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Prometheus Fact Sheet

Alternatives to Low Power FM

With the change in regulations for LPFM limiting available frequencies at this time, we thought it might be helpful to look at various alternatives to Low Power FM.

The following discussion presents a range of alternatives and options that offer various levels of viability. It is our judgement at Prometheus that none of these are as generally promising as fighting for a reinstatement and expansion of the original LPFM service. While none of them are as good as the promise that LPFM holds, one of them might be appropriate for your group to pursue.

Contents
[Unlicensed Legal FM]
[Pirate Broadcasting]
[Unlicensed Legal AM]
[Internet Radio]
[Buying a Commercial FM or AM License]
[Starting a New Full Power FM Radio Station]
[Buying Time on a Commercial Radio Station]
[Shortwave and Amateur Radio]

Unlicensed Legal FM

Regardless of popular misconceptions, it is not legal to broadcast on FM at low power, or at any power, without a license from the FCC. It doesn't matter if you are less than 100 watts or less than 1 watt. That is why the FCC has been trying to institute LPFM - to provide a legitimate license to very low power operations.

The only exception is that you are allowed to broadcast on FM without a license if your transmitter produces about 1/25th of a watt, or 25 milliwatts. This is only enough power to go about 100 feet, under the best conditions. It is actually not the power but the field strength that the FCC measures. The way the FCC checks for compliance with the law is whether you exceed a measurement of about 250 microvolts/meter on a field strength meter, which is a tool that is specifically designed to measure the strength of electromagnetic fields. This rule is designed not for broadcast transmitters, but more to allow for wireless microphones and similar devices. Because many garage door openers and computers accidentally exceed these limits, through poor design or breakdown of some sort, the fact is that FCC field agents actually spend very little of their time looking for illegal radio operators, but instead, are spending their days tracking down malfunctioning pieces of equipment like this that are inadvertently fouling up the electromagnetic spectrum.

[Next...Pirate Broadcasting]