The Blare Blog
Center
of the Bla Bla Galaxy
Another
Month in the Scheme of Things
November
2021
Tuesday November 30, 2021 4:05 PM CST -- Wi-Fi Radio Transmission --
You are seeing the KDX audio signal passing through the crowded Wi-Fi band
Tuesday November 30, 2021 1:31 PM CST -- Why Does the New York Times Lie --
Monday November 29, 2021 9:58 AM CST --
Monday November 29, 2021 9:35 AM CST -- Alex Jones Survival Plan --
We
never got around to airing a recent Alex Jones Show as we talked about
but Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak reported on their own show that Alex
Jones has taken a bold stand to guard against collapse of the food
supply chain. Jones has exclaimed "IF NECESSARY I WILL EAT MY NEIGHBORS
RATHER THAN LET MY CHILDREN STARVE!" Jones can take that position
because his state of Texas is a non-union state. The rest of us would
have an issue with the Meat Packers Union.
Monday November 29, 2021 8:28 AM CST -- Radio Public Service --
Monday November 29, 2021 6:40 AM CST -- Post Decisional Plans --
Regular
readers have been following our ongoing exploration into the new-tech
world of Wi-Fi audio transmitter-receiver systems for use by low power
radio stations for delivering program audio from control rooms out to
AM FM transmitter locations for re-transmission to the nearby public.
Through blind luck we seem to have already installed the best of what
the market has to offer by way of the TP-WIRELESS system and to be
properly backed-up we need only to obtain a second such unit to keep on
standby. None the less we plan to continue learning about and
evaluating every product in this field, the 'field' being the 2.4 GHz
Wi-Fi band. We would say that 2.4 GHz is the new frontier for Part 15
low power radio, the AM and FM region now passing into legacy status
with important differences: whereas the medium wave and FM bands reach
the public straightaway, the Wi-Fi band is used by the public but in
uniquely private ways.
Monday November 29, 2021 6:26 AM CST -- Annual Holiday Visit Series --
My
barber has been teaching me how to cut my own hair from his remote
location, and he's here now with another commentary on the day's news.
I give you Buster Boatrocker!
BUSTER: It makes you wonder. I mean, the COVID Variants seem to arrive one at a time at measured intervals.
That makes me wonder. I mean, if the virus was really 'from the wild' as we've been told,
it seems to me that variants from different parts of the world could emerge at anytime and overlap each other.
But no. They dish out one variant and milk it until panic subsides, then it's time for a new variant
without ever mentioning the benefits of Vitamin D3 or other treatments. It makes me wonder and you should too!
Buster Boatrocker is a barber in South St. Louis, Missouri, and regular contributor to The Blare Blog.
Sunday November 28, 2021 10:26 AM CST -- Restoration of Aging Eyes --
In
an unrelated use of red light KDX uses so-called 'submarine lighting'
during the overnight hours, as used in submissables because the red
spectrum is least detectable to enemy searches and yet able to provide
vision for the crew. We also have read that minimal red light during
sleep provides the optimum environment for undisturbed slumber.
Sunday November 28, 2021 6:57 AM CST -- Towers Above --
For
the most part movies are to culture what pornography is to real sex, but the
human majority never know anything above a common level and will seldom
know the difference. Then comes a motion picture masterpiece and the
crowd is challenged to see above themselves with every liklihood
they'll respond by walking out of the room.
The film herein linked may only be available for a limited time
Saturday November 27, 2021 7:40 AM CST -- All Blogs Considered --
This
Blog, and for that matter this website, is unnecessary. Or, we could
mull what constitutes 'necessity', and maybe find a place for
what we're all about. Part of what we're about is continually subject
to introspection and two components provide a starting point: we are a
voice for low power radio in the U.S. and world and we stem from the
social instinct inherent to humanity. Blogging is a form of talking to
our self on public display. We should sometimes be embarrassed. Another
element of 'necessity' would be high audience demand, which we do not
have. Advertisers would walk away and refuse to give us the time of
day. Trolls mostly steer away except for that siege of anonymous
messages awhile back ridiculing and threatening.
To our mind
this Blog is somewhat of a radio talk show transposed to the 'new
media' of internet publication, which explains why we often diverge
into non-techy topics like race relations. We've seen an appeal to
avoid calling the flash mob shoplifters in California 'looters' because
of a racial implication. Not knowing the physical makeup of the actual
looters we cannot agree that using the expression is at all racist as
it applies to all persons stealing loot. There's no need to be polite
to thieves, and it would be tempting to shoot them on the spot, no
matter what color skin is involved. But KDX and The Blare Blog object
to using crime to fight crime, shooting them being a potential crime of
retaliation. We'll come back to this rabbit hole but for now let's talk
COVID.
As may have been mentioned, curiosity is tweaked
by YouTube commentaries from medical professionals about difficulties
with vaccines and their side-effects. For the moment we'll simply
declare that we sense a conspiracy of pharmacy and military but have
yet no theory. Switching to Wi-Fi audio...
The whole of
Thanksgiving week has taken us on a deep search for
transmitter-receivers capable of sending audio wirelessly across two
points, centering mostly on the 2.4 GHz band, but noting that some gear
is either 500 MHz wireless microphone territory or 5 GHz Wi-Fi. There's
more to learn and we'll be back at it.
Then there's politics where far-right extremist Republicans follow "The Art of the Lie"
and Democrats stake out a small difference by doing some public service
while both of them serve God and military by insistently
bridging religion-state separation, lofting absurd oxymorons such
as the 'Judeo-Christian Ethic' and the namby-pamby would have it that we are all 'the same and diverse'.
Saturday November 27, 2021 1:55 AM CST -- Annual Holiday Visit Series --
Once you've learned everything,
the only thing left to do is repeat yourself.
- O. go Juan Aloofus, Esquire, MD, PHd, Admiral, priest, architect
Friday November 26, 202 7:17 AM CST -- Annual Holiday Visit Series --
For the most part, stereotypes have nothing to do with two channel sound.
-Manfred Tweed, president Home School College
Thursday November 25, 2021 11:41 PM CST -- SPORTS GLUT --
For one day only the 'Blare OnAir' program presented a sports cavalcade and is the best show we've ever done.
Thursday November 25, 2021 -- Annual Holiday Visit Series --
A message from Doctor Proctor Cavalier, medical consultant to KDX:
DR.
CAVALIER: Does this cigarette bother you? Here, let me put it
out. With the COVID situation my clinic at Medicine Mall has not been
seeing patients in person, but we are in the process of setting up our
own version of TeleVizeMedicine, so that we can see you over a ZoomZam call on
the computer. My nurse Disarray DeGlued can be reached for information
about setting up a virtual appointment. You may already know Disarray's
sister, Flotilla, impersonal assistant to Carl Blare at the radio
station. We're setting up an online waiting room where your face will
appear along with other patients on the ZoomZammy tick-tack squares where we'll
connect with you in order. Our first test of the system has a small
bug... when we ask patients to strip down everyone on the Zam screen
can see everything and we're trying to figure out how to make it
private. Your prescriptions are still directed exclusively to Bob
Foboff's Pharmacy where we're aware of a small problem what with Bob
being a Christian Scientist who doesn't believe in medicine and we know
he refuses to actually fill prescriptions. Oh, and if you wear a mask
on the ZoomZam call, how are we supposed to recognize you? Now Carl wants
to get back to his Wi-Fi stuff.
Thursday November 25, 2021 -- Going Off in All Directions --
Being
a holiday in the United States KDX will sign on 1/2 hour late this
morning while we continue research toward obtaining a backup system for
our 2.4 GHz studio-to-transmitter link. Option # 1 would be simply
obtaining a 2nd TP-Wireless Transmitter given that we already have 3
receivers, but the disadvantage is that other uses of the spectrum in
the surrounding neighborhood occasionally block our signal for seconds
or minutes completely muting the AM FM audio feed. Another
option we've discovered is use of wireless microphone systems in the
500 MHz region, available for example from Sennheiser, which provide a
more expensive but more likely stable means of transporting
audio, already common among sound re-enforcement providers to
replace cables at wedding ceremonies, conferences and so on. Option 3
up until now has been kept off the table because the range of 5 GHz
Wi-Fi is somewhat less than that of 2.4 GHz, however after watching the
following video we've been swayed to seriously consider 5 GHz:
Wednesday November 24, 2021 3:20 PM CST -- Annual Holiday Visit Series --
Reach for achievement and grab some hope.
- Wally Rodney, boss, Wishful Thinking Foundation
Wednesday November 24, 2021 10:54 AM CST -- How's Alex Jones These Days? --
About
10-years ago KDX carried Alex Jones from time to time which made no
sense to some of our critics because we are a secular progressive
station and Jones is more toward the Christian fundamentalist
far-right conservative camp, but the fact is we found his flamboyant stretches
greatly entertaining and are reminded of it now because we're airing a
Blare OnAir show from 2012 with some of Jones' best tirades. But
instead of trying to describe it, let's bring you that program now:
Wednesday November 24, 2021 6:24 AM CST -- Annual Holiday Visit Series --
It may be Black Friday
But life always ends up in the red.
-Chauncey L. Fitzkilpatsky
- disgraced philosophy professor
now living in a car filled with bottles underneath the viaduct
B&H Photo Video
Following
up on our series of reports about Wi-Fi audio transmitter/receivers for
use in transporting audio programming from a radio workstation out to
AM & FM transmitters for broadcast to the surrounding terrain,
having spent enormous bulks of time searching and scrolling, we've
accumulated some expertise on the state of the matter at this point in
time. We have learned, for example one thing, that search terms used to
locate Wi-Fi audio devices make a significant difference in the
quantity of findings. We began with 'Wi-Fi audio' and compiled a small list of competing items, then turned to 'Wi-Fi streaming'
and hit the real mother lode. Although our intended use of the
equipment has the radio purpose as we've described, the greatly more
popular use of such technology is 'cable replacement' in getting audio
to active loudspeakers at outlying locations for home or sound
re-enforcement venues. Two weaknesses abound in the descriptions we've
perused, the first being failure by most vendors to fully disclose tech
specifications leaving unknown the frequencies employed alongside
unspecified power output information. And the systems generated from
within a Wi-Fi router commonly rely on a Smartphone App to
control management of small remote receivers, not mentioning
whether the App can be run from a computer. We were unable to separate
the more robust 'Wi-Fi audio' category from Bluetooth, the latter and
less desirable form being vastly more plentiful and both kinds being
cluttered together confused further by the ability by some of the
gadgets to stream video. It seems generally true that the electronics
industry has recognized a potential market for small wireless gear, but
are having trouble publishing comprehendable application information.
KDX
is to be Thanked for our plan Thursday to carry the 'NO AGENDA' program
LIVE in the morning at 12 NOON EST/11 AM CST/10 AM MST/ 9 AM PST/1700
UTC in place of the Thom Hartmann Program which takes a holiday.
Sunday November 21, 2021 2:03 PM CST -- Radio History Narrowly Averted --
The
day is passing too rapidly so allow us to step in to slow things to a
near standstill as we link a select edition of Blare OnAir for your
cultural leaning. This program explores methods used in radio to fill
chunks of extra time and is easily the best program we have
ever done. Too easily.
Sunday November 21, 2021 11:05 AM CST -- Opposites of Live --
If
you say that the opposite of 'live' is 'dead', you would be either
right or wrong, depending on what we mean when we say 'live'. In most
cases when we say 'live' we mean 'as opposed to recorded'. And the
reason we think about it so much is not out of fear of the 'afterlife',
because in such case that would be continued existence through
previously recorded transcriptions. To get to the point, we wonder a
lot about why it is that almost everyone who operates a legal,
unlicensed, low power radio station under Part 15 of the FCC rules, or
by regulations in other world countries, transmit exclusively
recorded material from prepared playlists. Ironically most stations
have microphones on prominent display to somewhat validate the
equipment desk to resemble an authentic radio station, and possibly
sometimes use the setup to record some messages in advance of airing,
but almost never 'go live' as we say. Yet, in another irony, the
nostalgic recollections of 'how radio was' during school days is
what
drives most stationers, those owning and running these small
operations, to go to the effort in the first place. That 'old time
radio' typically consisted of glib DJs playing hit records, yet the
modern reincarnation stations consist only of past hit records minus
the jocks.
At KDX we have tried to schedule as many 'live'
programs as possible, a central example being 'The Thom Hartmann Show'
daily for 3-hours. Mr. Hartmann is truly 'live', meaning that we are
hearing him as he sits in his Portland, Oregon, home doing his phone-in
talk show. But most of our programs are recent recordings either
because they are not streamed live or because the live stream of that
program conflicts with the scheduled time of another program heard on
KDX.
When I discovered internet radio for the first time back
in 2007 while planning to build KDX, the first station I found was KPAH
from Pahrump, Nevada, run by a HAM radio licensee and retired TV
engineer who featured live programs hosted by volunteers from town who
enjoyed something of a social outing by arriving at the station and
exchanging with listeners from anywhere by telephone. It was very
entertaining and spontaneous.
I started right away doing a
daily talk program of my own called 'Adventures in the 3rd Dementia'
and because I wanted to keep an archive of my work they were recorded
to harddrive, which required careful engineering, and to go live in
real-time was an added layer of complexity and after trying doing both
for awhile it soon became easier to simply record first and playback
later.
Now again I'm considering a live Friday night edition
of Blare OnAir with open phone lines and I know that some weeks there'd
be no response and it would be just me talking to an effectively
unpeopled internet, but it would be necessary to keep going so eventual
callers would have a show to call.
It's like a wheel. Wheels
have been around as long as we remember and we still use them today and
even have our own little wheels as part of a hobby. But, getting
further into it, it seems less and less that there's an analogy to be made.
Sunday November 21, 2021 8:05 AM CST -- Yet to Come --
Days
are somewhat uniform here at KDX in the way they time out. About 3:30
AM deep in the middle of night we spring to action, able to concentrate
in the absolutely undisturbed enclosedness offered by darkness outside
the walls. We usually hear the horned owls holding brazen conversations
perhaps complaining about the suddenly lighted windows. For us it's a
time to search, research, think, plan, study, read, and prepare hot
honey coffee. This morning, for example, we continued a long scroll
through "wi-fi audio" results on YouTube, looking for alternative
choices in preparation for a new backup system to protect our wireless
studio-to-transmitter link that keeps KDX AM & FM on the air. It's
a cluttered search because of so many variant applications that use
cable-free signal hops to send audio from in here to out there. There
are wireless microphone devices, musician oriented wireless to put
guitars, violins, and other instruments onto loudspeakers, video
senders
coupled with audio, and vast Bluetooth offerings clumped together with
the better Wi-Fi technology. As the hands of the clock reach closer
toward firstlight we switch attention to startup prep for the day's
program schedule on KDX, starting on Sunday mornings with Glenn
Hauser's 'World of Radio' and continuing through early day with busy
sounding voices describing the world's ongoing downfall as we stir
cranberries into oatmeal. They talk until about 4 in the afternoon when
I abruptly lose interest in what any of them have to say and decide
again never to extend programming into the hours of apathy, when it
becomes more appealing to eat and watch, for which free internet movies
provide enough choices to stare for awhile at entirely irrelevant
stories delivered by dead actors while
into the food supply.
Once sated I usually declare "I don't care how this story turns out"
and stop the movie half way through. Having done it all for so many
hours everything gets canceled and a large nap takes over. There'd be
more to say about it if the ensuing dreams could be recalled, but they
escape documentation by avoiding conscious memory. About 3:30 AM deep in
the middle of the night we spring to action, and so on and so forth.
Saturday November 20, 2021 5:06 AM CST -- Reaching the Plateau --
Correspondent
Boomer suggested we pay some attention to Plato and Shakespeare, and
we'll do it now. The philosopher Plato came from a time before last
names, whereas Shakespeare is a last name for a man named William.
Unless Plato is the last name of a man without a first. That's what I
know, being a college drop-in.
In the midst between fire and earth God set water and air,
--air being to water as fire to air, and water being to earth as air to water,
--he joined together and constructed a Heaven visible and tangible.
For these reasons and out of these materials, such in kind and four in number,
the body of the Cosmos was harmonized by proportion and brought into existence.
- Plato, 404 B.C.
As
we see Mr. Plato took on the larger issues, yet never guessed that
radio would eventually be discovered to permeate the four elements of
his speculation. Turning now to William Shakespeare, we had the choice
of quoting something from his well known stage plays, but found an
exceptional other work of pen by way of his Sonnets, numbering 154 in
total.
1
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's Rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making famine where abundance lies,
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thy own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
Ouch. Whoa. Stunned. Punched. So much, yet only an opener. No wonder. I mean, wonderful. Sad, really. Too true.
Asking
the question is based on the observed dropoff of public chatter and
device availability surrounding the once robust hobby of low power
broadcasting on the AM and FM bands. Actually the FCC Part 15 rules
which make such activity legal continue to exist but have been
substantially expanded to include radio frequencies employed by
computer Wi-Fi networks most especially the 2.4 GHz band now
overflowing with users and uses.
At
KDX we operate Part 15 transmitters on several bands and have been
exploring methods of transporting audio signals to the AM FM
transmitter locations two rooms apart within the same building. The
first tests utilized frequencies in the FM band but were eventually
discontinued owing to difficulties in maintaining solid carriers in an
environment where the movement of people causes noisy multipath
interference and as well to an increasing scarcity of usable channels
because of crowding. The new 2.4 GHz frontier at least solves the
antenna situation with little 5" sticks, but, as outlined in the link
above, crowding is a chronic outcome of jamming so many users into such
a limited territory, however every location is different and often
enough it's possible to claim a spot. And, although bodies in the rooms
also cause disturbances to signal persistence the equipment handles the
matter quietly. Such as it is, KDX has become greatly enchanted by
experimenting in the Wi-Fi region and has undertaken a survey of all
audio transmit/receive devices presently available. This is where Part
15 has gone.
Post
Script -- We might have titled the foregoing "Where Has Part 15 Gone
Wrong", but then we'd be re-telling the saga of Bob Fwordly's hostile
takeover of the Association of Low Power Broadcasters, a smallish group
of dedicated radio enthusiasts who came as close to forming an
organized social unit as ever in the past century. After that everyone
went their own way leaving Bob still justifying his Trump inspired
uproar to anyone who'll hear him out.
Friday November 19, 2021 7:54 AM CST -- All Good Things --
A woman speaking on the radio used the cliche "All good things must come to an end."
To this Carl Blare wondered - "Must all good things have a beginning?
Friday November 19, 2021 7:48 AM CST -- NPYawn --
We know that NPR's a scam.
- John C. Dvorak on the No Agenda show as heard on KDX
Friday November 19, 2021 7:41 AM CST -- Deja Vuja --
We've
been here before. In that life, as now again in this one, we searched
'Diogenes' as probably prompted by Boomer, now having been known in
both lives.
Friday November 19, 2021 6:39 AM CST -- Trash Talk Comes Booming In --
As editor of The Blog I must mention... we are not calling Boomer's communique 'Trash Talk'. It is the 'Subject' written by he himself for the E-mail message that follows:
Glad you're reading the ancient philosophers, like Aristotle, check
out Plato, and a personal favorite, Diogenes, then top off with
Shakespeare for the foundations of modern English and tropes we
still live by.
As to Shakespeare's point, I think theory is a good foundation,
then experience comes along and compliments it. Experience allows
Blare to see connections, similarities, differences and things that
compliment, and thereby discover new things. I've seen those
theorists on the groups, and some don't seem to want you to do
anything but theorize it seems like. It's discouraging, but those
with true courage can go on without the support from the theory
trolls, take energy from their comments, tell Carl he can't do it,
he will do it! I like to think of it that these naysayers are
hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away from my screen, not in my
life and I'll probably never meet them, so why get mad at their
mean comments?
I'm glad WFMT cares about their high fidelity. It's always been one
of my goals to have station sound that's close to that coming from
the original record; that respects the recording and listeners'
ears. I've long thought most radio stations could do a lot better
when it comes to their sound, while their engineers got caught up
in nearly pointless 'loudness wars'. When the CD came out, stations
didn't take it as a cue to improve their sound to keep pace with
the clean low noise digital audio.
Now with digital audio broadcasting on the radio and on line, audio
quality has taken a step back, especially with HD radio, the
quality is pretty poor in one way or another. On line, the quality
of streams is all over the place.
We have the tools for excellent audio capture, mixing and playback,
so every source should be as good as WFMT strives to be by now. A
parallel example could be cell phones, I haven't heard any
improvement in caller voice fidelity on talk shows. Some callers
are barely understandable muffle and scratch and voices cut out.
Cell phones have been around for decades and I'd expect much
improved fidelity across the board by now.
Did you know that after Art Bell returned to Sirius radio, he quit
his show there, and one reason was the audio quality of current
phones.
Boomer
All
good thoughts from Boomer, much the thinker as I once was. We will take
a delve into Plato and Shakespeare in blogs to come, and Diogenes will
be a new one for me as I've never picked him up. Art Bell was a good
philosopher-engineer with HAM experience and station ownership.
There is nobody today (that I know of) with Art's all-round mastery of
radio.
Thursday November 18, 2021 1:56 PM CST --Lightfest Event Adds Soundtrack by Radio --
Word from the home of Talking House & the Range Extender
Carl
You might find the news story below
interesting. As you are aware, with the new pandemic paradigm in
effect, special radio systems are being utilized to keep people
safe while attending all manner of events.
Now the Wayne County Parks Department in
Michigan has taken the concept a step farther by enhancing their
drive-thru “Lightfest” display – which begins tonight – by adding a
soundtrack delivered over the radio. Read more
here.
Let me know your thoughts, when you have
time; your feedback is always welcome.
Thanks.
Bill Baker
Information Station Specialists
theRADIOsource.com
616.772.2300 x102
Thursday November 18, 2021 9:15 AM CST -- Bringing Aristotle Into It --
It's
been some time since last quoting philosopher Aristotle in our
blog, and now seems like a fine time because the day is sunny, cool,
and quiet. Being on Standard Time is more comfortable than the 'spring
forward' inaccuracy we were obligated to live under for so many months.
It took some reading this morning to come upon the words about to be
quoted, and they stand out because of previous forum arguments over the
difference between theory and practice in the realm of low power radio
technology.
"We see men of experience succeeding more than those who have theory without experience."
- Aristotle - The Metaphysics
Thursday November 18, 2021 7:31 AM CST -- Impeccable Audio on FM Radio --
This
morning's transmission of 'This Week in Radio Tech' has our total
attention as host Kirk Harnak talks with Gordon Carter, 40 year chief
engineer at WFMT Chicago. Radio station WFMT has long held a
reputation for extremely excellent audio quality.
For
8-years KDX was an affiliate of WFMT's Classical Music Network bringing
top flight syndicated concert programs by premier orchestras and
chamber ensembles including the New York Philharmonic with host Alec
Baldwin, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Gustavo
Dudamel, San Francisco Symphony led by Michael Tilson Thomas; we could
go on. KDX atests to the always tremendous sound of programs from
WFMT which came to us on CD discs.
Wednesday November 17, 2021 3:18 PM CST -- FCC Proposes Wi-Fi Tax --
In
the linked news release the emphasis is on public use of the 2.4 and 5
GHz Wi-Fi space, but a deeper reading shows that a tax is being talked
about for all unlicensed spectrum which includes Part 15 devices such
as micro AM & FM transmitters. Not all internet subscribers
use Wi-Fi and there'd be an impossible problem applying such a tax
fairly. The number of people operating Part 15 'intentional radiators'
is very small and no registry exists listing such users and it
would be laughable to consider voluntary compliance.Under such a
Kafkaesque plan tax avoidance would be tantamount to radio piracy.
Tuesday November 16, 2021 2:54 PM CST -- Pee Wee Herman DJ! --
Monday November 15, 2021 11:33 AM CST -- Soaking in Microwaves --
I've
done enough writing and lecturing about the health risk posed by living
in a sea of human-induced electromagnetic radiation, but in today's
hunt for technical information about cordless phones we happened upon
data that contradicts those who insist that the waves are harmless.
At
least the radio waves bring fascinating pastime to us as we're toasted,
as do tasty snacks and bad diets too delicious to refuse. Probably poor
air quality is the least pleasureful yet utterly unavoidable health
threat, unless of course date night goes very well culminating in deep
panting giving rise to peaking pleasure. Life is a temporary stopover
between two bouts of very very long non-existence, and while we're here
we're inclined to carry on as if there were a permanence at the
same time risking our welfare with actions that turn out to be
only momentary reward but by the time lessons are learned it's usually
too late.
Monday November 15, 2021 10:33 AM CST -- Pairing and Mating --
We've
used the expression 'pairing' in the discussions of our TP-Wireless
Wi-Fi Audio Transmitter/Receiver, and we used it with the expectation
that our readers are tech savvy enough to know that when wireless
devices achieve 'sync' they are locked together and able to exchange
information. Well, last night pairing was lost between the units and
along with it the tell-tale whistle stopped. "Oh no", I thought,
because I abruptly assumed the transmitter had blown its RF output
amplifier and left us up a creek with a mute radio station. For the
moment life became a hopeless tragedy because it's so much easier to
become depressed than it is to save the day. Therefore I did nothing
except for sitting in place feeling sorry for the inevitability of well
planned systems to fail just when glory and triumph are almost within
reach. With a blink the whistle popped to life and pairing resumed. It
was either a miracle intended by the Lord to save me from dejection, or
the devices were behaving in yet another undocumented way. In the hours
that followed another incident lead to a suspicion that other activity
on the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi microwave band was causing temporary interference
to our signal, perhaps a neighbor or passing traffic. After all, the RF
Explorer handheld spectrum analyzer shows constant activity across the
entire spectrum, Wi-Fi channels 1 thru 13 and above. My first guess is
that someone nearby has a 2.4 GHz cordless phone, which would explain
the random moments of disturbance.
Sunday November 14, 2021 1:05 PM CST -- Technical Inspection --
There
are YouTube videos about the TP-Wireless TP-WT02 Wi-Fi Transmitter
Receiver like the one in service right now to provide an audio path to
our AM and FM transmitters, and given that these devices have saved us
from the breakdown of our other Wi-Fi audio system we've been analyzing
very closely the performance, drafting two sheets of notes regarding
details missing from the actual equipment manual. For example whereas
the manual mentions two outputs on the receiver, only one output exists
and there's no switch for choosing. As it stands the description says
(18) Stereo Output Level 1 - 30mW RL=32 Ohms; (19) Stereo Output 2 - 50
mW RL=16 Ohms. That has us confused and we'll mention one other
discrepancy... (10) Transmitter Power 0 - 20 dBM. Well, to me that
describes a variable power output but there is no means of varying the
power output of this Wi-Fi Transmitter. Despite a few such undocumented
specifications the whole apparatus functions nicely.
Sunday November 14, 2021 8:56 AM CST -- Up and Running --
Several
days had us undertaking a deep study of our freshly installed Wi-Fi
studio-transmitter-link, connecting our program production room to the
AM FM transmitter site in another wing of the building. Having already
blogged about the piercing whistle produced by the Wi-Fi transmitter,
several days of exposure to this high-pitched sound has proven annoying
and we went to work trying to attenuate the noise. First we tried
placing a CD (compact disc) underneath the device, learning that moving
the make-shift 'ground plane' the whistle changed intensity. We added a
second disc side-by-side with the first one and observed that
positioning the transmitter's antenna right at the junction where the
two discs touched, the noise was significantly reduced. But it was
still annoying, so we removed the discs and found another trick quite
by accident... we set our coffee cup on the surface near the Wi-Fi
transmitter and the whistle all but stopped, yet the program audio
being sent continued undisturbed. An upgrade followed as we assigned a
water filled olive bottle to the task of permanent noise suppressor.
Sunday November 14, 2021 8:50 AM CST -- Science Radio Program --
While
monitoring the 'No Agenda' 24-hour stream, comprised of a variety of
independent productions, we came upon the science program "NATURE"
which kept our interest for part of the early morning. Paying a visit
to the NATURE website we saw no obvious mention of their audio program,
but using their search tool put us on the podcast page where many
episodes are available.
Saturday November 13, 2021 8:14 AM CST -- Composing Opera with William Shatner --
Back from space the RT America host William Shatner continues his weekly show - 'I Don't Understand'.
Thursday November 11, 2021 9:35 AM CST -- Text View --
Oh,
that's right, Wikipedia is a text based source of general information
and gives us the answer we were looking for. Our question was brought
on by the whistle heard last night emanating from somewhere around the
KDX computer work station where we've recently opened up a Wi-Fi
microwave transmitter that we've been blogging about. The high pitched
sound was reminiscent of the 15 kHz squeal remembered from cathode
ray-tube TV sets of past years, produced by their flyback transformer.
Once convinced that this new shrill sound was being produced by the
Wi-Fi device we proved it by switching off the power which doused the
noise. It reminded me of a woman who once told me she could hear radar
and there are accounts of radar being perceived acoustically in Paul
Brodeur's book 'The Zapping of America'. In our case today we found
further light on the subject:
Thursday November 11, 2021 9:08 AM CST -- Inputs to the Mind --
Sight
and sound are the chief mechanisms for importing information to the
mind and they operate in tandem, by which both senses are able to focus
closely on a single event, or they are separable such as listening to
the radio while reading the mail. Thinking about these distinctions
arises because I prefer to continue listening to KDX while also
researching a topic, leading to the question - does the web offer text
based sites providing useful reference information? If the ears weren't
otherwise occupied we'd probably look to YouTube for video tutorials on
most topics, but now we specifically want data filtered for the eye so
as to keep the ears on the radio. Let's find out.
Wednesday November 10, 2021 3:21 PM CST -- How To Stay On Top --
Encourage
the purchase of other radio stations by religious organizations,
contribute generously to the support of those stations so that your
commercial station has the market mostly to itself. Has this been done?
It would
be imprudent to admit for fear of retribution by corporate hit squads.
We'll just call it a wild-haired conspiracy theory. It's an example of
the type of nonsense best left unpublished. Sheer hyperbole.
Wednesday November 10, 2021 11:23 AM CST -- Somewhere --
That's
where we are. We've gotten somewhere with the studio-transmitter-link.
But the problem wasn't RFI, no. What was the problem? Good question.
Two things, really. The Wi-Fi transmitter and receiver were having
trouble pairing because of poor wireless signal path and the little
3-fold sheet of paper called a 'manual' gave hasty instructions in
broken English with some details missing altogether. By stretching
devices around to odd locations there's now signal throughput most of
the time, pending the raising of the equipment so as to achieve
line-of-sight above the obstacles.
Wednesday November 10, 2021 8:16 AM CST -- What 'Technical Procedure' Was Taking Place? --
(Our Parking Page gave the reason for our offline status as 'Off for Technical Procedures')
As
regular blog readers recall, the Wi-Fi audio link to the
Procaster Transmitter went from woke to broke, putting AM 1680 off
the air. Early this morning, while most of the city slept, KDX
engineers were hard at work installing our OTHER Wi-Fi audio link, but
when we tested it the result was very intermittent and at first
resembled a loose connection or bad cable, so we shut her down. That's
when experience kicked in and our brain remembered another potential
cause of fluttery operation known within the industry as "RFI" (Radio
Frequency Interference). After all, we'd placed the Wi-Fi receiver
directly alongside the Procaster. To prove our hypothesis we're going
to move the Wi-Fi device to a location several feet away from the AM
powerhouse. Then we'll return to The Blog to accept adulation for being
so right.
Wednesday November 9, 2021 8:11 AM CST -- Make Rolling Radio Great Again
Tuesday November 9, 2021 3:46 PM CST -- Someone Who Has Everthing Gets a Gift --
Senator
Kyrsten Sinema has been sitting in on The Blare Blog and can be seen
accepting a AMT5000 Part 15 Transmitter from Mitt Romney.
Picture Courtesy of Duck Duck Go
Tuesday November 9, 2021 3:13 PM CDT -- Depends What You Mean by 'License' --
Our
part 15 micro-radio stations are the least of what the NAB should worry
about unless they absurdly believe two or three listeners might
actually listen to NAB member stations were it not for our alternative
programs reaching less than five listeners here and there and now and then. Our type
stations are already subjected to fees, albeit indirectly, owing to the
transmitter certification requirement placed on manufacturer
distributors of the the miniature transmitting equipment which gets
passed along to the user in the form of price. We are not actually
'unlicensed' should we consider the authority granted by the Part 15
Rules for the 'intentional radiators' which put us on the air for a few
hundred feet; permission is our virtual license to use the public
airwaves as members of public society. The NAB has got to find
something to do in its self promotion and by declaring a movement
against the unlicensed spectrum there is little else they'll be able to
find as a next cause.
Tuesday November 9, 2021 11:28 AM CST -- Thought Report --
Thoughts
are louder than environmental sound here in the depths of the pandemic,
so many people stuck home riding the internet. Thoughts of past
times come blowing as if only yesterday, and can be relived as if the
same circumstances still exist at the other end of a drive to the city
or a convenient phone call. I'll always sit in review of two job offers
that arose in the midst of professional occupation that I turned down
without ever regretting but it surprised both me and those offering the
opportunity. After years of complaining, "I could manage a radio
station better than the boss", both offers were management positions,
one being a small newly purchased station in a small town and the other
a once top rated station in a major market. The little station in the
boonies scared me because the town was so small you could see it
all end to end from a car seat. I never even went inside. The
larger city station was AM at the point when FM was all but completely
taking over as the dominant radio medium and I knew well that I did not
have the formula for AM recovery, but was able to recommend exactly the
man for the job and was proven right. That's then. What happens now,
decades later, is that I believe it took this long to learn what I
might have done to breath new life into the legacy station but by now
it's been sold multiple times and become a Jesus station but I can be
proud at making the right decision at that time.
We're talking
about the magnitude of thoughts sparked by the stillness at the eye of
a pandemic, and reading a neighbor's mind as he stepped out of his
house for a walk gave me the notion he needed to get away from wife and
children, and after the chilly walk he returned with renewed spirit
happy to have loving people and warm hearth walled away from the
heartless world. We can appreciate what we have when we don't have it.
As
far as proposed fees for users of unlicensed radio spectrum one must
first wonder why the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) would
stoop to such minutia when the larger advantage would seem to belong to
the thousands of watts hoarded by licensed broadcasters whereas
unlicensed devices are almost imperceptibly weak by comparison. Most
probably the NAB, always posturing as 'defender' and 'advocate' of
licensed spectrum, has taken notice that overall tiny unlicensed
devices are taking the audience away from the radio dial and facing
them toward handheld micro-screens where the internet of everything
brings the complete bundle of radio, TV, texting, phoning, seeking and
learning. For reasons that have not been expressed the NAB ignores the
nose on the elephant by failing to inform their member stations that
very likely excellent quality programming would give listeners
something to come back for, so there's a pitiful pretense that the NAB
actually has something to protect but you cannot protect dullness. So,
they attack spectrum use so small and insignificant as if by
discouraging or preventing creative use of veritable toys people will
be obediently stupid enough to listen to crap on the licensed services.
If I had taken one of those managerial jobs my station wouldn't be an
NAB member and I would walk the neighborhood with an unlicensed tablet
scrolling YouTube.
Tuesday November 9, 2021 8:07 AM CST -- NAB Proposes Fees for Unlicensed Spectrum Users --
Monday November 8, 2021 2:28 PM CST -- Updated Part 15 Rules --
Sunday November 7, 2021 7:52 PM CST --
Anyone who promotes positive thinking should be flunked retroactively from grade school.
- Carl Blare
Sunday November 7, 2021 3:04 AM CST -- Time Check --
Starting
at 2 AM CDT/1 AM CST we've been active in KDX Control
Center co-ordinating everything related to the keeping of time as part
of the shift from Daylight to Standard time. The Schedule
page of the KDX Website displays the schedule in terms of local
Central time relative to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). Just as
important, it is necessary to re-align the time-giving element of our
audio time service broadcast served over KDX and KHZ for a very
particular reason: although Universal Time remains constant the Zara
Automation clock, taking it's time signal from the KDX computer-server,
is driven by local 12-hour time which requires compensating every
minute's announcement to the 24-hour Universal standard. It's as
difficult to manage as it is to explain.
Provided by NIST
Interesting
to note... the clock on the right-side of the linked page provides a
measurement of your computer clock's accuracy at the instant of connection. Our clock is off by 3.234s.
Unable to monitor WWV by
shortwave because of poor reception conditions, we were able to verify
our calculations by calling 303-499-7111, the Institute of Standard's 'clock line'.
Saturday November 6, 2021 6:17 PM CDT -- About Icecast --
The
present version of Icecast Streaming Software is 2.4.4 with nothing having
changed for several years pertaining to the open source offerings of xiph.org,
home base for Icecast and including the OGG-VORBIS and OPUS audio
codecs. To all appearances no development activity has been taking
place although Icecast is very widely used not only by thousands of
private individual streamers but very commonly by licensed radio
stations. Are we to suspect that the effort has been abandoned or that
other troubling dramas are playing out? At this point of Internet time, streaming
of all kinds has become a vigorous marketplace and it is reasonable to
believe that corporate players who seek to dominate the field might be
plotting to end the era of open source free software. This is not a
rumor we've heard, it is only our fantasy imagination being
negative about the possibilities. We'll continue probing in an attempt
to assuage any concern.
Saturday November 6, 2021 3:56 PM CDT -- CDT Shifts to CST Overnight --
Guidelines
- At 2 AM tonight, which will be Sunday morning, set the clock back
1-hour and leave it that way until sometime in the spring. Check the
batteries in smoke detectors and other security devices.
Saturday November 6, 2021 1:25 PM CDT -- Radio Binge --
Right
now KDX is streaming an episode of 'HAM Radio Workbench' talking
about one of our favorite subjects - 'Stealth Antennas'. We stood out
in the sun listening on the TECSUN PL-310 and now have the C.Crane Plus
continuing indoors as we blog about it. It occurred to us that Saturday
might be the right time to binge on radio programs about radio. There
are many good amateur radio programs, the 'Radio Survivor
Program', 'This Week in Radio Tech' with Kirk Harnak and the FCC
podcast. This is not definite as many other types of programs also go
well on Saturday. We're also starting to carry
more medical-scientific presentations about vaccines and
health
and want to make way to promote rail travel.
Friday November 5, 2021 3:06 PM CDT -- Open Minded Discussion On
Vaccines --
The
press toward vaccination and the politicization of the matter
surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic attracts the attention of the KDX
News Desk where some things don't seem to add up. While being impartial
and neutral, having no agenda of our own to impress upon the audience,
we want to employ the technique of journalism to inquire into such
puzzling evidence as the resistance to vaccines by so many medical
professionals and other professional, educated persons. The website
linked here is part of our in depth investigation.
Thursday November 4, 2021 3:45 PM CDT -- Colored Food --
Who knew there are so many foods of blue.
Thursday November 4, 2021 3:37 PM CDT -- Foods of Color --
We talked earlier of purple food.
Thursday November 4, 2021 3:03 PM CDT --
Neigh
is the sound made by a horse, also called a whinny. A neighbor is
someone living near enough that you can hear their horses. I don't
know. That's a guess. Etymology is a fancy word for the study of word
history. That's another guess because I'm not altogether sure. Let's
look it up. Join you in the next paragraph.
Hello again. We are
just back from etymonline.com where "neigh" and "neighbor" are handled
separate from one another with no inter-relationship mentioned, but I
think my guess could probably have been true in past centuries when
having a horse was like having an automobile that became a member of
the family. Knowing so many things goes well for talk show hosts but
often irritates neighbors who then talk about you as a "know it all",
"smart ass", "wise guy", "stuck up old fart", and so on. One more. In
the case of back-biting neighbors you could think of them as "bores
that neigh".
Thursday November 4, 2021 7:17 AM CDT -- Text to Speech --
Like hiring an announcing staff.
Thursday November 4, 2021 6:06 AM CDT -- Awake At the Wheel --
Today
will be bright so far as weather is concerned and we have plans to go
with it. Some of it has to do with research, by which we mean 'looking
things up' to pin down meanings and definitions. We have a spontaneous
interest in selecting all the purple or violet food visible across the
grocery horizon based simply on seeing our four purple onions waiting
in the pantry. We may have read somewhere that the color of food has no
particular affect as to its benefits, but maybe that's wrong. I've
always thought we should seek more blue food. And there's the lingering
question over honey, considered widely to be a beneficial health food
and used with our instant coffee to provide an incentive boost to
starting the day. But a YouTube video showed graphs demonstrating that
sugar, fructose and honey all have the same chemical response in the
body. Also today we have a plan for restoring AM radio service by
firing up the AMT5000 transmitter from SSTran possibly using a
horizontally polarized antenna. As mentioned recently our usual AM FM
signals went silent when the studio transmitter link Wi-Fi system
blinked out. We have big plans for restoring the signal pathways by
installing a balanced wire connection, a different Wi-Fi link, and we
have some UHF wireless mic transmitter/receivers that can be repurposed
as a wireless audio link. Backups of backups galore. There may be time
to review the program schedule sent our daily over KDX-OGG SuperStream
where we've renewed dedication to the talk format that
delivers a
strong mix of international news and intellectual content now rounded
out by the Tower Top Time clock consisting of ticks (no tocks) every
second and voice announcement each minute, now being carried overnights
on KDX with Time Station KHZ closed pending installation of its own
computer-server. Taken all together it's a solopsist's dream projecting
electronically to the four corners with continuing exploration into a
fifth corner.
Wednesday November 3, 2021 12:18 NOON CDT -- Slow Progress --
The
failed Wi-Fi Studio Transmitter Link that is keeping KDX-AM 1680 off
the air was put to a test this morning and
confirmed non-functional. The device consists of 2 components,
the
receiver and a wallwart power supply, both sealed with no accessible
screws for dis-assembling. Labeling on the underside of the receiver
contains information not printed in the accompanying leaflet, most
notably an FCC ID Number: SH6MB1000. The power supply includes a
mini-USB plug, meaning that more common 5.0V 1.0A supplies can't easily
be substituted. The first thing to suspect as defective are capacitors,
so if we find a way to open the small casings we may be back
in
business. Being an MCM product, a company purchased by Mouser
Electronics, the Model No. MB1000 has long since been dropped from
inventory.
Wednesday November 3, 2021 12:12 NOON CDT --
The
most fulfilled people are the ones who get up every morning and stand
for something larger than themselves.
- Wilma Mankiller, activist, social worker, community developer,
first woman elected to serve as principle chief of the Cherokee Nation
Quote borrowed from Broadcasting+Cable Smart Brief
Tuesday November 2, 2021 2:57 PM CDT -- Don't Move In On Our Territory
--
I
meta first!
- Carl Blare, the office staff staring blankly
before returning to what they were doing.
Tuesday November 2, 2021 1:53 PM CDT -- The Physics of Gravity May Not
Be What Has Been Theorized --
One doesn't expect changes to the "Laws of Physics" but we may be wrong
about gravity and dark matter.
Tuesday November 2, 2021 12:58 NOON CDT -- Unsettled Politics and the
FCC --
Tuesday November 2, 2021 10:44 AM CDT -- Very Friendly Women --
The
title has nothing to do with anything but it attracted your attention.
What we are really talking about is Blare OnAir from Feb. 10, 2012 when
almost everybody called or stopped by. Bruce phoned with true stories
of supernatural events, Detective Rock Jocko came by to meet Haughty
Shish the talk show diva, an episode of Idle American and the Last
Minute Radio Theatre. By far this is the best show we've ever done.
Tuesday November 2, 2021 10:12 AM CDT --
Part
15 radio is the cause with little effect
- Carl Blare Feb. 10, 2012
Tuesday November 2, 2021 9:47 AM CDT -- DJ Dave Letterman --
Aged 22 student DJ at Ball State University.
Monday November 1, 2021 5:45 PM CDT --
Who
cares who's going to win when everyone's going to lose.
- Isaac Asimov, author, philosopher
Monday November 1, 2021 5:44 PM CDT --
We
are all scandals.
-James Hillman, American psychologist
Monday November 1, 2021 5:01 PM CDT -- Capturing the Moment --
At
times very elaborate ideas come into the head regarding tentative blog
topics, but unless taking immediate action the inspiration passes and
even if I remember what would have been said the impulse wanes and at
most gets left for future uptake. More likely the idea fades
altogether. As far afield as it may be I was considering a detailed
opinion piece about proposed changes to custom and law regarding the
responsibilities faced by accidental parents. The motivation wasn't
coming from any personal approach or avoidance of parenthood but rather
from empathy for the unending situations facing people in general
finding themselves swept up in romantic risk. It's a subject that will
arise again and we'll give it page space. Soon after leaving those
thoughts we proved again how vital KDX is for personal daily life given
temporary breakdown of our transmission system and resorting to local
radio which we so often disparage for dullness and lack of
worthwhile content. Religion, sports, and juvenile extreme right wing
bashing of 'lefties'
and 'progressives' smears the dial. Very circular. Very ruminative.
Well, now I've kind of written about those issues anyway but not in the
detail originally planned. So, as the day grows dark, it's more about
food and finding a good free movie. Oh ya, and we wanted to expand on
an
incomplete definition of 'solipsism' given by a radio host. It's an
important psychological-philosophical concept not familiar to the
crowd. The Blog may be taking a turn as we post notice of things
we're presently not going to write about.
Monday November 1, 2021 1:03 PM CDT -- Unlicensed Longwave Experimental
Radio --
KDX
Worldround Radio has come near completion of a longwave radio
transmitter for operation under FCC 15.217, and sees further
opportunity in this story:
Monday November 1, 2021 12:54 NOON CDT -- Two Solar Flares
Monday November 1, 2021 12:48 NOON CDT -- Zulu Time --
Knowing how World Time works is a useful radio skill.
Monday November 1, 2021 10:06 AM CDT -- Trained Ears --
Because
of technical difficulties described in a recent blog KDX is
temporarilly transmitting from the 2nd Audio Output jack of the
computer-server over a spare KDX-FM transmitter. The audio quality
percieved on nearby radios is spectacular, making us realize that the
quality delivered over the now broken Wi-Fi wireless link was
not
so good as we thought it was. Ears had become accostumed to the Wi-Fi
wireless device over several years and considered it top quality, but
we now realize it was only fair quality. Although for feeding an AM
transmitter it's probably adequate but we're making these newer audio
judgements based on FM sound. It's interesting to map out the times an
audio signal converts from analog to digital, back to analog, then
again digitized and again down-converted to analog. Naturally the
frequency response varies in stages as sampling frequencies are
increased/decreased, and some equipment is locked at a particular
sampling range and not variable, but perhaps well applied EQ
(equalization) could improve outcomes.
Monday November 1, 2021 7:52 AM CDT -- Almost Everything --
If you're looking for something try looking here
Monday November 1, 2021 6:58 AM CDT -- Pirate Radio Day --
The
Bruce Monitoring Station in Pennsylvania notified us that yesterday was
annual Pirate Radio Day and he was out in the yard listening for
nefarious transmissions. He described one fairly strong signal sending
a Michael Jackson song at 6925 kHz upper sideband, sounding somewhat
scrambly. Bruce advised taking a good shortwave radio outdoors to hunt
for illicit signals, but we could hear screaming halloween demons everywhere and
double-locked all the doors. From inside we checked 6925 and heard
mostly noise with possibly a very weak signal pulsating in and out.
What I actually wanted to hear was WWV at any of their several UTC time
frequencies, but have had no luck in several weeks.
