Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Isaac South]

We have several people that are still not comfortable with entering the church building during services.  However, they come to the parking lot and we have a speaker set up outside.  We are considering the option of FM transmission, where they could set in their car and tune their radio to a frequency and hear the sermon.  Is this even a viable option?  Would I simply need a FM transmitter like the Rolls HR70 and that's it?  I'm a novice on this topic and I appreciate any feedback.  Thank you.

[David Sturzenbecher]

We have several people that are still not comfortable with entering the church building during services.  However, they come to the parking lot and we have a speaker set up outside.  We are considering the option of FM transmission, where they could set in their car and tune their radio to a frequency and hear the sermon.  Is this even a viable option?  Would I simply need a FM transmitter like the Rolls HR70 and that's it?  I'm a novice on this topic and I appreciate any feedback.  Thank you.

It will work, however...it is illegal.

https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/low-power-radio-general-information#UNLICENSED

As long as you are willing to take the $10,000 per occurrence fine.

[Caleb Dueck]

We have several people that are still not comfortable with entering the church building during services.  However, they come to the parking lot and we have a speaker set up outside.  We are considering the option of FM transmission, where they could set in their car and tune their radio to a frequency and hear the sermon.  Is this even a viable option?  Would I simply need a FM transmitter like the Rolls HR70 and that's it?  I'm a novice on this topic and I appreciate any feedback.  Thank you.

Hearing Assist FM systems work, see Listen Tech and Williams Sound.  Each car would buy their own receiver and plug into their car line in, or a tiny speaker and AC inverter or battery. 

A better option is WiFi-based something or other.  There are outdoor rated WAP's that can give great coverage. 

[Isaac South]

It will work, however...it is illegal.

https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/low-power-radio-general-information#UNLICENSED

As long as you are willing to take the $10,000 per occurrence fine.

Oh my goodness.  I had no idea.  Thanks for the heads up.  I will cancel this idea. 

[Mike Caldwell]

The Rolls unit would be legal to use given that it's effective range is said to be under 200 feet.

[lindsay Dean]

Except for latency in the parking lot wouldn't streaming be a much better idea they could pick it up in the parking lot or anywhere in the world through their smartphones

[Isaac South]

The Rolls unit would be legal to use given that it's effective range is said to be under 200 feet.

Mike, I did read that in the FCC website.  But the signal would probably be weak, I'm assuming.  Not sure if it's worth a try or not.

[Kevin Graf]

I don't think that the FCC is at all interested in an FM broadcast that is confined to a church parking lot.
What they are interested in is bootleg radio stations that operate at much higher power for many hours each day.
Getting the antenna cable to the center of the parking lot might be a trick.

[Kevin Maxwell]

This may be a long shot but here is a possible solution. Do you have a local radio station that can be picked up clearly at your church? Might they be interested in broadcasting your service live? I don’t know the details or the requirements but I understand that there is some sort of radio station public service requirements and they might fulfill part of those requirements by broadcasting your Sunday morning service live. You would just need to be able to connect to them maybe by a phone line.

[Jonathan Johnson]

I am far from being an expert, but as I understand the Part 15 exceptions that allow extremely low power FM broadcast band transmissions, it's not the transmit power that is the limiting factor, but the field strength as measured by a signal strength meter that is limited. That field strength is going to be the result of both the output power of the transmitter and the antenna design. So a sub-watt transmitter with a particular antenna might work, but a different antenna might exceed the limitations.

Further, the transmitting device is required to have an FCC ID. Most of those transmitters from Asian manufacturers and available all over the web don't have a valid FCC ID. You probably don't have access to a calibrated RF signal strength meter to ensure you are in compliance.

However, AM transmission may be an option. The rules for low power transmission in the AM broadcast radio band are different, apparently based on transmitter output power and antenna design rather than field strength, so it's easier to achieve compliance.

One well-known brand of AM transmitter that claims to allow legal, unlicensed broadcast is the InfOspot (formerly "Talking House") AM transmitter. I just ordered one of these for my church, because I don't want to take chances -- I want to do what is legal, not hope that I don't get caught. Maybe I'm still taking a chance, but I know the brand has been around for years and the product does have an FCC ID.

http://www.theradiosource.com/products/infospot.htm

[ProSoundWeb Community]