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QUESTIONS ABOUT STARTING A PART 15 AM SATION

I bought a Wild Planet Radio Dj on the internet it is used as they do not make them any more, has anyone out there ever used one
of these? Can you get any kind of coverage out of these? I bought it because it was really cheap, I want to try grounding it and building an antenna to see how much coverage i can legally get out of it. I have wanted for sometime now to start my own part
15 AM station and I thought at least this would be a way to get my feet wet. I would also like to start an internet stream and website
as well. If anyone has any advice for me or could let me know anything else that would be helpful I would appreciate it.
 
Well, everything depends on how serious you are about doing this, what it is you want to do, and for how long. In other words, if it's just a passing fancy, don't waste your money doing something that you couldn't care less about in 6 months. But since you wanna stream it on a website, that's a good sign.

Unfortunately, being unfamiliar with this Wild Planet device you're describing, I would have to know a lot more about it as well as what you want to do with it in order to answer your questions. But judging by the name, it sounds like a toy, a Mr. Microphone type of thing. Does it have a way of grounding it? Is there a manual? What kind of antenna does it have? How much power does it put out? Is there any way of measuring it?

If you want to put a Part 15 AM on the air, you have a few options, provided the Wild Planet doesn't have any or all of the capabilities I mentioned above. If you're trying to stay on budget, the SSTran AMT 3000 is an excellent transmitter for the money. The transmitter itself is under $100 and comes with on-board processing. Sound quality is excellent. But if you're looking to shoot a neighborhood-wide signal with it, you can either build an antenna/base coil with the instructions that Phil Bolyn provides on the website, or you can pay a guy named Carl Van Orden $350 to build it for you (this is what I did). But you'll need about 100 square feet outside to bury the ground radials around the antenna. I have a big backyard, so I could do this.

Then, there's the Hamilton Rangemaster. They go for about $1,000 retail, but if you ask Keith Hamilton, he'll doubtless give you some sort of discount. He's a really good guy. The difference, though, with the Rangemaster, is that it's only a transmitter...no processing, like a regular broadcast transmitter. Comes pre-assembled, all you have to do is get a whip at Radio Shack, screw it in, put a ground rod in the ground, tune it, and you're set. It's FCC-certified. But with no processing, you'll have to provide that yourself, and broadcast processing ain't cheap by any stretch, if you want it to sound halfway decent.

And all I've talked about thus far is transmitter/antenna setups...this is to say nothing about your studio, your various audio sources and how to package it all in a way that will sound like something you're proud to put your name on.

Again, if you're serious about doing this, be prepared to drop some dough to do it right long-term and get optimal results. Some here have sunk upwards of ten grand into their facilities; they look like a network bankrolled them. Alan McCall and "Dr. Johnnie Fever" are but a couple who've posted pictures of their impressive facilities.

Hope that helps... :)
 
But you'll need about 100 square feet outside to bury the ground radials around the antenna.

Correction: make that about 400 square feet.
 
I only WISH a network had bankrolled it :D I bought things one at a time and had a little help from a couple of engineers. Dr. Johnnie Fever (Rev. Chrysafis) has an awesome setup. It even LOOKS like a network! ;D

The Wild Planet is, as rickradio surmised, a somewhat better version of a Mr. Microphone.
You *might* get 1/4 mile with it under the best of conditions. It would not hold up to the
rigors of daily broadcasting..but you can play around with it just for fun, I guess. If you really
want a neighborhood Part 15, the Wild Planet won't get you there..maybe a neighbor or two.

Rickradio's advice is right on.

I spent this past summer building Musicbox 1610, which cost about $1250 to build so far. I've been one
of the behind-the-scenes proponents of (at least slightly) higher power levels for Part 15 and LPAM'ers.
I've previously built a carrier-current station, which did not work well at all; a Part 15 on 1160 AM, which had a great signal (but was destroyed in some Florida thunderstorms); and an Internet station, which is still in operation.

My processor right now is an ancient CBS Volumax..I think the Inovonics 222 would be better..but that's down the road. I'm using a Rangemaster, and it is somewhat directional to the east and west. I need to get
a better signal to the north..which may take some radials in that direction. I have to get over at least 10 acres of property to get out to the highway!

Good luck!
 
Thank you for your answers, I think it is just one more reason I want to start a part 15 community station. Part 15 operators
seem to really try to help new people get involved with radio the way it used to be with high powered radio,and there is so
much passion behind your stations. I kind of figured the "wprdj" will not get me the distance that a rangemaster will. I have
been wanting to start a station for some time now,so when I saw this transmitter on the net for sale for under 10 bucks I
thought this would be somewhere to start I have some ideas and passion for a part 15 but I just don't have the finances
just yet I really and truly believe my neighborhood needs a real "local" station. Even though I live in Chicago with tons of
radio stations not one really stands out and truly serves people the way a great local station should for instance there is
not one radio station in my area the plays an ez hits big band nostalgia format there is not a station in my area that tell's
people how local politicians vote or stand on issues in fact I'll speak to friends or neighbors and say can you believe that
senator so and so sponsored this bill and they will say no the governor did. They don't know that it was the man or woman
that they voted for that actually did something they did not like. That is another reason why I think a community station is
so important, so thank you and keep the suggestions coming and hopefully I will be able to say I did it and give the people
part of THEIR radio dial back.
 
Hi, and good luck with your station...as someone who started out with a WP Radio DJ, let me give you a few tips on using it.

1- Attach the groundwire to something metal, like a baking sheet.
2- Don't use the built-in cassette player, it'll kill your batteries really fast.
3- If you attach the antenna wire to the screw on a light switch, and you've grounded the unit decently, you can cover an entire building and perhaps a bit more. I got my signal to go almost 100 feet down the block.
4- Run your audio into it with a patch cord, and use some sort of processing before-hand, even if it's just some free software like Sound Solution. A little processing will go a long ways towards making your station sound better.

Enjoy running your station- there aren't many open frequencies where I live now, so I'm about to restart a stream, either on Loudcity or Live365. This hobby can be a lot of fun.
 
Captian , thanks for the advice. I also wanted to ask you something since you already used the WPRDJ would I get any better results
if I grounded the unit outside in some moisture rich soil and set up a legal outside antenna like people with an STRANN or RANGEMASTER
do? how about hooking the antenna wire to an aluminum gutter or a some kind of metal poll already in the ground? Would I get any
better range or is my transmitter just not strong enough for those things to make any difference? Also anymore info any one has about
setting up a webpage's and streaming audio since I am not the most computer savvy guy in the world. Thanks once again for all of the
help and advice everyone here has given me here,soon thanks to all of your help my dream of running my own station will soon be a
reality.
 
TR1992, hey again. As far as an using an external antenna goes, if you wind the antenna to the right length for the 1610 frequency, it will make a bit of a difference. However, grounding it in rich soil will really improve sound quality and transmission range- this is a neat trick that did extend my range to almost 300 feet-

Take some good potting soil, put it in a pot. Add some hot water in which you have dissolved a good amount of sea salt (at least a cup or so). Or better yet, just put the salt water and a little soil in a cup or thermos or something. Instant marshland, drop the ground wire into it and get vastly improved range! The only reason I didn't use this trick on a fulltime basis was because my late wife refused to have a glass of dirty water sitting out where people could see it.

Clipping the ground wire to anything metal will work well too, aluminimum or such. Another neat trick I tried was clipping the ground wire to a long metal fence that ran several hundred feet. I also used an alligator clip to attach the antenna to said fence, thus turning the fence into a bigger antenna. Of course, that little trick did violate Part-15 regulations, I did it just the one time as an experiment. I wanted to try attaching my antenna to an abandoned transmitter tower that the local police department had left behind when they moved to a new building, but my wife drew the line at that. :)

My advice is this. Play around with it, try anything that comes to mind, you never do know what might work.
And invest in good batteries, maybe get a rechargeable set, or at the least, spend the cash on long-lasting ones.

If I can verify that 1610 is clear in my neighborhood (Mission district of San Francisco) I just might forgo the streaming option and pick up another WPDJ off E-bay.

Sorry, though, what I know about webpage design is hopelessly out of date, and I know zilch about how to stream audio in a page.

Again, welcome to the wonderful world of Part-15.
 
You say you live in Chicago. I have been doing this for 18 years in Chicago.

In order to make this work at all in a really dense Chicago neighborhood, there are major drawbacks.
May I ask what your lot/yard house/basement/roof arrangement is?
Everything about a more suburban setting favors your sucess rather than my 30 x 125 lot in dense brick/steel land.

I have no real antenna, but a remote "lumped L-C" component only intended to cover my house, but complies neatly with
suggested ranges achieved with proper monoples in "clear landscape" minus absorbption from local buildings...which means a good signal for about 400 feet (sigh).

Experiments with "proper" antennas at ground level have been disappointing at best, because of excess building absorption of radiation.
I may try a roof-level remote 100mw linear and roof-peak monopole, with 4 corner drooping radials two stories down to 4 ground rods.
Next year.

For now I suggest you get the shortest distance wire between the transmitter and a real earthed outside ground rod.
No batteries will deliver the proper currrent for good mod density. Either run it off a regulated supply, a gel cell at proper voltage,
or even a gel cell with a trickle charger. Turn it (the charger) off when on - air.
Resist the urge to use a cheap power supply, you'll get hum.

Then, after you have a REAL EARTH GROUND, you can try different conductors as antennas, but you are limited to the 3 meters.
If you have no qualms about possible illegal operations, capactive coupling to your incoming AC line gives you as much antenna as
you have to first transformer upline, but loses signal in all wiring such as may be in metal conduit or underground.
Same for telephone lines. With added danger of poor operation adding noise and/or radio sound to phone service.
Unlikely at truly 100mw levels.
Your gutters, your old twin-lead up to an unused tv antenna may all work well.
 
HI ,TOM Thanks for the advice I am in the city on the far southwest side within a mile or so of suburbs to the south and west
of me so I am not as densely packed in as you probably are. I do not have a lot of room,but I do have some room to breath.
Also, most of the homes in the area are single story although there have been some second story additions built in the last few years, none that close to my house though. On your other question I definitely want to keep my station legal and FCC compliant.
Tom, I was very interested in the power source you spoke about, as I do not want to change batteries every day or two, I was
under the impression that if I went with an electrical power source that I would experience a hum on the signal. I was hoping
you could tell me where I could buy the power source you were talking about. THANKS
 
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