hey. i'm ben , from australia. and i'm looking at starting my own pirate radio station! firstly i'm doing this because i think that its one kick-ass hobby. and i think i can really make something cool that i'd be proud to say i did in the future, even if i only do it for a day a week or a few months! (man that would be cool)
i'm in the research stage at the moment and i'm glad i found this site. i could really do with some advice and wisdom from all you avid broadcasters out there.
so i've been looking at gear and would love your feedback on what you think i could do with or do with out. its all mostly on the Ramsey Electronics web site.
here are the items i'd be happy to get to create my mini studio.
the antenna would work well but if you have an active enforcement agency there, they will recognize that antenna as a pirate station a mile away. if you dont have worries about government agencies then have at it.
if you are crafty build a j-pole out of copper pipe and coax. here is the calculator to do it. www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html
a trained engineer may recognize it as not being ham radio due to size but i have found that even ham radio guys coming to my house have no clue its an FM pirate antenna. some have even assumed it was a 6m (vhf low band) antenna. best thing about the j-pole is it kicks ass performance wise and you can build it for under $20 or so. the j-pole needs to be tuned to frequency so you'll need somebody thats radio savvy to help you out if your not.
as far as the transmitter... you can do better. read more, spend less. the HLLY stuff works and is cheap but be sure to get a low pass filter behind it. www.hllyelectronics.com/
Post by HighMountainRadio on Jan 12, 2018 16:49:33 GMT -6
Hi Ben and welcome to the forum !
I am relatively new here as well and this is a great group of like minded individuals who are always more than willing to help with advice and technical information ! I don't know what your planned format may be but here is some educated advice from an 'old timer' (First Pirate Radio Station Experience was In 1970 - 40 Watts Output from an Old Military Telephone Relay Link Transmitter, modified for FM broadcast band, from The Vietnam and Korean Wars).. I've been hooked ever since ! From a programming perspective, I highly recommend staying away from any controversial subject matter and careless operations (crude language, crude lyrics music, etc..). Keep the operation 'clean' and professional both from a programming perspective as well as from a technical viewpoint. Keep your signal clean and make it sound as close to commercial radio as humanly possible and do NOT cause any interference to legit broadcasters. ALWAYS be sure to use a Low Pass Filter to keep your signal clean from spurious transmissions that may cause harmful interference to other radio nservices up into the 2nd, 3rd, 4th harmonic frequencies associated with your intended broadcast frequency ! Very important ! There is not much of a quicker way to 'get noticed' than by innocently causing interference to another radio service ! Here is a very good idea for building a good Ground Plane antenna on the CHEAP ! Check your local area scrapyard or salvage yard for useable aluminum tubing that you may use to fabricate an easily built Ground Plane antenna. Around here I buy the perfect tubing for just the current price of scrap aluminum spot price. You can save BIG $$$ ! If you do in fact construct a ground plane antenna a perfect way to have it outside where it will be most effective yet not be easily recognized as a pirate FM radio station antenna (so noted by a trained professional by it's length) simply add extra length to the main vertical radiating element as well as all of your radials. Add about an extra foot or a bit more to make it 'appear' to be used for a much lower frequency than it is actually being used for ! I recommend using plexiglas rod lengths of uniform length which you can paint with aluminum or similar paint to make it look like aluminum. It's a very effective covert method of operation. It will appear to be a simple scanner antenna for low VHF band (if it is not illegal to use a scanner in Australia, some countries do not permit the monitoring of those frequencies commonly used by local police, fire, etc..). DEFINITELY, make and use a 'balun', it can be fabricated VERY easily for next to free ! It merely is a circular form of adjacent turns of your coaxial cable that is being used for your feedline and will work VERY effectively in keeping the coaxial cable feedline from radiating and causing high, unwanted return power (High VSWR) (Reflected Power) back to your transmitter which if high enough and permitted for any length of time can easily destroy your transmitter's final output MOSFET or transistor ! I made one in 15 minutes. The circumference should be 6 inches and 6 turns of coaxial cable at the feedpoint of your antenna. I have absolutely a 'flat' VSWR here using a ground plane. No unwanted return power to my transmitter. Please do message me here if you need any additional advice or technical information, a lot of good people here that will help you figure out what the best bang for your buck will be !
Good luck and once again, welcome to the forum brother !
Best regards, Spooky..
"Knowledge Is Always Made More Valuable By Sharing It With Others !" Always Remember To Be Kind ! True Greatness Often Has Very Humble Beginnings ! Help A Kid Out Today ! *** High Mountain Radio *** "Broadcasting From Somewhere High In The Remote Appalachian Mountains"
