In 2011 Barry Blue Bucket Radio started a discussion about part 15 longwave LW operation under FCC 15.217, 160 to 190 kHz, 1 Watt (input of final RF), antenna height 15-meters (50-feet).

This past week Barry posted news (the ALPB forums) of his current LW activities in Kentucky, which reminded me of our unfinished transmitter design and building project started in 2011 under the name Deep Voice.

We had already completed the 13.560 MHz shortwave transmitter designed by members of part15(dot)us under the name Big Talker.

At 3:30 this morning while disconnected due to storm I gathered the design information (Radio Handbook) for the low pass filter needed for the Final RF Stage, which has yet to be designed.

My thought is that we can use the buffer stage previously designed for the shortwave transmitter, probably by changing the inter-coupling capacitors...

The signal will be generated by a PLL (Phase-Locked-Loop) circuit which I have in kit form waiting to be assembled.

If you are curious about LONG WAVE this great Link From the Past will eat up your whole day:

GIANT LONG WAVE LINK FROM YESTERYEAR

Hello everyone,

So I have been looking into improveing my station since I got a Part 15 Music station. Looking for better transmitters I see a lot of people are happy with their SSTRAN and seem to get good range out of it along with better audio quality. I right now got the Talking House 5.0 and have been happy with it however since the music I play is a big varity I always need to tweek it so it sounds nice. 

What I would like to know for those of you who went from the talking house to SSTRAN were you happy with it?

Whats the range it gets out of the box?

Would you recomend the AMT3000 or AMT5000 and what are the major diffrences in them? Audio Quality? Range? or both?

Thanks :)

So I have had my talking house upstairs in one of the rooms broadcasting. I however decided to see what range I would get if I move it downstairs (Plus I wanted more room in that room and the station was takeing up quite a bit of space :P). I put it downstairs in a office where I have my Modem, Router, and Access Point. I plugged her in down their and decided to see how far she would go downstairs. I was shocked to see I got much better coverage downstairs than I did upstairs. I will be sure to post the range I get when I do a full test but places that were noisy or weak had a good signal. 

There are a few things I am guessing might be boosting it but I would like to hear your guys view on it.

#1. I think since it is lower to the ground it has a better ground than it had upstairs.

#2. I have a cutom built router and network I made in that room so their are allot of cables and wireless activity down their so I think those cables may be helping boot the signal.

#3. Out side not far from that room is a Power Box. I am thinking it could be traveling through the power lines under the ground.

I was shocked to see this but I guess I will keep her down stairs now :P

What do you guys think helped with this range boot?

Thanks :)

It's natural to suppose that transmitter, antenna and grounding experiments sometimes require "pushing the limits" a little bit. This is not so, as it is quite possible to miniaturize range experiments for perfectly useful results safely within part 15 limits.

As the author I grant myself permission to reprint this from another forum.

It is possible to conduct transmitter/antenna performance tests without ever exceeding part 15 field strength limits and I'll tell you how I do it.

By setting a transmitter ouput power several times LOWER than permitted by part 15 the test range becomes miniaturized which is convenient because it will confine it within the house or yard and not require any driving around. With such a low power every change made to an antenna can be measured easily and when one antenna is better than another you'll find it out within a few feet instead of up to a mile.

Because it is possible to conduct experiments WITHIN part 15 limits, there is no reason to exceed field strength limits for experiments. The FCC knows this, and therefore will not accept "experimentation" as a reason for transmitting illegal power.

Medium Wave AM radio has its faults, but one that should have been fixed by now is the polar directivity of the signal which can discourage listeners needlessly.

Here's an example. This shelving unit here in the kitchen was custom built for this location... up top is a Panasonic table radio neatly set against the east wall. Some stations come in well, but others would require twisting the radio at a sloppy looking angle so the loop antenna in the back is favoring the north-east.

I happen to know how to swivel, turn and angle radios for best reception, but most people are unaware of it or are opposed to having their radio out of place.

We've got to start immediately to design antenna systems that will fill in the nulls and make AM radio optimize no matter which way the radio is pointing.

Engineers have gotten lazy after decades of success and now we stand to lose the AM legacy as stations disappear because radios are facing the wrong way!

No more slacking!

Well where I live it seems all the frequency's are taken up. I did look at radio-locator but I dint seem to get the best frequency. One frequency it tells me to get had a full licensed station on it. The one I use to use 106.7 has a license station on it now so I need to find a new one.

Thanks :D

It was a bit of trouble getting SSTRAN to ship the bugger, but they finally did almost 60 days late. Anyway, I shall assemble my first transmitter. I hope to be on the air within 60 days.

I tried setting my Talking House transmitter to 530 last night, which should be in the frequency of the coverage of it and it tunes up just fine and says it's on 530 but when I tune to 530 on multiple radios it's dead air on 530, I tuned up the dial and it was on 640 and wouldn't go on any other frequency lower but covers all the frequencies above that just fine. Is this a normal issue for this transmitter?

Has anyone ever played with one of these vast fm transmitters before seems to be doing a pretty good job as in signal wise also has a built in software control of the transmission and rds built in just wondering even though it's small the audio seems fine also 

A few additional comments will probably be posted

about this.  After being in a new location for about

a year - I finally got the SS-Tran back on the air.

I built this transmitter when AMT-3000 kits had been

available for about a year.  

It was used outside at the old location for a long time.

So I cleaned it up today, got the dirt marks off and took

a bunch of remote cables and some mods off of it and

got it running indoors with a 9 foot antenna.  

The 1690 kHz signal blasts through the house and yard,

and goes beyond, I'm sure.  

It may be a very long time before I do another outside

installation with a big loading coil, 9 foot stick, and ground

radials.  (That was fun.)

So it's running, with music from my son, who is a jazz

musician.  I have a bunch of transmitters -  but on FM, right

now  - I'm using a Whole House 1.0 version board, which I

just fixed.  If it's going 50 feet, I'm lucky.  It is only meant

for the house and yard.  So it's on 107.9.  If I go out to the

car radio in the driveway I don't hear it on the car radio.  Instead -

I get a Boston 107.9 eighty miles away.  (I'm in Hartford, CT.)

I just had fun getting the HH Vers. 1.0 running.  

I'm not even transmitting very far and yet - this is magic!

I've got a little mixer going.  I've got to wire up the

professional on-the-air light that was given to me.  

Next thing is to bring the antique radios out and put

them around the house.  

A very close friend of mine lives about 800 feet away.

Might he hear it?

I don't know.  But this is really great!

Brooce, Part 15 Hartford CT

I have created this topic for the discussion of Chris Cuff's Transistorized C-Quam AM Stereo Transmitter.

Discussions, here however, are not limited to just Chris Cuff's Transmitter.

Any discussions regarding C-Quam Stereo transmitters or receivers is well comed here.

I am currently working on a copy of the Chris Cuff C-Quam AM stereo Transmitter.

My intentions are to experiment with this AM format as an educational and exprimental learning tool on how things work.

At the same time, if it is possible, I would like to extend this kit past its original intentions, which was a hobby kit, designed for the purpose of a [b]very limited[/b] in field strength build and learn how it works toy.

I say toy, because it was never designed to be used as a public radio broadcast device by it's author/designer Chris Cuff.

That does not mean, that this kit can not be worked on or have the final stage worked on to comply with part 15 100mW to comply with any variation of 47 CFR Sections 15.207, 15.209, 15.219, or 15.221 (Note: Those regulation numbers are quoted from the Part 15 section of the FCC web site and some may not apply, I hold no responsibilty for including a rule that does not apply to the AM broadcast band I am currenly referring to)

I have just started experimenting on my Chriss Cuff AM transmitter.

Applying actual audio to it for the first time since I have owned it.

First test results indicate, using an AC to DC power supply is tricky at best, as the total kit design lacks filtering to block AC 60Hz ripple (sinewave) issues.

Because the kit was designed for use with a battery pack and not AC mains power, AC hum issues are noticeable to varying degrees depending on the type of AC to DC power supply used.

So far, a Radio Shack wall wart multi-power setting AC to DC adaptor Cat# 273-662A 300mA has produced the most quitest and cleanest power to this transmitter.

Other devices tried, resulted in varying degrees of AC ripple in the transmitted audio carrier.

Thus far with a 2N3035 output transistor installed, the carrier is very limted in range before it disappears into the hetrodyne and noise levels.

Adjustments of the LEFT-RIGHT potentiomers and the RF power out adjustment potentiometer is needed to clean up distorted audio and there is a need with a 102" wire and ground to adjust the tuning capacitor for the audio to sound clear.

I find that much tinkering is needed to get this thing to transmit a clean, audio carrier without distortion.

The audio carrie is being monitored on a Realistic TM-152 AM stereo receiver.

I will continue posting to this topic about my progress with this device and my new discoveries.

All are welcomed to participate and discuss this transmitter.

Bruce.

AM C-Quam Stereo Realistic TM-152 Radio Receiver tuned to the frequency of the transmitter.

Notice the STEREO light is lit.

Chris Cuff C-Quam AM Stereo Transmitter

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AM-RADIO-BAND-DIGITAL-LCD-DDS-C-QUAM-STEREO-SYST...

Looks like it can be scaled back to 100 mW.

After three years of 100% "up time" on air service, the time has come to expand. 

As you might know, I'm in the teny tiny town of Bovey. this town is 4 blocks wide and 1/4 mile long. All along this stretch of highway heading up Minnesota's Iron Range there is another teeny tiny town every 3-5 miles. 

My daughter has moved from the BWC (Big Wicked City) back to her northern roots in a town 5 miles down the highway.

This presents the opportunity to add a second transmitter, located at their house. they are right on the 2 lane highway, and across the highway from the rest of the town. I still need to investigate coverage from their house over town, but if it's anything like coverage here in Bovey it should be fine. 

This is far enough away that you certainly can't hear my signal from Bovey over there, so I can put this station on 1620 as well with no interference issues. Her town is just as small and isolated from big city noise with a nearly non-existant AM noise floor that I think reception should be as good as it is here in Bovey. ALso, of course, they have their own cable TV system, and their own public access channel that shows community announcements and such ans I believe I'll be able to put my audio on there as well, like I do here in Bovey.

I have discovered the wonder and amazement of the Barix box. One box in my studio can feed audio over the internet to nearly as many receiving boxes as I care to implement.  I can see this eventually leading to a transmitter in each town right on up the Range over time. 

So my plan for now is for her house to house another Procaster, mounted on the peak of the house with no ground (same as my present setup here) with a Barix Extreamer picking up the audio and a backup power supply (UPS). Should take up virtually no room at her house, and should be relatively self supporting.  And since I'm just using mono AM quality audio the internet stream will use virtually no bandwidth out of the 60mbps we have available. 

If you had the cash you could eventually cover an entire state!

TIB

What is the best cheap preassembled transmitter and antenna combo for someone that wants a decent amount of range on lower budget??

Mr. Rich:  Could/Would you model a ground mounted transmitter operating at 1710 kHz running an input power of 100 mW driving a 3 meter monopole. I am curious as to what the predicted field strength would be at various distances.

Thanks, Mr. Druid.

I suppose the Hamilton Rangemaster folks didn't trademark the name for transmitters, eh?  'Cause I'd hate for people to think this piece of Chinese garbage was somehow connected to a maker of a real, certified, and respected AM transmitter.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RANGEMASTER-FCC-CERTIFIED-FM-TRANSMITTER-/121932...

TIB

Anyone offhand know the difference between the Ramsey FM25 and the FM25B? I only ask as I now have an FM25 to add to my up coming fall FM transmitter Challout. Shoolenge?

Gotta be careful what I call it lest I be branded a swiper.

TIB

Earlier today I was wondering why 89.7 FM was sounding so bad, there was interference in every radio i tired. This sounded like noise from another transmitter on the same channel or a weak feed over cable tv lines, hard to explain.

I checked the voltage to make sure the Ramsey 25b was set to the right frequency and put a vom meter on it to measure the voltage , everything was where it should be.

So why was the signal so noisy? Even turning off the transmitter revealed no other station was on 89.7 fm, nothing. So i was thinking i should take it apart and see if a part had failed.

As I was unplugging cords i came to the short coaxial cable that feeds rf to a dipole on the wall and thats when i realized that there was no antenna plugged into it.

I had unplugged the antenna the other night to use it on something else and never plugged it back into the Ramsey.

Deerrrrrrr! Is this what happens at the age of 49? Becoming more forgetful?? lol

Barry of BBR World Wide

New stuff always makes me all warm and fuzzy.  And makes me want to go test things.

Just took delivery last week, finally got to fire it up today.

http://www.inovonicsbroadcast.com/model/53101

Retiring the Belar stack and moving up!  Note there's a link where you can play with one online on that web page if you want to see one in action. They can connect to your LAN or give you access on the web with full control! They have one monitoring in real time that you can access on the web. 

I'll have a complete evaluation on a previously mentioned FM transmitter probably mid next week. But I'm killing the weekend visiting my Son and hitting a big hamfest.  So, all the typing will come next week!

And I've got a couple... well three... other interesting tests on the horizon hopefully before we've got snow up here.  I have a stack of C Crane FM 2's sitting here, and a stack of Whole House 3.0's sitting here.  Both of which I evaluated last fall but now I'll be testing for manufacturing consistency. 

And what about that Ramsey FM25B?  Muwahahahah....

TIB

A while back during a meeting of the ALPB i mentioned the Whole House 2.0 Fm transmitter has a few flaws, that is besides being over powered while it's supposed to be certified.

Tim in Bovey tested the Whole House 3.0 in an open field with a Potomac and another Fim showing the 3.0 was over powered by as much as 382 uV/m to 17775 uV/m, the video I shot this afternoon confirms this transmitter could get an average user into some trouble.

The day i discovered that the transmitter displayed 136.500 mhz i had enough sense to save that channel in one of the presets, the scanner i used to show the WH was transmitting out of band was set to what is called Close Call mode.


Close Call mode receives only signals that are in your neighborhood or are strong enough to break the squelch and offers the user the option to add a new frequency to their memory bank. The WH was all over the UHF band with spurious signals, starting at 462.662 mhz and ending at 462.687 mhz.

After the video was shot, i punched in 136.500 Mhz and the signal was not present there, that frequency would be in the aircraft band if i am not mistaken. Why the heck does this chip even allow access to those frequencies in the first place?

I attempted to tune above and below the displayed channel 136.5 mhz and was able to go lower into the aircraft band but the transmitter was still locking into the UHF band, nothing was heard on the Bearcat scanner and to be absolutely sure i scanned the aircraft band on a Grundig G3, still nothing there.

So it seems the transmitter displays aircraft band frequencies but transmits in the UHF GMRS and Business bands, what about Police and Fire bands?

I see this little transmitter causing users some problems with the FCC.
Also it is important to note that the WH 2.0 was not on the higher power setting even though I have located the power switch in the battery compartment, it was not turned up.

Needless to say, i no longer use this transmitter, view the video below on YouTube.

Whole House 2.0 Fm Transmitter trouble

Thanks
P.S. yes my work bench is a mess, sure, i might clean it up later. Might.

Barry of BBR Yardwide