In this part of the forums you can talk about anything pirate radio related. It can be about the electronics or the music or even trying to listen in to them.
Anything free radio/pirate radio related can be talked about in here.
Try to keep the topic at hand within the subforums here unless it just doesn't relate to any of them or else it will be moved by a moderator.
I have purchased a few hundred dollars of kits from ramsey, and have most of them togeather. i started with a fm-25b, and promptly blew it up whilst attempting to install a make shift antenna out of some coax. (win some lose some ) i am not totaly ignorant to the whole rf idea and am currently waiting to take the tech exam for a ameture raido license. i have ordered a fm100 kitand the matched antenna for it, a stc1, a ppm3, a,fmba1c, and a nother 1watt amp kit( boy i sure hope it all works togeather?) Any advice as to what i should not try to do first when im all up and broadcasting?
Hello any one! I am just getting into fm broadcast, and with that said, i guess my question is just how much attantion does the fcc really pay?
Hello phaqov, welcome to the pirate forums. Well to guess how much attention the FCC gives to illegal transmittions depends on many factors. Some of these include location of your transmittion, quality of equipment used, interference caused, power used, and most of all how many field officials you have around your area (and sometimes even ham operators who are stuffy about anything illegal).
It's not an easy question to answer. In my area I don't have to worry much because the nearest field office is way too far away. There is only one FCC official around my town but the person doesn't bother with me unless I were to cause trouble which I make sure not to.
You want to make extra sure not to cause interference to any other broadcasts. This also includes harmonics your equipment may cause which could interfere with the AIR bands and other VHF and even UHF frequencies. So having a good RF filter on your transmitters output is a must.
Ramsey electronics makes some nice higher end transmitters but the small kit type transmitters should only be used as kits and nothing more unless you know how to modify them to make good clean signals. This is because the smaller kits like the FM10 cause lots of harmonics into the VHF bands and don't have the cleanest signal. They are great for hobby broadcasting but if you want to add a RF amp to the output make sure to filter it before even thinking about plugging into an amp and/or outside antenna.
One more note, if you don't have one get a dummy load. Don't ever test ON AIR.
Anyways welcome and have fun. There are lots of good links here and the forums are always being updated with new stuff.
If you plan to ask questions in the future make sure to use the appropriate forums for them.
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