The Artisan Radio Blog

November 2024 Notions

November 29, 2024 17:04 Pacific Standard Time - Sneak Peeks

Here is a quick first look at the beginning of the playlists for the first shows of The Vinyl Jukebox and Slightly Bent.

The Vinyl Jukebox:

Credence Clearwater Revival - Down on the Corner
Brian & the Liars - Too Late
Icehouse - No Promises
Cher - Dark Lady
Lobo - Where Were You When I Was Falling In Love
The Champs - Limbo Rock...

Slightly Bent:

The Beat Farmers - Happy Boy
Julie Brown - I Like 'Em Big and Stupid
John Prine - Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian
Mrs Miller - Downtown
Leonard Nimoy - Spock Thoughts
Ethel Merman - I Got Rhythm (Disco Version)...

Of course, there is lots more in each show, 55-60 minutes worth.

November 29, 2024 11:28 Pacific Standard Time - The RTL-SDR V4 Blog

The updated version of the V3 has a built in up converter. During recent experimentation I've found that it does work, and as a result, the V4 receives the AM band with much greater sensitivity.

In my previous tests, I had to place the V3's antenna almost touching the transmit antenna to get a nice clear signal (and even then the signal strength was about -7db. With the V4, the V4 antenna is across the room, and I'm getting a signal strength of +1 db. And that's with a minimal antenna.

However, I've got the V4 stick plugged directly into a USB port, and the receiver is picking up noise from the computer. The next time I reboot I'll use an extender, and place the SDR further away from the noise. I really can't just do it, as then the Docker server container will crash, and I'll also lose the connection between the USB port and WSL (as I've described in previous posts). Booting up the SDR server is a time consuming and manual process, unfortunately, and I try to do it as infrequently as possible.

Maybe there is hope yet for Artisan Radio on AM, at least on the SDR. I'm also working on getting the Talking House antenna outside and as far away as possble from the concrete/rebar building (which is a bit of a challenge, as we're not supposed to have outside antennas - I have to piggyback the antenna on something else that is allowed). Currently, the wire antenna is just hanging partially out a window, but overshadowed by, you guessed it, a concrete balcony.

November 28, 2024 15:34 Pacific Standard Time - Gaule's Moldie Oldies Show

Recently I've been hearing a lot about this early low power broadcasting show, created by Jerry Gaule.

I've attempted to find some examples of the show, just to see what others have done with similar source material to what Artisan Radio uses, but haven't had much success.

I did find 2 shows from 2011, but they only consisted of music, and show id's between each song. The music was interesting, but there was no identification of either the artist or the song. They might have been 'best of' examples, and not representative of the rest. But if you're playing obscure music, not identifying it kind of defeats the entire purpose.

I then found some relatively recent ones from 2024, and they were totally different. In those shows, Gaule was using what I would call the Motor Mouth DJ approach, talking very (very) rapidly, and repeating each sentence multiple times. I found it very difficult to understand (almost unlistenable, actually), but I don't think there were any ID's in those shows either.

I'm wondering if I just found outliers. Does anyone have any other examples of this show - he supposedly produced over 700 of them, many of which included interviews with the featured musicians?

November 28, 2024 15:10 Pacific Standard Time - Programming Changes

Unfortunately, one of the major contributors to the programming at Artisan Radio is going to have to take a break for a while.

Fortunately, we have sufficient numbers of several of his shows in the can, that we'll be able to do reruns of Wilson Beach Radio and Beautiful Sounds for a while.

Also fortunately, we're in the process of creating several new original shows here. I've mentioned Vinyl Living Room previously; it's gone through another name change to the Vinyl Jukebox, but the concept remains the same. I'll be sitting in front of a record player playing a bunch of 45's, but with less talk and more music. That may please some listeners.

The other new show is a resurrection of Slightly Bent (which was a staple of the radio station when it was located on Bowen Island), where we play irreverent, sometimes humerous, quirky and unusual music. Sometimes those attributes are intentional, sometimes unintentional. But the music is always interesting. I've got the first show ready to go, and it's set to debut Friday, December 6, and every Friday thereafter. Rock Around the Rockpile, currently in that time slot, will go into a resting state for a while.

The Vinyl Jukebox will alternate with Teenage Dreams on Tuesdays, beginning December 10. The former show doesn't take nearly as much effort as Teenage Dreams, so it will free up time that will be used to produce Slightly Bent.

Eventually, I'd like to have all 3 shows run every week, but we'll have to see how it goes.

November 28, 2024 14:35 Pacific Standard Time - A Challenge To the Radio Critics

There are those in the legal, unlicensed low power broadcasting field that are in it to stroke their ego. You see, they are 'experts' in everything radio and computers, and know better than anyone else. They're never wrong, and anybody that disagrees with them is a pirate.

You know who these self-proclaimed experts are. They're the ones that instead of helping others out, will criticize, denigrate and name call. It's sometimes difficult to take these guys seriously because they do it replete with spelling and grammatical mistakes. But believe me, they have no interest in anything or anybody but themselves, and looking good.

While others (including Artisan Radio) will publish photos of their radio installations, and describe what they are doing, sometimes in great detail, these people don't even do that. I have yet to see any of them show the rest of us plebes how to do it the 'right' way (i.e., their way). It makes you wonder what they are hiding. Do they really have low power radio stations at all? And if they do, are they really operating legally?

I hereby issue a challenge, which I'm sure will be ignored. But I'll do it anyway. Show us your radio stations. Give us examples of your greatness, including programming. Let the rest of us know what we're doing wrong.

We're waiting with bated breath.

November 25, 2024 18:06 Pacific Standard Time - Thoughts

I've discovered that doing the DJ thing while winging it is a lot harder than it sounds. You have to have the gift of gab, which I don't, and be able to talk consistently even when you really have nothing important to say. I'm rethinking how I do the Vinyl Living Room - it may become the Vinyl Jukebox and be a little more structured.

Point Two. In the past, I've commented on the power of the media. Trump would just be an unsuccessful businessman saying stupid things if it wasn't for the media treatment surrounding him. The same thing is happening in Canada with the sitting Prime Minister. It appears that the media has decided he has to go, and is blaming him for, well, virtually everything that goes wrong. He can't even attend a music concert without being blamed for supposedly letting pro-Palestinian protesters burn down Montreal (the latter of which is a gross misrepresentation of what really went on, but who really cares about facts in a news story anyway?). Regardless, people that commit crimes (such as the breaking of windows) are criminals and need to be treated as such by the Justice System. The Prime Minister should have nothing to do with it.

Point Three. I've always felt that if a cluttered desk meant a cluttered mind, an empty desk meant ..., well, you get the picture. However, there are breaking points, and I've hit them with the Artisan Radio studio. We've been busy de-cluttering, at least to some extent, over the past few days, and I feel that now things are at least workable once again. And there is some satisfaction in getting rid of stuff that is never used, but is kept 'just in case'. If something has just sat there gathering dust the past little while, it's now gone. In the rare situation where it's found to be needed again, I can always buy it (or something better - it's a good excuse).

November 21, 2024 21:31 Pacific Standard Time - The Vinyl Living Room

Before digital downloads and mp3's, before cd's, there were vinyl records. Although available in various sizes and playback speeds, the 45 was the most convenient format. Double-sided, with a single song on each side, they were the source material for Top 40 radio programming.

I remember when you would have friends over, pull out the record player to the living room along with a stack of records, and just play them. None of this audiophile crap. It was the music that counted, not pristine sound. That's the idea behind our new show, The Vinyl Living Room (a slight change of name from when it was originally conceived).

Each week, I'll take a stack of 45's and play them, along with providing a little commentary (but not much). After all, it's all about the music.

The records will be from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, and no audio processing will be applied. You'll hear them in all their glory, scratches, pops and crackles included. Because that's the way they sounded back then. And they'll be in no discernable order, although I'll try to mix in A & B sides as I go along. I'll get to the other side of each at some point in the future.

It should be a lot of fun. I've had some of the 45s in my collection for years. Others have been picked up at yard sales, vintage shops and the like. Some are in excellent condition. Others have been played a lot and/or are not in such great shape, and you can hear it (and see it too by scratches).

I'm looking forward to producing the show, as I haven't actually played a lot of them, so many will be new to me as well.

I'll post the schedule shortly.

November 19, 2024 16:53 Pacific Standard Time - Programming Notes

Forgot to mention that I was tied up with other things, so couldn't record Teenage Dreams and had to go with a repeat. But it's a good one, #60, theme of Young. There are a mixture of featured artists, but virtually all of the songs are pretty obscure.

I'm also toying with the idea of 2 new shows. One I've mentioned previously, I believe, over at Part15.org. It would be a Jazz swing show, titled If It Ain't Swing. The 'Billboard' charts compiled by Joel Whitburn would be used as the source material in choosing the songs (from the 1930s and the 1940s).

The second would be modeled somewhat on the Oompah Hour that we play every Weekday and Sundays. Tentatively titled The Vinyl Yard Sale,, it would feature selections from my extensive collection of 45s, mainly from the 1970s and the 1980s (until the arrival of CD's), but also some from the 1960s. You'll hear them unedited and unfiltered, scratches and all. I just don't want the material to overlap significantly with Teenage Dreams; however, unlike that show, it will mainly feature hits.

They're still a little ways off, as I want to make sure that I have the time to do them.

November 19, 2024 08:14 Pacific Standard Time - Computer Consolidation & Backup

Up until this morning, the features of Artisan Radio (over-the-air broadcasting, streaming, SDR) have been spread over multiple computers. On each computer tasked for a specific function, there has been the capability to do some of the other things for backup. This has one advantage, in that the load is spread, but the big disadvantage is that you have to administer all of them, and keep track of which functionality is in what computer.

Now, one larger computer is running all functionality, and the plan is to have one, perhaps even two, backup computers identical to it in the event of failure. It simplifies administration significantly (or, at least, it will, once everything is in place).

As to the former advantage, now a disadvantage, the load has never been significant on any computer, and doesn't appear to any different with everything consolidated. The bottleneck for SDR and streaming users has always been the Internet, less so with the latter.

I don't forsee the number of listeners increasing significantly in the near future, unless I do go for an RSS-123 license. In that event, the Internet bandwidth, and perhaps even that of our internal ethernet/wireless intranet, would have to be upgraded.

November 19, 2024 08:14 Pacific Standard Time - Upgraded SDR to RTL-SDR V4

Managed to get the newest RTL-SDR up and running. You won't notice much difference with the current profile for the FM broadcast band. I will be playing around with it for AM, where it should make a big difference - it has a built-in upconverter, so direct sampling doesn't have to be used, and noise should be reduced. So listeners might see the AM profile come and go as experimentation occurs.

November 17, 2024 12:06 Pacific Standard Time - AM Dropped ...

at least for now.

The Talking Houses have too many problems. As Mark over at Part15.org has also reported, their sound gets 'muddy' and distorted at some audio frequencies after running for about 24 hours or so. I also noted that one of the two I have has a much lower volume sound than the other. It's been postulated that these issues are caused by aging electronics, more specifically capacitors, and I do believe that to be the case. These things are likely at least 20 years old, even though new when purchased.

Both run OK for a while, so I'm going to use them internally for short periods of time, to give that authentic feel when listening to Old Time Radio. It's really too bad, as when working properly, they sound great on my GE 7-2990A radio.

At some point, I will invest in a new, AM transmitter, likely the ProCaster, but not just yet. I'll continue to go with the Decade MS-100 and FM at present, both over-the-air, streaming and on the SDR.

November 15, 2024 07:01 Pacific Standard Time - Dear Donald Trump

I wanted to congratulate you on the recent rash of appointees to your upcoming government.

It was a sheer stroke of brilliance to appoint the former co-owner of a professional wrestling organization as the head of the Department of Commerce. And who better to be Attorney General than someone who is intimately familiar with the processes of the law?

I'm also stunned by your (and your loyalists) condemnation and criticism of Canada, the Canadian government (the Liberal Party) and Prime Minister Trudeau, before you even assume power. As well as your praise for the opposition (the Conservative Party) and its leader, Pierre Poilievre. It certainly shows how you're going to govern and handle foreign affairs.

I wouldn't put too much stock in the pushback that this is just going to help the Liberals and Trudeau, because who would listen to a bunch of morons? After all, Canadians are just as stupid as the Americans who elected you as President.

Aren't they?

November 14, 2024 11:21 Pacific Standard Time - The Great AM Experiment May Be Over

Followers of this blog will know the issues we've run into in an attempt to get on the air with low power AM, as well as feeding our SDR. The Talking Signs we're using have some issues in the lower part of the audio spectrum, and they've only been partially resolved with the use of an equalizer. It appears that the noise and scratches from transcription discs and 45s/78s in poor shape fall right into the spectrum in question. Some material sounds downright awful, while most 'clean' music sounds great. I've been attempting to tweak the equalizer, but haven't found the right settings yet for everything.

There's another problem with noise in general, and that comes from the SDR itself. During quiet spots, the noise level rises dramatically, and from research, appears to be a combination of the SDR hardware and software. I found some more detailed instructions on getting the RTL-SDR V4 working with the OpenWebRX+ docker image. The V4 has an up converter built in, and supposedly noise reduction actually works (it doesn't work properly with the direct sampling of the V3). However, the installation instructions failed about halfway through (what a surprise!). This time I have to blame the makers of the RTL-SDR. Many users have scrapped their RTL-SDR's with the frustration in getting the new drivers working. There are still a few things I can try, but I'm not hopeful - the V4 does work with other programs such as SDR++ (but it doesn't support client/server with a browser).

Add to all this the fact that over the air range of the Talking Signs is relatively poor. The antenna is against a window, but the combination of balcony and balcony overhang from above means that it's still virtually encased in concrete with rebar. I can't hang the wire outside a window - I don't think the downstairs neighbors would appreciate having a wire dangling in front of them. I need to get the antenna outside and in the open air (the wire is attached to the outside of a bamboo pole), but I'm not sure if it's going to be worth it with all the other problems.

FM with a Decade MS-100 still gives the best over the air range, and sounds great on the SDR. I'm not going to spend much more time attempting to get AM right. I'll probably still leave the transmitter running, and SDR profile up, just because I can.

November 12, 2024 20:13 Pacific Standard Time - Talking Sign Muddy Sound Problem Resolved

I was listening to the AM Talking Sign feed today, and noted that at times, the sound was 'muddy' or muffled. The problem didn't seem to appear during most music, but I really noticed it on speaking vocals. And at times, the lower frequencies in music exhibited the same behavior (depending on the music, of course).

Well, I played around with an equalizer and my spare Talking Sign, and I think I've found the problem. The Talking Sign doesn't do well with lower frequencies in the 150 KHz to about 650 KHz range.

Here is the minimal configuration of the equalizer that appeared to fix the issue.

I haven't played around any more than that right now. I'm sure I can tweak things to perhaps compensate a bit for the missing bass; bumping up the lower bass settings helped a bit and didn't affect the vocal clarity.

It also just happened that my voice frequency lay right in the affected range. I can rest easier now that I know I don't have to go falsetto.

November 12, 2024 17:22 Pacific Standard Time - What We Do

Have you ever heard of Joel Grey or Wayne Walker? How about Joey Biscoe or The Rhythmettes? Maybe Eileeen Barton or Priscilla Wright?

They're all musicians featured on an upcoming Teenage Dreams Show (#77). All of them had singles that made the charts of Toronto based radio station CHUM in 1957. None of those singles charted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. That's the premise of our CHUM Chart special programs. We pick a year, and then go through the CHUM charts and select the songs that virtually no one has heard of (except maybe Torontonians, and only then if your memory goes back that far).

We've already done shows for each year between 1957 and 1966 (with a few exceptions), but there were so many songs that fit the criteria we didn't get to play due to time constraints that we're doing it all over again.

I just finished doing the research for the show (we're currently running #75 this week) and the only thing left to do is to record it. It's also why I did this post, when I talked a bit about the shows previously. The details are fresh in my mind.

Now on to 1958.

November 11, 2024 19:58 Pacific Standard Time - Remembrance Day

I attended the Remembrance Day service today. It was a moving ceremony, particularly the playing of The Last Post. And it was crowded, with hundreds of people there. Here's to hoping that someday the human race will evolve into a species with slightly more intelligence and make peace (and love), not war.

Artisan Radio played The Last Post, 2 minutes of silence, and then The Lament at approximately 11:00 our time. I hope to do more of that current event kind of thing in the future.

Today I was also experimenting with using Bluetooth as an STL, transmitting programming to a slightly more remote transmitter (at the other end of the living area). The transmitter is a BVE AXS-FMT, and I'm using it to feed an alternate profile (titled Alternate FM Broadcast Band) on the SDR, at least right now. It's not going to run continuously yet, but I'll put it up during the day for a while.

So far, things are running fairly smoothly, with only a few dropouts. I probably need to replace one of the bluetooth transmitters with something a little more powerful. The sound is pretty decent as well.

The other two profiles on the SDR are FM Broadcast Band (fed by a Decade MS-100) and AM Broadcast Band (fed by a Talking Sign).

November 10, 2024 09:47 Pacific Standard Time - Future Teenage Dreams Shows

The next Teenage Dreams Show (#76) will have the theme of 'letters' (as in mail, not the alphabet). I just have to record it. After that, I'm going to have a few of the shows that we call CHUM Chart specials. CHUM was a Top 40 (actually Top 50) radio station in Toronto, that pretty much led the way for that format in Canada in the 1950s and the 1960s. These shows highlight songs that made the CHUM charts for a specific year, but didn't make the Billboard Hot 100 for whatever reason. Some were from Canadian talent, some were regional hits in the Northern U.S. and spilled over into Canada, others just plain didn't make in the U.S. but were popular here, and finally, some were international in origin (Canada was far less xenophobic in its music back then).

In any event, we're going to do shows for 1957 and 1958, take a bit of a break (I've got lots of special themed shows in the pipeline) and then go back to 1960 and 1961. We've already done shows for 1957 and 1958, but there were so many songs that we didn't get to play in those that we'll do at least one more for each year.

November 10, 2024 08:48 Pacific Standard Time - What is Broadcasting in Canada?

As talked about in my previous post, Canada has 2 sets of rules for intentional low power, unlicensed radiators. RSS210 is intended for non broadcasting use, and BETS for broadcasting.

So, what exactly is broadcasting?

Broadcasting is defined in Canada's Radiocommunication Act as

“any radiocommunication in which the transmissions are intended for direct reception by the general public.”

It is clear from this statement that the intent of your transmission is the key to determining whether it will be considered broadcasting. You can't put a wall around your property and stop radio waves. Nor can you know who will be tuning in and receiving your transmissions.

It should also be equally clear that it can be difficult to determine intent. If, for example, you set up an RSS210 AM transmitter, say the ProCaster, you can't stop others from listening in to your transmissions. If you go around advertising to the neighborhood that you are there, then it could be considered that you are broadcasting. But if you are the primary listener to your own transmissions, those transmissions fall within the RSS210 guidelines, and neighbors just happen to find you (or are quietly informed, however that occurs), that's certainly not broadcasting. A fine but very real line there. Now, if you run 3 RSS210 transmitters in an effort to get as much range as possible, you'd better have a good explanation as to why that is necessary for your own use, or you could be shut down, as someone in Winnipeg recently was.

Canada also considers transmitting to a bounded property, such as a parking lot, or shopping center, to be not broadcasting. In that case, your audience is not the general public, but specific members of the public (such as users of a park, those attending church, shopping, etc.) and there is generally a specific reason for the transmission (say, a church service, or an information service such as tourism). You can even get an RSS-123 license to transmit to bounded areas for those specific purposes (generally not music unless it's considered a limited time event) if you can't get enough coverage with RSS210. RSS123 allows up to 1 watt output on appropriately certified transmitters.

If you want to broadcast to the general public, with relatively few restrictions, you have to use BETS-certified equipment, and the bad news is that that limits you to FM. The good news is that using FM under BETS gives you more field strength than FM under RSS210 and thus range (but still less range, although probably what you do get is cleaner, than RSS210 AM).

There still are restrictions that are set by the CRTC, the government body regulating broadcasting content. For example, you have to follow the general guidelines for all licensed radio stations - no bad language, none of the 'isms such as racism, sexism, etc. You are not allowed to have political content (although what exactly that means is open to debate, as almost everything has political overtones). That kind of thing. There's a link to the CRTC exemptions on the main page of this site.

And if you are operating a non commercial BETS broadcast undertaking, you can also use multiple BETS transmitters to simulcast, thus effectively increasing your potential range. That means that you can use such technology as Barix boxes (synched over the Internet), or not if you're on different frequencies for each transmitter. That can be useful for public announcements, community-oriented ventures, and hobbyists.

What this all boils down to is that if you are operating a transmitter that is RSS210 certified and if you are visited by ISED or the CRTC (usually because of a complaint), you must convince them that you are not intending (or, at least, going out of your way) to be listened to by members of the general public.

And if you are operating multiple BETS certified transmitters with identical programming, you must convince them that you are non commercial.

November 10, 2024 07:53 Pacific Standard Time - Canadians Starting Out in Low Power Broadcasting ...

are confronted with a wide array of seemingly conflicting information, most of it applicable for the U.S. only. It also doesn't help that there is startling misinformation propagated by one of the so-called 'expert' websites in the field.

In the U.S., the FCC is responsible for policing the airwaves, and their rules for low power unlicensed 'intentional radiators' (i.e., transmitters) are commonly known as Part 15 (which is just a small section in a document containing rules for all radio transmitters, including licensed ones). The FCC doesn't care about what you're doing with the transmissions (i.e., their content), just that the transmissions are adhering to certain technical specifications. These specifications are designed to severely limit range and interference to other radio spectrum users.

However, Canada does care about the use of these intentional radiators. And in fact, they created a regulatory body called the CRTC specifically for these uses.

I talked about misinformation. One of the leading sites dealing with unlicensed low power broadcasting in the U.S., Hobbybroadcaster, states that Canada's RSS210 rules are the equivalent of Part 15. That is categorically incorrect. RSS210 is intended for non broadcasting uses only. Canada has a completely different set of rules, the Broadcast Equipment Technical Specifications, or BETS, that governs all radio broadcasting, both licensed and unlicensed. BETS-1 covers low power unlicensed transmitters.

The BETS rules also differ from RSS210 in that they allow more power and range for the FM broadcast band, and less for the AM broadcast band.

What makes things even more interesting for Canadians is that all non intentional radiators in Canada have to have a Technical Acceptance Certificate, obtained from an ISED (formerly Industry Canada) approved laboratory for their intended use. This is particularly true for broadcasting endeavors (as ISED and the CRTC call them). The FCC Part 15 rules do allow for homemade transmitters, as long as they adhere to the rules, but RSS210 does not even have that.

I'm not going to go into what is or isn't broadcasting in this post (it will be the subject of a future post) but I wanted to point out several issues for Canada. The first is that there is currently only one BETS certified FM transmitter available, the Decade MS-100. All the others are RSS210 certified, which means that they can't be used for broadcasting - the BVE AXS-FMT (with analog input) is one, the Whole House 3 is another. The Decade CM-10 was also BETS certified, but it has been discontinued.

And there are no, zero, none, BETS certified AM transmitters, and there never have been any. There is only one RSS210 certified, and that is the ChezRadio ProCaster. The Talking Sign and several CanaKit transmitters were RSS210 certified, but have been discontinued. The Talking House, which is probably the most commonly available transmitter right now, is not approved for Canadian use.

The bottom line is that here in Canada, if you want to operate a low power, unlicensed, broadcasting endeavor, the only choice right now is to use FM with a Decade MS-100.

All others are meant for non broadcasting, and that leads us into the question - what exactly is broadcasting (and the corollary, non broadcasting)?

November 9, 2024 18:16 Pacific Standard Time - Teenage Dreams #75: Stars

Just put the finishing touches on the 75th Teenage Dreams Show, which has the theme of stars (up in the sky, not Hollywood).

We feature a lot of singers and songs from the late 1950s and the early 1960s that you've probably never heard. You may recognize the names of Ann Margaret, Lee Marvin and Carole King, but you've probably never heard the recordings of theirs that we're playing.

With our schedule, you've got lots of chances to catch the show (this coming Tuesday and Saturday).

November 7, 2024 15:40 Pacific Standard Time - The CRTC Allows Multiple Low Power Transmitters

In doing some research for one of the new sections on the website (Canadian Regulations), I picked up on something that I hadn't fully realized previously.

Low power unlicensed broadcasters here in Canada using BETS have an exemption from obtaining a broadcast license from the CRTC, but only under certain conditions. I had thought that one of those conditions was not broadcasting the same programming on multiple transmitters. That's true, but only for commercial use. If you are a non commercial broadcaster, as Artisan Radio is (and copyright licensed accordingly with SOCAN), you can feed multiple BETS transmitters from a single source.

We don't do that, but it's always nice to know that you can.

November 7, 2024 14:51 Pacific Standard Time - Exciting Times Here

I've received some nice communication about giving up the admin job at a low power broadcasting Forum. I've also had people relay concerns that I am over reacting.

I do tend to get passionate in the things that I'm involved with, and I can attribute some of the successes I've had to just that.

It may, in fact, have even been the case here, at least at first. But as I started to plan out what I wanted to do with this site, to make it the go-to location for Canadian low power broadcasting (for which there is virtually no easily accessible information available), I got more and more excited.

In the end, I'm doing this for positive, not negative, reasons. And if it takes some of the frustration and irritation away from what is happening down south, so much the better.

I invite you to check back every once in a while and see what we're doing. I think you'll like it.

November 7, 2024 11:11 Pacific Standard Time - OpenWebRX+ With AM Profile

November 7, 2024 10:55 Pacific Standard Time - The Artisan Radio SDR

November 7, 2024 10:47 Pacific Standard Time - Transmitting On AM 1410 For Our SDR

November 7, 2024 10:38 Pacific Standard Time - Broadcasting From Canada On 91.9 FM

November 7, 2024 08:02 Pacific Standard Time - The Dogs & The Cats & The Pets of The People That Live There...

Last Tuesday, the U.S. elected Donald Trump as their President. I had wanted to believe that the first Trump experience was an aberration, a one time mistake. But now it's obvious that he represents the collective will of the American people. Voters knew what he was, what he stood for, what he wants, and they still voted for him instead of the young(er) black/asian female (those are important words) who was obviously far more competent. Some things never change.

I'm both saddened and disgusted. The U.S. is not my country, and I don't have to directly deal with it, or the pro-Trumpers. The unfortunate thing is that you can never really know who they are. They tend to hide under rocks until they expose themselves. I know, I've met a few like that in the past.

But no more.

I have given up my post as admin at a low power broadcasting Forum that is aimed primarily at U.S. participants, and will be concentrating on developing this website, with a particularly Canadian focus.

This is not going to be a political blog. I just wanted to make it clear why I've given up some of the responsibilities I had elsewhere.

November 6, 2024 17:51 Pacific Standard Time

The Artisan Radio Blog is back up and running. Stay tuned for poignant observations from the world of legal, unlicensed radio broadcasting.