[BC] STL question

[Rockwell Smith]

I guess it kind of depends on how long you need to do it, and what you may 
have laying around.  It sounds like this is not a long-term situation, but 
something for a short time until other factors get resolved.   As part of 
our emergency plan in case of STL failure (granted, this is far down the 
list for our FM's, but we have used it several times for an AM) is a POTS 
codec (we happen to use TieLine).    While less than perfect, it would 
surpass the quality of a re-broadcast AM and would not suffer from skywave 
or storm signal degradations.   Also, Comrex has boxes out that give 
broadcast quality audio over the internet.  We've demo'd some of those and 
they are fairly impressive.  As far as legal is concerned, there is nothing 
that says you can't re-broadcast the AM on the FM.  As has been pointed out, 
there reverse is often done.  You can even re-broadcast someone else's 
station if you have permission from them to do so.  Quality would seem to be 
the issue, not legality.

Rockwell Smith
Radio Engineering Manager
Journal Broadcast Group - Idaho
KJOT,  KQXR,  KRVB,  KTHI,  KGEM-AM,  KCID-AM
(208) 344-3511 - Main      (208) 947-5624 - Direct Line
(208) 947-6765 -Fax         (208) 869-6413 - Cell
Email:      rockwellsmith at journalbroadcastgroup.com
Personal website: http://www.engineer-exchange.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <WFIFeng at aol.com>
To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 10:03 PM
Subject: Re: [BC] STL question


>
> In a message dated 04/08/2007 10:53:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> ron.doto at comcast.net writes:
>
>> > Even if it is legal... what about the fact that you'll have a much 
>> > lower
>>  > audio quality than is normally heard on FM? Wouldn't that tend to be a
>>  > tune-out factor?
>>
>>  Good point Willie!
>
> Someone else also pointed-out the interference from T-storms. I hadn't
> thought of that, but that is a good point. Even if you don't get them very 
> ofte
> n in
> your area, the static crashes often can be heard for vast distances,
> especially at night. You also have the problem of nightime skywave. That 
> signal
> *is*
> going to degrade significantly at night, no way around it. Then you will 
> have a
>
> VERY significant tune-out factor. :(
>