Why 87.7 and 87.9 Will Never Be Available for Hobby Use

Wonder if thelegacy has seen this?
87.7 is the place where channel 3 was before because I used to listen to the audio in the car (which goes to 87.7) which was "global" TV here in Toronto before it went digital.
But why are they thinking of "repacking" TV there?, whatever that means.
To ease the congestion expansion of the FM band from 76-108 like other countries is a good idea.



Mark

White Spaces Sharing TV Channels

With the publication of FCC Part 15.236 it is now possible, in some areas, to operate unlicensed wireless microphones on certain TV channels.

FCC Part 15.236 White Space Sharing

Being registered with the database is required.

Information From Shure Wireless About White-Space Databases

OK looked over the Sure information on the database. I wonder if somehow I could use my smartphone as a Geo Locator and register 87.7 for my STL and simply say that I'm transmitting my Internet Radio station via whitespace. Doing this could allow legal operation according to 15:236 of the rules.

Nowhere does it say you can't transmit in Stereo on the audio portion of analog Channel 6 meaning that if there was such a device I can use that and listeners could potentially tune to 87.7 via 15:236. It doesn't even say you can't connect an audio source to that device such as an Internet Radio receiver.

Hey maybe I can get my 87.7 signal to where its 100% legal according to what I read. I could have a tablet made into a legal automatically database generator for my 87.7 Mhz TX as long as I put it into the same cabinet. As far as I can tell you can have a kit. And at 1 Watt into a magnet mount antenna you can do quite a bit of range. There is your legal Hobby Radio under a disguised name "Wireless Microphone".

Even if I have to purchase a Sure wireless mic and rip off the mic element and pad the input and connect an Internet Radio receiver to it I'm legal so long as the device registers channel 6. If true I'll buy one and have a sighted person help me with that. Maybe the device doesn't even give the model to which I could just manually register myself as a Wireless Mic and away I go legally.

Do you have the exact link to register? How much power am I allowed? I hear its 1 Watt. So I could register my TX for 75Khz deviation FM 87.7 Mhz and 1 Watt? I know the Signstek CZE-T200 comes with a mic and is small. It could be registered as a ic. At full power its 200 mW.

Now if there is no limit to that power oh boy 5 Watts as a Learning to be DJ event could be useful or even to relay weather information to a area like mine whereas there is no weather information on the Radio. Music would be played as a filler as well.

We may be onto something. Even 200mW could be worthy for some range. Who will try with me to see what happens? Let me know.

Part 15.236 as linked to by Carl allows you 50mw EIRP. Inside a building on ground level you won't get very far with that. Up high, unobstructed, who knows? Obviously not intended for the latter but I've been pushing trying to get low power broadcasters in white space frequencies to be considered equivalent to wireless microphones for the past while. It doesn't require any rule changes, per say - just an implementation or service bulletin.

I read this yesterday but was too busy to share it here..
Now that the weather has put a halt to packing yard stuff , i have time to post this article from Sweetwater.com

The FCC’s Wireless Spectrum Auction: Why You Should Care

I'm sure as time progresses you might start seeing certified toys DJ systems that are going to be allowed down in the white space band. Remember this is how FM transmitter got started in the first place.

If I recall in the seventies didn't those Radio Shack and Mr. Microphones Wireless Mike's have FM transmitters in them? And in the beginning if it is not correct then I don't remember correctly but I'm sure in the beginning these microphones simply had a variable capacitor in them. They weren't very stable and you could just simply receive them with a FM radio. Then later on came the type of transmitter where you can plug in to your smart phone or your iPod or iPhone or whatever it is you want to plug it into. But remember it started off as a wireless microphone.

I don't doubt that at first it's going to be very strict and very tight period but however manufacturers will try to get certified and try to slip through that and eventually you'll start seeing these little FM transmitters for cars with the frequencies of 87.1 - 87.7 in them. They might even be limited to one frequency only such as 87.7 and be certified as a wireless mic or wireless transmitter.

One thing to look at in part 15 - 36 is are you allowed to transmit any sort of music? For example does it strictly say vocal only? If it does not say vocal only there is still a open area where as a person could transmit whatever it is they want to transmit on that frequency. This is where things become open and this is where things begin to morph into other types of things.

but for now I wouldn't recommend trying to register an FM transmitter as a microphone because there is something in the FCC website that states about falsification and how that can be punishable as a felony crime. So that's probably not worth it but we'll have to wait and see if later on different manufacturers begin creating these types of transmitters and if they do then that's where you're free to do whatever.

As long as they are certified you should be good right? Everything I have read though about the white space area pretty much talks about Wi-Fi and internet. So I don't know how this is going to go down because you're going to have digital signals mixed with analog signals and I'm wondering if they're going to try to put Wireless electric guitars down on that frequency as well? This could be something we need to look into a little bit further.