Is WSRO-AM 650 Testing Its Modest Power Increase?

[Bob Nelson]

After Radio Free Allston was shut down by the FCC, they made an effort to
get on legally as Allston-Brighton Free Radio. One day as they made their
debut I drove around the area a bit and tuned to 1670 or wherever they
were. They reached a few blocks. The founder, Steve Provizer I think, was
giving a speech on air and he said he was happy they were on but he was
also angry because he could only reach that small area legally, etc. (Some
said later that they were probably pushing beyond legal limits).

Part 15 is indeed 100 milliwatts. There are stations out there like WJIB
and WJTO that can only push out 3 or 4 watts at night, legally. That's
still a lot more than what a Part 15 can put out, and the various pirates
out there are way above that limit.

You can go past a church in Lynnfield that broadcasts for a few blocks or
so on 1640 (they have the "Tower School", too). They run a loop of
announcements, the school kids singing, etc. But indeed they can only reach
a few blocks under Part 15. (after you go past a few houses you probably
start picking up the emergency alert station in Peabody on that frequency
that runs PSAs at other times) It's much like the "Talking House" stations
that run under Part 15.

The wikipedia entry for FCC Part 15 mentions the tech. specifications and
gives examples of what's permissible under it: Cordless phones;
microbroadcasting on a school campus for example, mini FM transmitters for
your car (to broadcast an mp3 player, sat. radio etc); "talking houses" or
highway construction info, and even walkie talkies or those "Mr Microphone"
toys that have been sold. I'd add those few drive in theatres still out
there.

And as I've mentioned before, I've been at a location in Beverly where you
can pick up Howard Stern's Sirius channel for a block or so, no doubt
someone in an apartment nearby. A block or so...legally.


On Sat, Jun 14, 2014 at 4:05 PM, Paul B. Walker, Jr. <
walkerbroadcasting@gmail.com> wrote:

> Part 15 is 100 MILLIWATTS.. 1/10th of 1 watt.
>
> Paul
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 14, 2014 at 12:20 PM, Don <Donald_Astelle@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > When a station gets down to less than 100watts.....doesn't that become a
> > Part 15 issue?
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "daniel strassberg" <
> > dan.strassberg@att.net>
> > To: "Rob Landry" <011010001@interpring.com>; "Laurence Glavin" <
> > lglavin@mail.com>
> > Cc: <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
> > Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 9:11 AM
> >
> > Subject: Re: Is WSRO-AM 650 Testing Its Modest Power Increase?
> >
> >
> > But WSRO either has a CP for night power higher than 100W or has applied
> > for night power higher than 100W. Can somebody say which it is (CP or
> app)?
> > I don't remember seeing 187W but I think I saw 162W.
> >
> > -----
> > Dan Strassberg
> > e-fax 707-215-6367
> >  ----- Original Message -----  From: Rob Landry
> >  To: Laurence Glavin
> >  Cc: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org
> >  Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2014 6:09 PM
> >  Subject: Re: Is WSRO-AM 650 Testing Its Modest Power Increase?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  On Thu, 12 Jun 2014, Laurence Glavin wrote:
> >
> >  > I was doing a little late-night AM dial twisting yesterday (Wednesday,
> >  > 06/11) and noticed that I could hear WSRO-AM 650 transmitting from
> >  > Framingham.  They've been running 100 watts nights with a directional
> >  > pattern favoring the 45-degree radial where I reside 40 or so miles
> >  > away.  They received a CP to boost that to 187 watts; no big deal, but
> >  > if they're running that now, at least on the cusp of the solstice so
> >  > there are fewer hours between sunset and midnight, it's doing a fine
> job
> >  > of covering WSM-AM in Nashville,.
> >
> >  They're only running 100 watts at night. On occasion, I've heard them at
> >  night on I-95 at the Mass/NH line. The signal's not really listenable,
> but
> >  it's there.
> >
> >  In the daytime, however, they're quite listenable in Portsmouth.
> >
> >
> >  Rob
> >
>