PROCASTER VS RANGEMASTER

[XRQKFM]

I feel as long as you are not broadcasting vulgar language, or indecent material (NAB should take notice) and it's not some transmitter installed 1000 feet high (ridiculus) then it doesn't matter whether it's a certified transmitter or the SSTRAN or any other transmitter that MEETS the Part 15 regs.
Try broadcasting indecent material on a 'certified' tranmitter and see how quick that installation will be taken down.

I think you said it all!; it all comes down to using good common sense. It's not like any of the above mentioned transmitters are like a HLLY FM transmitter from China, or a poorly made Ramsey; bound to get you busted from all the spurious images splattered across the dial. I have herd vulgar and indecent material on licensed radio stations; I would never think to broadcast one of my stations, the music gets checked too. Running such garbage is just a NAL for licensed radio stations, but inviting a bust for a non licensed radio station.

Regarding the Procaster AM transmitter, as a stand alone certified AM transmitter, they are acceptable for permanent installations and will provide a good sound to the end user. I have herd licensed radio stations that sound a lot worse. You just won't be able to max out the modulation 125% like the Rangemaster is capable of, which could be important if you have a full power AM with good processing near by. If you are in a rural area without any strong AM signals near by; no one will notice the lower levels. In the real world, it does cost quite a bit more to put a Rangemaster on the air; with the cost of an external processor factored in. An Inovonics 222, has a list price of $850 and you will need a Inovonics 222 or some other AM processor at each transmitter location; if you are daisy chaining your transmitters.

If you are trying to save a few bucks setting up your radio station, until the end of the February, the Procaster is $645 plus $35 to ship.

Regardless on which transmitter you choose, you can set up a pretty nice network of part 15 transmitters including processing and STL's for the cost of a single licensed dilapidated AM station in the boondocks.


Steve
Do It Yourself Broadcasting
www.outlawradio.us

 

[PhilB]

Mind you, however, if an interference complaint comes down the pike and the operator gets a visit from a field inspector they may have their own personal bias against kits verses assembled and certified transmitters.

Bill, what is your basis for making this statement? Is it speculation or is there something on record to back it up?

This is, at least partially based, on a past chat with a field agent documenting an interference complaint created by pirate FM broadcaster. When the subject of Part 15 AM came up it was stated that if the output was within the legal compliance it really didn't make much difference if it was a kit, homebrew or commercially produced unit. It was mentioned that some agents have seen so much illegal activity in their particular areas that the inspectors already have a preconceived notions no matter what kind of transmitter somebody has.

First, this thread is about part 15 AM transmitters, not FM. The FCC's hyperactivity concerning FM transmitter NOUOs is well known and well documented. That is a whole different story. I can imagine the FCC is fed up with having to issue NOUOs so often to people who are exceeding the FM limits. It is not at all clear from any published information that kits play a significant role in this epidemic of NOUOs and your response doesn't shed any light either.

Your original statement was: "... they may have their own personal bias against kits verses assembled and certified transmitters." Your latest response which, I presume you wrote to support your original statement, des not mention any bias against kits vs. certified transmitters. Rather, you stated the FCC doesn't care if its a homebrew, kit or certified transmitter if it is in legal compliance.

There is too much hearsay, too many myths and a lot of propaganda floating around the web about kit transmitters. Sure, a kit could be non-compliant, but a Google search for "AM transmitter kit" will not easily turn up one that isn't and doesn't have some sort of legality statement if it isn't compliant. What's the big deal here? Part 15 AM transmitter kits are NOT a problem for the FCC. Kits are only a problem for certain purveyors of certified transmitters who find it necessary to perpetuate the myths and spread propaganda in an apparent effort to preserve their sales.

 

[RadioMan203]

First, this thread is about part 15 AM transmitters, not FM. The FCC's hyperactivity concerning FM transmitter NOUOs is well known and well documented. That is a whole different story. I can imagine the FCC is fed up with having to issue NOUOs so often to people who are exceeding the FM limits. It is not at all clear from any published information that kits play a significant role in this epidemic of NOUOs and your response doesn't shed any light either.

Your original statement was: "... they may have their own personal bias against kits verses assembled and certified transmitters." Your latest response which, I presume you wrote to support your original statement, des not mention any bias against kits vs. certified transmitters. Rather, you stated the FCC doesn't care if its a homebrew, kit or certified transmitter if it is in legal compliance.

There is too much hearsay, too many myths and a lot of propaganda floating around the web about kit transmitters. Sure, a kit could be non-compliant, but a Google search for "AM transmitter kit" will not easily turn up one that isn't and doesn't have some sort of legality statement if it isn't compliant. What's the big deal here? Part 15 AM transmitter kits are NOT a problem for the FCC. Kits are only a problem for certain purveyors of certified transmitters who find it necessary to perpetuate the myths and spread propaganda in an apparent effort to preserve their sales.

While this thread has gone off topic a bit, let me at least attempt to clarify my past statement. What I was trying to say, albeit longwinded on my part, is some FCC inspectors may have their own personal grudge, fair or not, against kit transmitters. Whether these guys automatically suspect a kit due to their own past experience dealing with illegal operator or something else is something I can not control, I'm just explaining what I was told by a particular individual.

Do I think kit transmitters are all taboo and shouldn't be produced at all? Not al all! A kit transmitter not only allows the builder to obtain something he would have had to pay substantially much more for by supplying their own labor, but in the proper environment it could perhaps spur somebody's personal enrichment by encouraging them to learn about electronics. Granted, there are different grades of kits with (at least in my opinion) Phil's own SSTran being the high performer while things such as the Ramsey line ranging from "just alright" to just plain "terrible."

Phil: I'm sorry if you misinterpreted my remarks as a knock against kits - I myself learned about electronics back in the Radio Shack "P-Box" kit days in the mid to late 60's and early 70's until I discovered what I could design and build thanks to the ARRL handbook. I consider kits part of my own learning experience and something that helped motivate my interests in electronics, not only as a hobby but as choice of profession.

Getting back to the thread subject at hand, the Rangemaster and Procaster both have their merits and obviously someone with an upper-end budget to spend on one should compare the two and decide which unit provides the better bang for their buck regarding features and price.

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

For most uses, the FCC does not care if the Part 15 AM transmitter is a kit or type certified. The FCC encourages boy scouts,
science classes, and those who like to experiment to build them. They do care if you have more than 100 mw input or if you
use more than 10 feet of antenna. If you put up a new tower to do this, the new tower counts as new construction. It's
not pre-existing.

Now here's where type certified does matter. Let's say I own Joe's Radio & TV Service A local high school has hired us
to build their part 15 radio station. Selling them an assembled kit installed could result in an NAL if the FCC wants to be sticky.
There are rules against commercial marketing, advertising, and shipping of assembled kits. But, if the science teacher or the kids
builds it or installs it, then no problem.

Part 15 FM. Type certified is now the way you must go. Back in the 1970s you could build a kit and they didn't care.
But some sloppy pirates ruined this. In the 1980s you could be 1mV at 10 feet. Now you are only allowed half that.

Have fun guys!

 

[rfry]

Part 15 FM ... In the 1980s you could be 1mV at 10 feet. Now you are only allowed half that.

Weren't the FCC Rules for legal, unlicensed Part 15 FM the same in the 1980s as they are now?

If so, they limit the peak field intensity 3 meters (9.84 feet) away from the transmit antenna to 0.25 mV/m (250 µV/m) -- which is 1/4 (not 1/2) of the field suggested in your quote above.

RF

 

[Flying-Dutchman]

Yes. You are right. It's even worse for Part 15 FM. And, yes you were alowed more power 25 years ago.

As you know, .25mV/(m) is not much of a signal at all.

 

[Carmine5]

Mind you, however, if an interference complaint comes down the pike and the operator gets a visit from a field inspector they may have their own personal bias against kits verses assembled and certified transmitters.

Bill, what is your basis for making this statement? Is it speculation or is there something on record to back it up?

This is, at least partially based, on a past chat with a field agent documenting an interference complaint created by pirate FM broadcaster. When the subject of Part 15 AM came up it was stated that if the output was within the legal compliance it really didn't make much difference if it was a kit, homebrew or commercially produced unit. It was mentioned that some agents have seen so much illegal activity in their particular areas that the inspectors already have a preconceived notions no matter what kind of transmitter somebody has.

First, this thread is about part 15 AM transmitters, not FM. The FCC's hyperactivity concerning FM transmitter NOUOs is well known and well documented. That is a whole different story. I can imagine the FCC is fed up with having to issue NOUOs so often to people who are exceeding the FM limits. It is not at all clear from any published information that kits play a significant role in this epidemic of NOUOs and your response doesn't shed any light either.

Your original statement was: "... they may have their own personal bias against kits verses assembled and certified transmitters." Your latest response which, I presume you wrote to support your original statement, des not mention any bias against kits vs. certified transmitters. Rather, you stated the FCC doesn't care if its a homebrew, kit or certified transmitter if it is in legal compliance.

There is too much hearsay, too many myths and a lot of propaganda floating around the web about kit transmitters. Sure, a kit could be non-compliant, but a Google search for "AM transmitter kit" will not easily turn up one that isn't and doesn't have some sort of legality statement if it isn't compliant. What's the big deal here? Part 15 AM transmitter kits are NOT a problem for the FCC. Kits are only a problem for certain purveyors of certified transmitters who find it necessary to perpetuate the myths and spread propaganda in an apparent effort to preserve their sales.

The only problem I've seen concerning kits has been from independents who build the kits, like SS Tran, and sell them as completed units.

It would seem to me that if the kit were, say, 3/4 built with only a few components left unsoldered that it could still be sold as a kit. Would a partially assembled SS Tran be perceived by the FCC as legal?

C5

 

[XRQKFM]

Would a partially assembled SS Tran be perceived by the FCC as legal?

Yes! In fact that was part of the case with our friend; he was selling incomplete kits.
He argued they were still kits since they were not complete, the court and the FCC disagreed.

The only thing the feds have managed to accomplish, is to send the work out of the country and hit some poor guy up for seven grand. Now there are a dozen overseas companies selling completed transmitters and in various stages of completion, all powers and AM & FM. Domestic builders have just been sent underground, selling their products directly.


Steve
www.xrqkfm.com