The Blare Blog
Center
of the Bla Bla Galaxy
As We Speak
December
2021
Friday December 31, 2021 10:17 AM CST -- The Stair Report --
As
recently blogged, Brother Stair is renting all the time on local
daytimer AM 770 for his Overcomer Ministery sermons. Yesterday I tuned
in just before sundown and heard only digital data noise buzzing and
blipping with no analog audio. This ran until exactly 5:45 PM local
time when the carrier left the air without giving a signoff message.
Would somebody please check the FCC rules? I think a sign off message
is required, identifying the station. Oh well, it's none of our
business, but it's the kind of thing radio hobbyists notice.
Friday December 31, 2021 6:19 AM CST -- Radio Reaches Death Row --
Wednesday December 29, 2021 12:54 NOON -- Buster Takes the Microphone --
From time to time Carl's barber takes a moment to share his political views with The Blog.
Presenting Buster Boatrocker:
This is Buster Boatrocker.
About a year ago fellow Americans headed to the White House
To take this Nation back!
I stayed behind for business reasons...
My barber shop was offering beard trims that looked like face masks.
The only way someone could see it wasn't a real mask
was if you opened your mouth and talked.
Then I heard that Trump was a no-show at the insurrection.
He really threw us all under the bus.
So now I'm switching over to President Biden.
We should heed his words and
Better build back!
Tuesday December 28, 2021 5:37 AM CST -- About Covid Treatment --
Sunday December 26, 2021 10:26 AM CST -- The Record Is Never Straight --
The disgraced ex-chairman of the now defunct ALPB posted a message:
"New Years Day will be on January 1st this year"
The Blare Blog helpfully points out that New Years Day is always on January 1st. Bottoms up!
Sunday December 26, 2021 4:16 AM CST -- Doing Radio Right --
It's
almost Monday in New Zealand as we listen to the sounds of Rag FM, and
invite you to pay a visit to this very impressive radio station run by
Johny Cole, active supporter of low power radio in the world. But let's
back up a little... yesterday I contacted Johny because he's the most
knowledgable person I know on any problems that come up with Zara
Automation Software, and he got right back with the helpful answer as
he always does. While I was waiting for the reply I scrolled the Rag FM
Website and was super impressed by the many DJs who spin tunes on 'Rag
FM', click "Shows", the exact thing more low power stations should have... live talent; hosts who love the music as much as the listeners.
A KDX DEMAND RADIO Station
Saturday December 25, 2021 8:18 PM CST -- CARL-ING THROUGH THE SNOW --
You-All Tide Greetings from Boomer:
Merry Christmas Carl.
Funny how you found Brother Stair on your radio, like your radio
was told by a Higher Power to resonate with 770 khz. We have a low
frequency AM station with Mr. Stair as well, 24 hours a day. I
found it by tuning around one night and the usual sports
programming was missing, and instead it was a low fidelity
recording of a church service, an overloaded microphone with no
treble frequencies and delivered with such fervor it sounded like a
cattle stampede in progress.
I didn't know it was Overcomer Ministries until it was announced,
and then a long answering machine tape of testimonials came on,
telling how Overcomer has helped listeners with their walk.
Too bad they closed the petition for 1 watt in the AM band, it was
something to look at, but I don't think the desire is really there,
from broadcasters or the radio bosses, FCC and NAB or media
companies. I've seen other sites and groups push for something more
on AM and to make it real community radio, an AM version of LPFM
called LPAM. I've been involved in drives a few times, and it
starts with enthusiasm and a lot of good ideas, but then the
movement loses its energy slowly like a leaky capacitor, with what
seems like a lack of consensus and good leadership, and maybe just
not enough people who want LPAM badly enough.
Going ten times power, from 100 milliwatts to one watt would help
with coverage, but not as much as some may think. Better would be
to remove antenna restrictions, even keeping the current 1/10th
watt. If you could keep the power the same and any antenna it would
allow flexibility and provide incentive for the motivated. Most
could put up a long wire antenna, but few would take it as far as a
quarter wave broadcast tower.
Back in earlier times at Part15 NET someone did the math for what a
full size broadcast tower would do with 100 mw and it came out to
being 100 to 200 times more efficient than a 10 foot regulation
whip antenna would be.
Politically I'd like to see more local emergency and weather radio
stations on AM, as you mentioned, and a proposal for LPAM community
radio stations, in places where FM frequencies aren't available. I
still believe if you're serving your group with something they
can't get elsewhere, you could supply them with radios or tell them
where to buy one. You think of the internet, but it's being
censored more and more.
I like how Peter Skiera is doing a hitch-hikers guide to on line
radio stations, and the article's black and white picture of Peter
with the old radio is great!
- Boomer
Carl's
Talk Back - Hello Boomer. I hope you enjoyed your gift. What impresses
me most about Brother Stair is how obviously wealthy he must be to
arrange lengthy schedules on so many stations. If I knew where to buy a
white clerical collar I'd start a radio church and hire female college
drop-outs to run the money room. And we also have been involved in
discussions about 'lobbying' the FCC for higher Part 15 power on the AM
dial, but it was just talk and no one did any work to formalize the
effort. And the silly talk about LPAM seems to be done by half-woke
non-thinkers, because there already is a low power AM allowance in the
fact that licensed AM stations can operate at a minimum power of 250
Watts, which is literally low power. Get your consulting engineer and
go to work. Make it commercial or non-commercial, stop day dreaming. A
lot of the little changes we think about are of no interest at all to
the FCC which has become a rich man's occupational force serving only
the corporate puppet masters. Everyone is equal under the law only if we can prove it in court.
Friday December 24, 2021 4:38 PM CST -- Deutsche Welle Festival Concerts on KDX --
For
another year KDX is pleased to carry weekly 2-hour programs from the
Deutsche Welle Music Festival bringing concerts from throughout Germany
for 13-weeks. The program's new host is Christina Burack, following the
many years programmed and hosted by Rick Fulker, who continues in
service at DW, the German radio service. The 1st program in the series
ran today as a holiday feature in place of the several regular programs
taking leave until the new year. Program 2 will air next Friday
December 31st, and in following weeks move to a regular Saturday time
slot yet to be announced.
Thursday December 23, 2021 6:40 AM CST -- Petition to Increase Part 15 AM Power to 1 Watt --
Wednesday December 22, 2021 8:49 AM CST -- Wow! Peter Skiera is Sampling All 61,000 Internet Radio Stations! --
As
we've griped, there are too many internet stations and most of them are
not worth hearing, but finally someone is checking them out and
recommends the good ones.
Wednesday December 22, 2021 7:56 AM CST -- Business Not As Usual --
On
the weekly 'Security Now' computer program from TWiT.tv with Steve
Gibson and Leo Laporte it was just mentioned that next week will be a
vacation for them, alerting me to have a fill-in program ready. Also
yesterday Thom Hartmann said his program will consist of the 'Best
Of - ReRuns' until his return to live shows on January 3rd. Many
hours for KDX to sample new programs of which many are available.
In
addition to program business we continue exploration of wireless audio
in the Wi-Fi channels which is not so easy to understand based on the
generally sketchy skills of YouTube presenters who often lack in-depth
knowledge of what they attempt to convey and no-doubt presume that
viewers already know enough to leave extra detail unnecessary. One
example of the not-understood has to do with several Wi-Fi audio
receivers available without matching transmitters. Instead, this
category of receiver obtains its signal somehow from a computer's
installed Wi-Fi system, but I suspect that it's actually a matter of
digital audio sent from the Wi-Fi adapter and not the Wi-Fi router, but
discussion of this aspect of the process is lacking and is confused
further by Smartphones or iPods being required to control whatever
takes place, with no true explanation of specifically what is being
controlled or how to accomplish control within the computer without
needing a handheld device.
Tuesday December 21, 2021 10:00 AM CST -- Strange Occurances in the New Astronomical Year --
It
all began overnight during the longest night of the year. A radio near
the dinner table tuned itself to 770 kHz on the dial and found
myself hearing one of the most countrified backwoods barely articulate
sermons ever heard on local radio. It didn't seem real. I checked and
rechecked the frequency, and it was truly set on AM 770. Now, there is
a local station on this frequency, but they haven't had religious
preachers but have been an ethnic station where the same Bosnian host
has played endless songs imported from wherever his home country is located.
Nothing has been said in the local paper about a change on this
station. So I looked up its website and went to the 'Program Schedule'
page, where it nows says only one thing: "Overcomer Ministry with
Brother Stair". The name wasn't unfamiliar, as Brother Stair is heard
on every shortwave station including WBCQ 'The Planet' where owner
Allan Weiner has talked about certain controversy surrounding the
Brother, but a troubled reputation is seemingly no obstacle to
expansion for Overcomer. So today, during the shortest day of the year,
I logged in at the Official Ministry Website and scrolled through all
the stations until I came upon the listing for local AM 770 and sure
enough, "Brother Stair sunrise to sunset" dominating the full station
schedule. My oh my.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 21, 2021 10:59 AM EST/9:59 AM CST/8:59 AM CST/7:59 AM PST
THE WINTER SOLSTICE
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
Monday December 20, 2021 6:53 AM CST -- DAILY FREE NEWS SOURCE --
For radio stations that provide their own voices this non-political daily free news source provides compiled news.
Sunday December 19, 2021 10:01 AM CST -- Deep At Night --
In
the deepest depth of night I found I had a choice. I could either get
up and see more Wi-Fi videos on YouTube, or I could return to dreaming
where I'd just left a weedy overgrown industrial area behind the gas
company buildings, where I'd delivered my monthly bill. There was an
old railroad yard with one single rail running near the edge closest to
me, and I wondered if there might be one-rail trains operating.
I'd reached this desolate location by continuously walking toward the
left, expecting to arrive back at the parking lot but instead always
getting further into the gas company complex. After contemplating the
matter for 20-minutes I opted for watching the router videos but by
8-in the morning must have dozed because KDX was not started,
adding to my history of missing station sign ons. To compensate we'll
air Glenn Hauser's 'World of Radio' later in the day, probably at 2 PM
CST. If I hadn't written about it here in The Blog no-one would be the
wiser, but the beans are spilled.
Sunday December 19. 2021 9:51 AM CST -- Best & Worst Classical Music Endings --
Usually
when I write about classical music you skip ahead and avoid reading it,
but don't do that this time. At about 3:30 this morning in between
watching videos about Wi-Fi routers I chanced upon a ton of great
presentations by a composer named David Bruce, talking in a very
entertaining way with interesting facts about classical music. This one
about musical endings reminds me of a program I once did on the subject
of classical music endings, my motivation at the time was to promote
classical music by pointing out aspects that might appeal to the
ignorant of society. Mr. Bruce goes farther and does even better than I
did.
Saturday December 18, 2021 4:25 PM CST -- Inquiry On Ring Doorbell --
Saturday December 18, 2021 3:56 PM CST -- A Moment Spent Virtually Elsewhere --
Early
in the morning prior to starting KDX for the day, we arbitrarily chose
Public Radio Station KBIA of the University of Missouri School of
Journalism, and heard a pleasant female host with plenty of good sound
bites recalling post war Germany when the Russians sealed off the east
and the Allies, including Britain, France and the U.S., governed the
west. My only criticism is very personal, it seemed to go on too long
and I became impatient to hear it out to the end. All of which
goes to another topic of interest, how long should things be? Somewhere
in all the readings of the past I recall someone saying that studies
have determined that 90-minutes is the maximum length of attention the
average person is comfortable to spend, perhaps explaining why public
concerts and movie lengths are somewhere in this range, but this
morning's case reached less than an hour before I was ready to ditch so
it's all uncertain if you ask me. This wasn't too long, was it?
Saturday December 18, 2021 3:50 PM CST -- What is Music? --
I'll
tell you what music is. Music is the seeking of and ideally the
experience of beauty, or an expression of longing and remorse in its
absence.That about covers it. And now, back to our program.
Saturday December 18, 2021 1:56 PM CST -- Wi-Fi 7 On the Horizon --
Saturday December 18, 2021 12:05 NOON CST -- Lighting At Night --
All
the colored lights that get strung for the holidays are the best thing
about the holidays, as with the short daylight at the end of the astronomical
year people tend to become despondent. We are a species that needs
light, and KDX stands behind the practice of displaying electric
light out in the long night. We worry a little bit
about making birds visible to predators as they attempt to blend into
the darkness, but they could always move to the back yards
where most people don't hang strings of light. Oh and our
programming troubles are completely solved as there are endless
supplies of talking book classics of literature in the public domain as
well as classical music concerts which will keep KDX going until we're
well into returning season when gift refunds put the finishing touch on
celebrating. Does anyone happen to know what Wi-Fi frequencies are used
for Ring Doorbells?
Friday December 17, 2021 3:20 PM CST -- Conversation with Mark - Part 3 --
We'll probably start running out of things to say, but for now here's my latest Email to Mark:
- Hello Mark Again:
- I understand what you mean when you say this conversation should be
on the Forum!
- Actually, you have my permission to put my Emails on the forum if
you wish, also anything from my Blog can be re-printed and I also
will continue promoting part15.org once in awhile through mentions.
- The only place where I submit directly is my own Blog, for several
reasons. Most of all it's to protect my time. In past years I was
posting to several forums and it took up way more of my time than
was wise and I decided to limit myself to one outlet, but with the
mission of promoting the Part 15 Radio Hobby.
- You mentioned Tim in Bovey and he, I think, is the top hero of part
15 having made his whole life about radio in every possible way,
even operating a profitable FCC compliant station.
- I totally agree with you about the hazard of microwave radiation
and I hope to minimize my exposure as I build my station. I have
never had a Smartphone and do not have Wi-Fi, but I do have a
TP-Wireless Wi-Fi Transmitter/Receiver and a cordless phone, plus I
measure a strong amount of 2.4 GHz coming from my next door
neighbor, so I need a better plan. Oh, and the utility companies
all put in "smart"meters so maybe there's no way to totally avoid
exposure.
- It's chilly and rainy here today. I hope Canada is comfortable.
- Carl
Friday December 17, 2021 12:07 NOON CST -- Conversation with Mark - Part 2 --
When we left off I had told Mark that he was a good moderator at part15.org. He responded:
Thanks for thinking I am a good
moderator although there's not much to moderate.
To which we replied:
- To Mark:
- I recall a few things you wrote about the thought process that you
use to be as fair as you can about moderating. I liked that way of
sharing your process with the readers and think other moderators
might want to be less invisible and speak like you did to the
people who come to browse.
- There are probably many readers to your forums, but these days
there seems to be less interest in simple AM & FM radio hobby as
people may be more hypnotized by their handheld devices. I'm only
guessing.
- I've been learning about transmitters and receivers for 2.4 GHz
Wi-Fi use as links from my studio to the Procaster AM and C.Crane
FM2.
- All the best. - Carl
Mark's response:
I only think it right to give a
brief explanation why something had to be moderated or the thread
ended.
So you still check the forum?
I see when I check the members
who has been on in the past few days and it seems that lots are but
no one posts.
I think what you said about the
obsession with smartphones is true to an extent but also what
Timinbovey said about everyone just running their stations and
nothing new comes up for a topic and it's all been said in the
past.
The idea of a section that was suggested for everyone to list
their stations....country, city, small area covered, format and
frequency was a good idea but I need admin to set that up and made
the suggestion as I can't do it.
It would have to be an addition in the forum section or something
that stays visible everytime you go on the forum and not disappear
down the line as more posts are posted.
You have a point about using bluetooth or wi fi as a wireless way
of getting your signal from audio source to transmitter as using
those frequency ranges are not licensed or regulated but
personally, and just me, I don't like use of that as there's
potential harm as you get to microwaves. I use a cable to my
computer for internet and don't have a smartphone and would never
stick a bluetooth device in my ear. Also, your smartphone is a VERY
powerful transmitter, on your body all the time, as it has to get
out of a building and the nearest cell phone tower can be a few
miles away. Your smartphone is a WAY more powerful transmitter than
what the Procaster is putting out. Even in the same room with it at
that frequency is not harmful in any way. Neither is the FM signal
from my Decade MS-100. Regular AM and FM is much lower frequency on
the RF scale and has much less energy and never has concern been
expressed since the start of radio that these frequencies are
harmful to you. Especially at the transmit power we use. Even near
50,000 watt transmitters have not been shown to hurt you.
But we should be talking about this on the forum! - Mark
Back to me. This is Carl, and I'll be writing to Mark with comments about the things he wrote about. Keep watching.
Friday December 17, 2021 11:41 AM CST -- The Mischke Road Show Makes Two U-Turns --
With a small nudge to the memory bank past listeners of our Low Power Hour
will recall the frequent Tommy D. Mischke features, charting his course
from major WCCO nighttime talkshow host to self-starting
podcaster-of-the-highways with his Mischke Roadshow as heard on KDX. To
our disappointment in a recent month he put an end-date when his
program would conclude, but this week on what we thought was close to a
final episode everything is back-on and the Roadshow will continue into
2021.
Friday December 17, 2021 6:45 AM CST -- World Order New and Old --
The best way to achieve New World Order is to blow it up and take over what's left.
- Military Solutions Magazine
Friday December 17, 2021 6:27 PM CST -- Weather Radio Band and the Bandits --
Following
the conversation this week with Bill Baker of The Radio Source
regarding the idea of moving weather radio onto the AM band, we
reviewed the current setup for National Weather Service Radio:
As
we see, the National Weather Service now occupies 162.400 to 163.275
MHz in the VHF spectrum. It seems to me that if the giant
communications companies, eg, ATT, Verizon, Sprint, et al, realized
there's a chunk of spectrum space they haven't already grabbed, they
might overshadow the NAB in a spree to rope it in for cell phone use
making another billion dollar pay day for the FCC which has sold off
most of the public airwaves sinking their windfall into a black hole
leaving no one knowing where the money went. At least we might get our
wish of seeing weather transmitters open shop on the Medium Wave Band.
Friday December 17, 2021 5:42 AM CST -- Doof --
On
Saturday Night Live (SNL) we noticed the word 'doof' used where I think
they might have meant 'dork', so we looked into the matter:
And then we found another possibility:
Thursday December 16, 2021 4:23 PM CST -- Plotting a Future for AM Radio --
Every few days I submit another tremendous idea to Bill Baker at The Radio Source and here's what I sent this morning:
- Hello Bill Baker:
- Another idea that might be good would be to move weather radio onto
the AM band where the general public could actually find it. Not so
many people presently bother to acquire weather radios.
- This would have several benefits... it would open a whole
additional category for your company, would expand the future
usefulness of the AM band, would free up a chunk of VHF space which
is in high demand and short supply.
- Enjoy the solstice, only days away. -- Carl Blare
Bill wasn't too busy right at that moment and wrote back to say:
Carl:
That is an excellent idea that never took
off. A quick story:
I first got into this business some 40 years
ago after a 12 year old boy from Kansas had a similar but more
limited idea. His dad ran a campground there, and the boy had taken
a weather cube receiver and mated it with a small AM broadcaster
kit to provide weather info the campground for campers. NOAA
in Kansas City got wind of it and invited me and some associates to
come to the severe storm center there and discuss how that idea
could be expanded. Well, it went nowhere, even with NOAA
advocating it. But in the meantime emergency managers who buy
our products perpetually request that ability, especially for
weather emergency messages, to put them where people can access
them on a car radio. So I have approached NWS official many
times, and also discussed it from the FCC end and it has always
drawn eyebrows but nothing else. FCC and their friends at NAB
concerned that real broadcasters could lose turf if TIS stations
have daily-type weather info. They are paranoid about TIS
taking audience from the KMOX’s of this world. As for the National
Weather Service? We could not get them to be an
advocate. We think they saw the internet coming years ago and
decided their future was solely on web delivery.
So a great idea for the public did not benefit
the federal agencies, and so… it has remained a great
idea! -- Bill Baker
http://theradiosource.com
Thursday December 16, 2021 4:01 PM CST -- Email from Mark --
Mark
is a low power broadcaster in Canada who serves as a moderator at
part15.org, and he contacted us about an old post of mine from a long
time ago:
New comment on your post "Carl's Back Room"
Author: Mark
Comment:
Was going through some old posts and somehow came cross this:
- Last week a bat got into our radio station.
- While it flew around we abandoned the control room and panicked.
- Have you ever had a bat in your radio station? - Carl Blare
How did a bat get into your station? Odd.
Did you just make that up for the test response?
Naturally it was very good to hear from Mark so we replied right away and here's what we said:
- Hello Mark!
-
The bat was real! I still wonder how it got in, but I have a
theory... I often open the door to my front porch and while
the door is open a bat could have swooped in above my head without
my
noticing, perhaps it was chasing a bug. At first I did not know it
was in the house.
- I was at my computer when a shadow cast itself on the walls around
me and got larger, making me duck as I thought it must be a huge
moth or something. By standing aside I looked back and there was a
bat circling through two empty rooms unsure of where to go. For
awhile I'd held the front door open hoping the bat would leave, but
it seemed not to notice the opening.
-
I cautiously went inside, no longer seeing the bat in flight, and
after looking around I saw it clinging to the top of a
window curtain. I didn't want to hurt it so I got a transparent
canister
that had held blank CDs and slowly cupped it over the bat, which
to
my surprise did not take flight. By holding a large cardboard over
the opening to the container I walked the bat outside and opened
the canister so he could fly away.
- Hey, this gives me a chance to tell you that I do a lot of blogging
about Part 15 at The Blare Blog, and I hope you check it out. You
are welcome to contact at this same Email address.
http://kdxradio.com/blog_cover.html
- By the way, I think you are a good moderator.
- Carl
Mark
got back to us right away and had more to say, leading to a continuing
conversation, a transcript of which will be published here on The Blog
in the very near future.
Thursday December 16, 2021 8:00 AM CST -- All Clear --
Most
of yesterday was spent under a wind advisory as our share of another
large storm system moving across the northeastern states. Forecasts
varied with respect to expected speeds of wind gusts, ours were
estimated to potentially reach upwards of 50-mph, so we got as far out
of the way as possible by closing the radio station and moving the
mobile unit away from the big tree. But the daytime hours and evening
were nicely calm with only a few puffs of air audible near midnight and
some quiet rain. Meanwhile Chicago experienced blasts of 74-mph and
we're still waiting to hear from other locations.
Wednesday December 15, 2021 8:15 AM CST -- The Electromagnetic Spectrum --
Wednesday December 15, 2021 5:36 AM CST -- A Delivery Truck Pulls Up in Front of Your Station --
Oh
look, it's an Amazon Prime truck. Or is it a UPS truck. No, it looks
more like a Fedex truck. It couldn't be a USPS truck or it would
be two weeks late. Anyway, here's your 'Bill of Lading':
The Picture is from Steve Gibson GRC.com
Wednesday December 15, 2021 5:10 AM CST -- Nerds and Geeks --
I said 'nerd' but got to wondering if 'geek' would have been more appropriate, so I researched it and found the following:
And for that matter 'dweeb':
And we should add 'dork':
Wednesday December 15, 2021 5:02 AM CST -- Know You're a Nerd --
You
know you're a nerd if at 4-o'clock in the morning you watch a YouTube
video about converting a computer ATX power supply into a bench power
supply. Chalk this up to 'continuing education'.
Tuesday December 14, 2021 4:36 AM CST -- THE STATE OF THE STATION 2021 --
For
the past many years around this time of year KDX has issued a State of
the Station Edition of the Blare OnAir Program by which to report on
the results of operating this radio station over the past 365 days.
This year the station can no longer afford me as my price for bothering
with a voiced program exceeds the station's budget, but I don't mind
spending a moment at the keyboard making short work of the whole thing.
As I often say, KDX exists to provide select program listening for
myself throughout each day by way of radio, an amazing and beloved
medium, putting to use the FCC's regulations (Part 15) permitting
individuals to transmit using low power. This program service stands-in
as a surrogate for very intelligent companionship, in fact exceeds what
value might be expected from actual humans, although I like them too.
In many respects this Blog serves as an extension of the radio station
and seems to have garnered a small readership as opposed to the radio
station's negligable audience. But of course there is always me within
earshot of the nearest radio receiver and didn't we say that was the
main thing? Still, there's ego involved as with any creative endeaver,
we want our work to be admired and there's no doubt that programs heard
on KDX are possibly the smartest assortment of productive efforts in
the entire field among a constellation of tens of thousands of online
and on air stations, so naturally we feel slightly overlooked when even
family members admit they never listen nor check the Blog, and it
becomes a natural reaction to feel shunned, but at the same time we
know that it's unintentional on their part, they lacking in basic
social skills. A better response to a listener survey would be to
pretend some interest, but ordinary people are not running for
political office and thus are unskilled liars. Having admitted such personal
sensitivity about it, I'll redirect attention to the technical
side of things where operations have been stellar with a Chez Procaster
putting us on the AM Medium Wave Band particularly for hearing KDX out
around the campus where I volunteer as grounds keeper. The next most
important service is no doubt our internet servercasts operated both
for experimental satisfaction and gregarious outreach to the whole of
humanity, to the extent that sufficient web access permits. We could
write books about it or move on to a central question fueling this
whole project... why can't existing radio services suffice thereby
saving us the effort of building and maintaining what has become an
elaborate need I say expensive infrastructure? Certainly not locally
where every licensed station offers rightwing hate, wall-to-wall
sports, or looping religious messages. Oh, NPR. Ho hum. Gentrified and
sterile. About now let's just summarize by saying... things are going
well. In 2022 we expect them to go weller. I could have talked about the Pandemic, but many of our programs
deal with that quite abundantly although you're station may be a COVID debunker. In 2021 KDX has achieved perfection.
In 2022 we'll go beyond it.
Sunday December 12, 2021 9:26 AM CST --
Man was born with Original Slack
- Rev. Ivan Stang
Church of the Sub-Genius
Saturday December 11, 2021 4:27 PM CST -- A Genre Tree --
Solving
a program problem led to an unexpected result. At the start we were
trying to figure out what to do about the science program 'Groks Science' which caused a 'contains dangerous malware'
warning. We noticed that along the right side of the screen PRX-the
Public Radio Exchange was listed as an alternative source, so being a
member, we found that 'Groks' was safely downloadable, problem solved.
But as long as we were logged in we asked PRX if any concert music
programs were available and discovered that 'New Music from Bowling Green'
was ours for the asking. Actually, we've previously carried this series
on KDX while affiliated with the WFMT Network, and learn now that the
program has gone independent, so we signed up and schedule the new
music series every week starting today.
What then is 'new music', you might ask, and I see this as an opportunity to talk about how what we call 'classical music' branches off into various sub-genres, starting with 'early music' which dates from earliest music history, before 'barogue' which is more often regarded the earliest serious music. Then follow the 'classical' and 'romantic'
periods, all of it lumped together under the overall banner
of classical music, commonly thought of as 'music by dead
composers'. However the tradition has moved on and a category called 'new music'
is being written in our own time by living composers. Check with your
local college to find if you can receive college credit for reading
about this in The Blare Blog.
Saturday December 11, 2021 7:18 PM CST -- Boomercast --
Correspondent Boomer writes under the title: Carl is the Radio Source
Carl, it's good to see that you got quoted in the Radio Source
Newsletter! I thought that too, how the AM band could be used for
more emergency and information stations. It makes sense to me, when
we hear how vulnerable digital networked systems are. It's to the
point now where if internet and cell phone systems were down, it
would be an information blackout, but an AM or FM transmitter with
analog audio would be one of the easiest systems to get operating
again, because it's just analog audio.
Could the Tourist Information Services be updated? I know
it's had some upgrades, like the possibility of 5 khz audio, up
from 3 khz that it had been, but the rest seems like it's the same
as it was in the 1970s. TIS was all over my area in PA, but it
seemed like its time has come and gone. At a peak in the 1990s I
could hear 3-4 on clear frequencies, and a jumble on 1610, that's
where most of them were located, going by signs along the roadways.
They had real info loops or played the NOAA weather service, then
went into testing mode with an ID, and off-air one by one. Few
seemed like much of a service, just years of taking up dial space
and using taxpayer resources.
There's a lot on wi-fi in my area, at least the channels 1-11+ on
2.4 ghz that computers use. It's like the old cordless phone and
intercom bands, lots of signals from different houses in the
neighborhood.
- Boomer
Thank
you Boomer for contacting The Blog. It is my understanding that
Information Station messages can be updated either at the transmitter
location or remotely by phone but I tend to think some of the stations
fade away because of slack management. Keeping such stations fresh
requires hands-on attention by personnel who understand the value of
the service. I believe that influencers like the NAB work against TIS
radio by wanting such stations to be as little appealing to the public
as possible so no one tunes away from the boring member stations with
their Jesus loops and robotized satellite hate talk. I also wonder if
it's adequate to limit TIS licensees to government/public entities and
I'd invite dialogue about other possibilities. And yes, I hope my quote
as published helps open ongoing ideas about the future of the AM dial,
which we know is edging on blight.
Saturday December 11, 2021 5:38 AM CST -- Lower Learning --
The
kit of hastily grabbed supplies taken down the steps to outwait the
weather violence included a battery powered lantern, TECSUN PL-310
radio, pocket full of recharged AA batteries and a book awaiting
further attention, Bertrand Russell's 'Human Knowledge - Its Scope and Limits'.
I wish I could share something learned about this, but my attention was
continuously drawn to the radio where meteorologists talked over each
other as new weather data was noted on their radar screens. The only
radio station providing local storm coverage was KMOX with their 50-kiloWatts
at 1120 AM but their carrier was continually knocked off the air which
set me dialing around where I caught the local public radio station
airing BBC with apparently no one at hand to assume weather duties, and
the only other AM station known to employ live staff was in the middle
of a ball game. Then KMOX AM was completely lost in static as some
demonic weather god must have felled their transmitting plant over in
the Illinois cornfield, but luckily their FM repeater is close
enough that I enjoyed the privilege of ongoing coverage where they said
nothing about having lost their main claim to authority, that 50,000
Watt beast, but there was mention of simulcasting with two TV stations.
It was further mentioned that thousands had lost power, so the TV
reports would not have been heard by them given a lack of battery
powered televisions.
Saturday December 11, 2021 5:26 AM CST -- VERY SERIOUS WEATHER --
Friday
night between 8 and 10:30 PM CST KDX Worldround Radio disconnected and
took cover during two tornado siren alarms as wild and destructive
weather erupted across a six-state area. Following two downstairs
visits to the wash machine security bunker we emerged unscathed with no
damage to report and uninterrupted electric power, but as we learn of
catastrophe elsewhere we are very disturbed by news of lives lost and
property destroyed.
Saturday December 11, 2021 5:23 AM CST --
Saying that all men and women are created equal is an attempt to be overly nice.
- Manfred Tweed, founder Home School College
Thursday December 9, 2021 12:47 NOON CST -- Less or More Unlicensed Space --
Thursday December 9, 2021 9:19 AM CST -- Alexa asks, "What's Your Emergency?" Faster Warnings. New Antennas --
News Release from Bill Baker at Information Station Specialists
Carl
Here are a few stories from The
Source newsletter that may interest you:
“This is Alexa: What’s Your
Emergency?”
With Amazon’s Alexa “riding” in more cars every day, Emergency
Managers are considering “Alexa Advisories” to get information
to the public regarding emergencies. Read
more.
"High Performance Antenna
Launches New Era in Information Radio Broadcasting"
Alaska’s Pacific Spaceport is adding a new radio service for public
information and emergencies. It utilizes a new kind of antenna, but
it’s not rocket science. Read
more.
“Warn Me Faster!”
People concerned about severe weather are adding weather detectors
that don’t require NOAA or internet connectivity, or even
electricity to function. Direct detection can produce faster
alerts, especially when storms develop suddenly. Read how
the device was invented.
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
Wednesday December 8, 2021 6:15 AM CST -- Backup System --
Steve Gibson's Picture of the Week re-purposed - GRC.com
Monday December 6, 2021 12:51 NOON CST -- Humanity's Demise to Leave Behind its Own Black Box --
Monday December 6, 2021 7:04 AM CST -- Part 15 in the Microwaves --
To
this time KDX and The Blare Blog are the only part 15 voices touring
the complex standards and protocols in the lower microwaves. We first
wrote about the burgeoning world of 'Wi-Fi' and the new rules governing
FCC Part 15 low power radio waves in the U.S. several years ago at
Part15.us, a website now in blight following destructive actions by
certain of its moderators, and received no participation from the
forum's membership. Our writings on the subject continue here and find
it necessary to mount book-lengthed entries to even partially
describe what we learn along the way. It is important to realize that
the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, does not mention the
expression 'Wi-Fi' in its regulations. One must understand the
connections between the two standards bodies which fit together for a
complete picture of what's taking place. As of 2019 over 2.05 billion
Wi-Fi enabled devices have been shipped worldwide, and the subject is
further complicated by the fact that differences exist between
application of standards in different countries, placing responsibility
of the use of devices upon end-users who typically lack knowledge of
the intricacies and can inadvertently operate outside the rules. Such
was our experience when we came to realize that our TP-Wireless Audio
system was operating on channels outside of the F.C.C. authorized
portion of the 2.4 GHz band. The particular system is designed for use
anywhere in the world but does not tackle the overwhelming task of
printing a full educational course in what is or is not permitted
across jurisdictional boundaries, leaving the ultimate decisions to the
owner. As a global matter the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band is defined as 2.400
GHz to 2.495 GHz, but in the U.S. according to FCC 15.247 and 15.249,
the available space for such devices extends only to 2.4835. This is
described in another way by the U.S. allowance of 11-channels for Wi-Fi
routers whereas some other countries have up to 14-channels. The fact
that our TP-Wireless Audio Transmitter/Receiver system has 31-channels
is based on an entirely other scheme of channel assignment which
corresponds with the 14-channel internet swath based on differences in
channel bandwidths. The FCC does not require equipment certification in
respect to part 15 in this region of spectrum because the Wi-Fi
Alliance manages certification of devices designed for such use.
Exactly how the Alliance and the Commission collate and correspond
among themselves is not mentioned in anything we've encountered so far.
Bringing all of this to recent immediate experience we've developed a
theory about the neighborhood Wi-Fi signals that have periodically
interfered with our audio carrier. It is likely a wireless HDMI video
transmitter/receiver, HDMI being a standard for high-resolution video
and the observed 2-hour operating window of the signal matching the
typical length of a movie.
Sunday December 5, 2021 8:22 AM CST -- Fascinating Puzzle --
Two
nights ago we observed heavy use of the Wi-Fi frequency area being used
by our STL (Studio Transmitter Link) which caused clicks and pops
in audio being sent for our AM & FM stations. We moved one
channel higher and things were fine until last night when clicks and
pops persisted from about Midnight to 2-AM local time with strong
mystery carriers showing on our spectrum analyzer. The puzzle is in wondering
what is occurring at such an irregular time. A microwave oven is
unlikely, cordless phone improbable, baby monitor doubtful, and even
Smart Meter activity by the electric company is non-suspect. Night
engineer Ed Rack thinks it might be ghosts in the studio but Ned Stedy,
board op, suggests REM activity by so many sleepers in the surrounding
area. Also, we can't rule out migrating owls.
Saturday December 4, 2021 7:33 AM CST -- Turn Your Computer Into an Internet Radio --
This
Firefox Browser Extension adds a tiny radio icon to the upper menu bar
that functions as a veritable internet radio giving instant access to
thousands of worldwide radio stations.
Friday December 3, 2021 3:39 PM CST -- Winter Solstice Coming Close --
Slightly
over two weeks away the Winter Solstice will close the fall season in
the northern hemisphere and the KDX planning committee is making plans
for our celebration at KDX Worldround Radio. Also the days ahead will
bring some of the classical holiday 'shares' we like to make available,
including a number of Christmas Specials from our rich archive.
Friday December 3, 2021 3:46 PM CST -- The Fall and Rise of Internet Radio --
It
was the latest thing until it became a "late" thing -- internet radio
succumbed when its 'aggrevator' went belly up. The aggravation was
tremendous, and the manufacturers are working to bring back the medium
with a stronger foundation.
RadioWorld
Friday December 3, 2021 3:38 PM CST -- Our Extinction Might Be for the Best --
Friday December 3, 2021 11:33 AM CST -- NEW RADIO FREQUENCY RADIATION RULES
RadioWorld
