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Congress Considering More Low Power FM Stations
Skapare writes "According to this ReclaimTheMedia article, the Local Community Radio Act of 2007 (PDF) would remove the artificial restrictions imposed on LPFM by a 2000 law passed at the urging of corporate radio giants and NPR, claiming that small community stations would interfere with the signals of larger stations. If passed, this bill will pave the way for educational groups, nonprofits, unions, schools and local governments to launch new local radio stations across the country."
Our town recently became the beneficiary of a LPFM station and it carries interviews, rock, country, jazz, hiphop, news, talk... has over a dozen jocks. I can listen to it in the car and streamed online. It's, in a word, GREAT. I listen to a local AM station for about 1/10 the time I used to. No other FM around here appeals to me. I'm not associated with the station in any way.
yet.
Without reading the article I can conclusively state I'm behind every effort to expand private and low-power penetration of the airwaves.
Because not everyone has the internet. Because listening to internet radio in your car is not an option for most people. Because radio is still a vital art form.
This law is essential to undo the injustice of the 2000 law.
http://use.perl.org
An anarchist house? well, good luck to them. We tried to set up an anarchist house a few years ago; but it never worked - nobody would follow the rules.
There are several I know of, and they work quite well. They let homeless people sleep there, have a library, racks of free clothes for people who need them. Give people a place out of the elements.
There are some problems, like theft from drifters, but the value outweighs the issues in my mind.
http://use.perl.org
LPFM stations do interfere with signals of larger stations. A local high school station near my house - WPHS - is supposed to broadcast on 89.1FM.
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S &service=FM&status=L&hours=U
However WPHS interferes with "large" FM 88.7 CIMX broadcasts in an ~ 2 mile radius from the location of WPHS. When tuned to 88.7 FM CIMX , the static and interference from WPHS makes it impossible to listen to CIMX in the area. The inference is not isolated to 88.7 FM but extends to adjacent channels 88.5 - 89.9 FM and can be clearly heard in this entire spectrum - so clear that you would assume that WPHS was actually broadcasting on every FM channel in this range.
WPHS http://www.wcs.k12.mi.us/cousino/WPHS%20radio/ind
Coverage area.
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WPH
Or, go here http://www.pcs-electronics.com/pc-transmitters-c-6 4.html#Pci%20max and put your own box together for less.
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead." A. Huxley
The Ramsey unit is quite literally a commercial grade - FCC certified - station in a box.
50 Watt Output. CD-Recorder. Tascom CD-Dual Cassette Deck. Audio mixers. Studio microphone. Antenna. 100 Watt Stereo Amp for local PA. The whole nine yards. Shock-mounted. Dump it in the back of a truck. Set up anywhere.
The Tascom deck alone lists at $950.
You are likely thinking of television broadcasting. The FCC has slated February 17, 2009, though considering that the deadline had been pushed back several times previously, it would not surprise me if this gets pushed out again.
In band on channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcasting is already emerging in the larger markets. Basically, you can get a digital receiver and listen to your favorite radio station play all its programming, commercials and all, in CD quality audio. The only cost is the receiver. At this point, there is no firm date for phasing out FM (or AM) radio as we know it, just the addition of digital IBOC, which are usually simulcasts of the analog programming.