been watching it closely and have a couple of orgs interested in the possibility of becoming the umbrella for the station. I would really don't want to establish own non-profit due to fundraising etc. Hoping to work with someone that already has that potential and hopefully a development department, commercial property available etc.

No, I am not aware of RPM on FM here locally. Can you provide more information on it?
 
Thanks for pointing out the really nice search tool. Appreciate it!
 
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