a cheap ready-made lofer coil is right in an old junker tv..the horizontal
output coil usually has a ferrite adjustment for frequency (horizontal
hold)... put another one in series with your 50 foot antenna, and tune that
as your load for increased output. I bet you can even use one for a cheapie
regen radio down there too...Hmmm time to visit the dump..
............

"N9WOS" wrote in message
...

I had thought to start an unlicensed micro-power code practice net
whose range would be limited to about a 30 mile radius, which is about
the size of the local reservation right next to the school.

What I want to do is provide each kid with a popcorn CW transceiver for
the colorburst frequency (3579 khz), a key, a short random wire, and a
battery. That way they could practice amongst themselves with
myself as occasional net control.

My question is this: so long as final output to the antenna is within
the requirement of part 15 unlicensed operation, is part 15 unlicensed
operation allowed within a band normally governed under part 97?
Part 15 operation would easily cover a 30 mile radius on 80M.

If no, I'll run the net under part 15 on the edge of the AM band near
160M.

Thanks in advance,

The Eternal Squire


I have been thinking about this for a while before making this reply.

I would strongly suggest looking at the lowfer band.
160Kc to 190Kc
The limitations are relatively straight forward.
Maximum length of feed line, and antenna are 15meters.
Maximum power input to the final amp stage is 1W.
No other real limitations besides the fact that out of band emissions have
to be below a specific point.

That is about a 50 foot long antenna. There isn't much of a chance that
they
will try to string one up longer than that, unless they were really
industrious.
And they can learn about antenna loading, to get a better transmitted
signal/range.

The one watt input power level is easy to determine. If the input is 10V
then adjust the current to a maximum of 100mA.

They can use any mode of communication they want. CW, AM, SSB, FM, PSK31,
BPSK, MFSK
The sky is the limit as for as modes.

If they have computers, most of the digital modes can be implemented with
soundcard based communications software that is available as freeware
Look up "MULTIPSK"

They can set up beacons for propagation checks, or talk to each other in
real time.

30 miles is an easy distance to reach with basic loaded antennas.
Especially
with PSK31 and CW.

It will allow them to learn how to build receiving antennas.

And if they can't reach, or hear someone on the other side of the
reservation, then it will allow them to learn the basics of traffic
handling
by the stations in the middle relaying information from one station to
another.

It will also teach them the basics of the narrower bandwidth/greater range
relationship. With the low bandwidth BPSK, PSK31 modes, they will easily
communicate across the reservation even if they can barely hear each other
on voice.

You can either get kit equipment for receiving or transmitting, which is
widely available on line. Or you can design and build your own.

If they are lucky, they may even hear stations, and beacons from hundreds
of
miles away. Or even thousands. There is nothing like the thrill of DX.