New Part 15 Broadcasters' Resource Launched

[RadioMan203]

It's my pleasure to announce the launch of HobbyBroadcaster.net, a site whose focus is on providing resources and dialogue amongst Part 15 broadcasters of all kinds.

HobbyBroadcaster.net was conceived to fill the current void of quality resources for Part 15 microcasters. The site covers everything from how-to help, Part 15 law, equipment reviews, available resources for broadcasters and a growing station directory. The online forums will allow all Part 15 microcasters to build an active community and share tips and information between their peers.

Feel free to check it out at http://www.HobbyBroadcaster.net

 

[WCWalker]

Bill:

Feel free to add links to my sites www.wilw.com and www.lpam.net I'll reciprocate at the next update. BTW. Your site looks promising and will be a welcome addition to the Part 15 broadcast community.

 

[RadioMan203]

William:

Thanks and will add the links. It seems that there are limited resources available to Part 15ers, be it geared toward the hobbyist or toward the more serious hobbycaster. I hope with all of us pooling resources and knowledge people will find it easier to get interested if they choose to do so.

 

[XRQKFM]

Bill links to your site have already been added to www.radiobrandy.com and www.radiobrandy.net
Radio Brandy is adding a new part 15 am radio station to the dial with an interesting twist! One frequency will be using the new Procaster AM transmitter, and the other frequency will be using our first brand new Rangemaster AM transmitter. This will allow visitors to listen to both transmitters on the air with the same Jazz format, as well as top of the hour news and weather.
Our review of the Procaster has been delayed due to technical difficulties and weather in the way of endless high winds

Steve
Radio Brandy/XRQK

 

[RadioMan203]

Bill links to your site have already been added to www.radiobrandy.com and www.radiobrandy.net
Radio Brandy is adding a new part 15 am radio station to the dial with an interesting twist! One frequency will be using the new Procaster AM transmitter, and the other frequency will be using our first brand new Rangemaster AM transmitter. This will allow visitors to listen to both transmitters on the air with the same Jazz format, as well as top of the hour news and weather.
Our review of the Procaster has been delayed due to technical difficulties and weather in the way of endless high winds

Steve
Radio Brandy/XRQK

Steve,
Sounds like a great plan to play both transmitters with the same programming. Are you going to be using the same processing or are you going to use something on the Rangemaster and the built-in processing on the Procaster? Gerry was nice enough to supply an eval unit to me which I hope to install on the test range in the next week or two (I've been stretched thin with work, building the school's Part 15 AM and FM and trying to help launch two web sites not including HobbyBroadcaster.net).

Drop me a line with particulars on RadioBrandy's Part 15 stations and I'll add them to the directory.

Bill

 

[Carmine5]

For those of us not in the Taft, CA area, it would be very helpful if you had some MP3 files for us to listen to available on your website.

It would be nice to have some means of evaluating both transmitters under identical conditions.

C5

 

[XRQKFM]

For those of us not in the Taft, CA area, it would be very helpful if you had some MP3 files for us to listen to available on your website.

Who is in Taft, Ca? I know we gave up that God forsaken place years ago, Unlike Taft, our area bandwidth is limited and at its limit now. We do have our Rave HD streams open for now and our streams are usually full, our streams are used primarily to feed our transmitters scattered around the west. We are looking to relocate our studios to a building that is only a block from Verizons CO in the town where it all began for us on AM 25 years ago.

Regarding our new AM stations; the Rangemaster will use the Inovonics 222 AM Audio Processor, the Procaster will use its own processor.

Steve
Radio Brandy/XRQK

 

[Carmine5]

For those of us not in the Taft, CA area, it would be very helpful if you had some MP3 files for us to listen to available on your website.

Who is in Taft, Ca? I know we gave up that God forsaken place years ago, Unlike Taft, our area bandwidth is limited and at its limit now. We do have our Rave HD streams open for now and our streams are usually full, our streams are used primarily to feed our transmitters scattered around the west. We are looking to relocate our studios to a building that is only a block from Verizons CO in the town where it all began for us on AM 25 years ago.

Regarding our new AM stations; the Rangemaster will use the Inovonics 222 AM Audio Processor, the Procaster will use its own processor.

Steve
Radio Brandy/XRQK

Sorry, I thought you were still in Taft. I know you had trouble with some on the city council there.

What I was asking about was a way to do an A/B comparison of the two transmitters for those of us who can't hear your set up live.

MP3 files recorded off the air and linked to your website might be one way to do this.

C5

 

[XRQKFM]

One test I am going to perform; is to see how the transmitters will sound using a Behringer 1424p since it can be tailored for AM broadcasting, on reason has to do with cost! the Inovonics 222 list for $850, not everybody can afford to shell out those kinds of bucks for each transmitter site.
Another consideration in our evaluation is the ease of installation and how the transmitter will perform in presence of strong EMI and RF like one might encounter near an LPFM transmitter site, We already know one of the transmitters does not deal with it well, we are still trying to solve that problem.
And finally which applications each transmitter is best suited, for instance: Someone may not want to leave a $850 processor exposed to theft, in which case the Procaster would be best suited. If the station wants to be able to modulate at 125%peak then the Rangemaster is the only choice. I think each transmitter is going to find their niche market, and budget will play a small factor as they are very close in price.
Bill and I have something in common; More projects than time!
Hobby Broadcaster will prove to be a valuable site to low power broadcasting with a focus on part 15, we touch more on undocumented broadcasting because our international broadcaster's

Steve
Radio Brandy

 

[RadioMan203]

The first broadcaster profile has been posted on HobbyBroadcaster.net. Here's one guy who is quite serious about his station as one can tell from the photo tour.

I hope to feature more Part 15 broadcasters as they discover the site and get involved.

Cheers,
Bill

 

[XRQKFM]

KVWJ has a very nice set up; you would be amazed how many full powered major market stations I have toured or walked through that wouldn’t hold a candle to Weller’s studios. I know if KXTO had anything like KVWJ; I would living in Reno!
What state is KVWJ in?

Steve
Radio Brandy

 

[RadioMan203]

What state is KVWJ in?

He's in Utah. I forgot to put that in the profile even though I had it in the station directory.

Bill

 

[XRQKFM]

Thanks Bill, The mountains in the background of the studio building looked like they could be in my back or frontyard. By the way did you get that link I sent of photos on the same subject?

Steve
www.knjoradio.com

 

[RadioMan203]

Yes, I got them. They were pretty much the same ones I got from Mr. Weller so left the ones he supplied me.

Mountains! All I have is a river ... with yucky water to boot!

 

[XRQKFM]

XJO AM 1700AM covers the very high school and mail drop where the movie "Pump Up The Volume" about a pirate radio station was shot. If you watch the movie in full screen; you will clearly see it was shot at Saugus High School when Christian Slater's girlfriend walks across campus. (it's cut off in widescreen)
XJO AM 1700AM really shows off what a Rangemaster can do if you feed it a good processor. I listen to XJO whenever I'm in Santa Clarita where CSI Las Vegas is really filmed.


Steve
www.knjoradio.com

 

[RadioMan203]

XJO AM 1700AM covers the very high school and mail drop where the movie "Pump Up The Volume" about a pirate radio station was shot. If you watch the movie in full screen; you will clearly see it was shot at Saugus High School when Christian Slater's girlfriend walks across campus. (it's cut off in widescreen)

That gives me an excuse to pull the DVD and take a look

 

[Carmine5]

This site needs photos, photos and more photos (along with captions).

C5

 

[XRQKFM]

This site needs photos, photos and more photos (along with captions).

I agree that would be nice if Radio-Info allowed photos, like other radio boards.

That gives me an excuse to pull the DVD and take a look

The Mail Drop in the movie is located at the T intersection of Bouquet & Haskell Canyon Rd in Saugus. Just to the left of the mail drop off camera is where I stop to grab a beer on the way home. Another boo boo in the movie is that the BWM that pulls into the parking spot in front of the mail drop has two different licenses plates on it, another thing that you can only see in full screen. And don't miss the melting record that changes labels!

Steve
www.radiobrandy.com

 

[Carmine5]

This site needs photos, photos and more photos (along with captions).

I agree that would be nice if Radio-Info allowed photos, like other radio boards.

That gives me an excuse to pull the DVD and take a look

The Mail Drop in the movie is located at the T intersection of Bouquet & Haskell Canyon Rd in Saugus. Just to the left of the mail drop off camera is where I stop to grab a beer on the way home. Another boo boo in the movie is that the BWM that pulls into the parking spot in front of the mail drop has two different licenses plates on it, another thing that you can only see in full screen. And don't miss the melting record that changes labels!

Steve
www.radiobrandy.com

Actually I was referring to Bill's new website. But, yeah, having the ability to put photos on Radio-Info would be nice also. I'm sure it would end up being a tremendous disk space hog for them.

C5

 

[XRQKFM]

C5 I think Hobby Broadcaster is going to be more technical oriented (text), Where as Radio Brandy hopes to inspire future broadcasters with the eye candy of some cool studios and equipment, we also hope to give future broadcasters some ideals on how to lay out their own studios and equipment to buy. Also keep in mind Bill just started the website a week ago.

Regarding radio board photos; most allow you to self host the photo to save space, sometimes a photo is worth a thousand words!

Steve
www.radiobrandy.com