Last night while walking the dog in Tulsa, OK I was tuning my Sony Walkman
SRF-49 and heard a weak station playing Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee
Lewis. It was fading in and out but I persisted because I like the song.
After I got home I found the station was on 102.9 using my Sony 2010 but it
got swamped by more powerful nearby stations so 102.9 was not always
listenable on the 2010, poor selectivity.. I was able to find the station
on my GE Superradio and it came in much better. Then I tried my Yatch Boy
400, Sangean ATS 606A and Sony ICF-SW7600. The Yatch Boy was the best and
the GE Super as good but its not as easy to find the exact frequency on its
poor analog dial scale. The selectivity of the 7600 was so poor that I
couldn't hear the station. While doing this I was waiting for the station
to identify itself but it never did, however once the DJ mentioned
Brookside, time and a phone number which I missed. (Brookside is a growing
entertainment area in the suburbs of Tulsa), So I continued to listen while
comparing all the radios concluding that the Yatch Boy was the best and the
GE as good if you like analog. I never tried the Walkman but I should have
and maybe I will later. After about 2 hours just before going to sleep he
mentioned the phone number again and I called.
I got a Hello and nothing else so I said, "I'm listening to your radio
station and would like to know the call letters"? He responded with,
"Brookside" I asked if he was a pirate and he said no. He was just playing
music from his house with a 1/2 watt transmitter which he said was legal. He
mentioned the cross streets and I'm about 1.5 miles away but he also said
he's had reports from about 4.5 miles. He claimed to be unemployed DJ and
mentioned lots of stations and DJs that I didn't know. He said he did this
to play music that he likes because very few stations do and I agree,
commercial free is good but he only played a few pieces that I liked, the
rest were just like everyone else and that's why I tune around during my
walks. I asked where he got his transmitter and all he would say is that it
was built from a New York mail order kit. When I asked about 102.9, he
said it was the only clear freq he could find and prior to this operated at
90 something but got blown away. I asked if had many xtals and he said he
was digital and had stereo. He had a ham help him set up and that had to be
before 1993 as the ham, whom I knew was killed in a tornado that year.
Excuse me if I'm rambling but I wanted to find out if what this guy was
doing is legal? Two, I thought I'd point out the differences in the FM
capabilities of a few radios and still have a couple more to check.


73
Hank WD5JFR