Part 15 AM in Southern California has a problem; the expanded is nearly full during the day and packed at night with multiple stations on any given frequency. 1620 during the winter is only good for a few hours a day in some areas, 1610 can be used in many areas but subject to interruption from traffic advisory transmitters.
The only solution is the FM band; in many areas outside the big cities the band has plenty of real estate available. Small towns throughout California have very few signals, many with none. Many towns have had their local stations taken by major broadcasters like Clear Channel and moved to bigger markets; Tehachapi, California is one such town, an area of about 30,000 not including inmates had its local station moved to Lancaster, Ca. by Clear Channel and is now a repeater for KYSR Santa Monica/Los Angeles. If an emergency was to place such as an earthquake (their last major in 1952) many parts of the Tehachapi area have no FM signals, no cable, and only weak AM signals from way out of town, authorities would have no way of providing emergency information to Tehachapi’s citizens. (For the record Tehachapi’s second licensed FM is programmed from Palmdale, Ca. and has little to no signal in the COL. and has never broadcast from or to Tehachapi).
Tehachapi is just an example of a widespread problem, the only solution is Part 15 FM and for the FCC to raise the power like they have done in countries like New Zealand; New Zealand allows 300 milliwatts and seems to have no problems with planes crashing and emergency frequencies being jammed by poorly designed FM transmitters (the same FM transmitters barred from sales in the US). Sometimes serving the public interest should take a priority to serving the corporate interest of the NAB. Lets face the facts; the sole reason part 15 FM power is limited is to protect the interest of the NAB and not public safety, that ruse of planes crashing and emergency communications being jammed is solely intended to instill fear in the uneducated public, the beneficiary of this scam is the NAB and its member stations.
With the thousands of low power transmitters sold into this country and on the air, if there was any truth to them causing harmful interference to aircraft and emergency services; planes would be crashing everyday and emergency services would be hindered from performing their services, none of that happens. Do you think Norway would allow 10 watts transmitting power on FM unlicensed if they thought they would cause harmful interference to emergency services?
It should be our mission as community broadcasters to educate the public by proving to them that today’s low power transmitters don’t cause harmful interference like the ones sold twenty years ago. The best way to do this is at a public fair etc., have your station set up a booth, preferably right next to the sheriffs booth. Program their frequencies into a scanner, while your station is herd playing on a near by radio. It does not take very long before the visitor realizes they are being lied to by the FCC and the NAB, We explain the real deal to our visitors, and ask them to pass it on, do it enough times and the FCC will have no choice but to come clean and admit they are really agents working on behalf of the NAB and their deep pocketed lobbyist. Inference is not really a concern of the FCC, that can easily proven by inference the FCC considers acceptable; such as that allowed to be caused by licensed broadcasters to closely spaced.
Warning
on’t do the demonstration in FL or NJ
Steve
www.radiobrandy.com
The only solution is the FM band; in many areas outside the big cities the band has plenty of real estate available. Small towns throughout California have very few signals, many with none. Many towns have had their local stations taken by major broadcasters like Clear Channel and moved to bigger markets; Tehachapi, California is one such town, an area of about 30,000 not including inmates had its local station moved to Lancaster, Ca. by Clear Channel and is now a repeater for KYSR Santa Monica/Los Angeles. If an emergency was to place such as an earthquake (their last major in 1952) many parts of the Tehachapi area have no FM signals, no cable, and only weak AM signals from way out of town, authorities would have no way of providing emergency information to Tehachapi’s citizens. (For the record Tehachapi’s second licensed FM is programmed from Palmdale, Ca. and has little to no signal in the COL. and has never broadcast from or to Tehachapi).
Tehachapi is just an example of a widespread problem, the only solution is Part 15 FM and for the FCC to raise the power like they have done in countries like New Zealand; New Zealand allows 300 milliwatts and seems to have no problems with planes crashing and emergency frequencies being jammed by poorly designed FM transmitters (the same FM transmitters barred from sales in the US). Sometimes serving the public interest should take a priority to serving the corporate interest of the NAB. Lets face the facts; the sole reason part 15 FM power is limited is to protect the interest of the NAB and not public safety, that ruse of planes crashing and emergency communications being jammed is solely intended to instill fear in the uneducated public, the beneficiary of this scam is the NAB and its member stations.
With the thousands of low power transmitters sold into this country and on the air, if there was any truth to them causing harmful interference to aircraft and emergency services; planes would be crashing everyday and emergency services would be hindered from performing their services, none of that happens. Do you think Norway would allow 10 watts transmitting power on FM unlicensed if they thought they would cause harmful interference to emergency services?
It should be our mission as community broadcasters to educate the public by proving to them that today’s low power transmitters don’t cause harmful interference like the ones sold twenty years ago. The best way to do this is at a public fair etc., have your station set up a booth, preferably right next to the sheriffs booth. Program their frequencies into a scanner, while your station is herd playing on a near by radio. It does not take very long before the visitor realizes they are being lied to by the FCC and the NAB, We explain the real deal to our visitors, and ask them to pass it on, do it enough times and the FCC will have no choice but to come clean and admit they are really agents working on behalf of the NAB and their deep pocketed lobbyist. Inference is not really a concern of the FCC, that can easily proven by inference the FCC considers acceptable; such as that allowed to be caused by licensed broadcasters to closely spaced.
Warning
on’t do the demonstration in FL or NJ Steve
www.radiobrandy.com