Prometheus Background

First Steps in Understanding Radio:

To prepare for operating your community radio station, someone in your group should start by learning a bit about just what radio is and how it all works.

We almost wrote our own handbook, but decided instead to refer you to this set of references that already exist. Below is a "curriculum" which should give you enough information to get started. We've included many pirate resources- the laws of physics don't change much whether you are licensed or not, and many pirate pieces endeavor to write clearly for the layperson, while the "official sources" are designed for professional engineers.

It should be remembered that the FCC imposes some requirements on low power broadcasters that are not addressed by the pirate literature- the pirate literature should be read as a stepping stone to prepare you for some of the denser materials along the way. You are welcome to call or write us with any question, no matter how simple- but you will probably find the answers in these resources more useful then what I can dash off in an email. If you don't understand anything in these pieces, ask us!

1. Beginners guide to low power radio by Rick Harrison

[http://www.freespeech.org/lowpower/guide.html] This is an excellent first step, and has a very nice little glossary that will help you in the future.

2. Micropower Broadcasting, A Technical Primer

[http://www.radio4all.org/how-to.html] A very good next step. Steven Dunifer is a hero for our times, and there is a lot of very good information in this primer. One day, I hope he updates it with some pictures. I can't think of a place that I'd rather send people to buy radio equipment, but unfortunately, I can't recommend buying stuff from Dunifer and Free Radio Berkeley. He's very busy and his shop is not the most organized place in the world, and orders have been known to get lost. (I'm not any better organized, but I am not trying to run a transmitter manufacturing business).

3. How Radio Signals Work

This book is next on Pete Tri's list of reccomendations. It gives a broad overview of all radio, and it is conceptual, rather than overly mathematical. It is pretty cheap and well worth the price. info at this site: [http://webbooks.net/books/_McGraw2/Sinclair.html]

4. Prometheus Guides

Finding a location for a transmitter:
[http://oldsite.prometheusradio.org/fcc.shtml]
How the FCC allocates frequencies, how to buy stuff, hire engineers and so on:
[http://oldsite.prometheusradio.org/primer.shtml#ideas]
This one is by Nan Rubin, of Community Media services and is an excellent overview for a LPFM
[http://oldsite.prometheusradio.org/requirements.shtml]

At some point, if you are going to operate a LPFM station, you should familiarize yourself with the rules for the service. These are available at: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&docid=fr15fe00-15]

5. The National Association of Broadcasters engineers handbook.

This is the book that radio engineers at licensed stations use when they are working on radio stations. You do not have to understand this book to run a radio station, but if you have any, general theoretical question about broadcast radio, it is answered in here. This book is really expensive- around $150. Most college libraries have a copy of it on the reference shelves. Some members of the Prometheus family have been known to photocopy the parts that they really need to ponder and refer to at home.

Audio:

[www.radiocollege.org] has an excellent guide to radio production on line, with dozens of articles about how to hold your microphone without making rustling noises, how to write a news story for radio, how to record the sound of wind and rain, how to write a radio drama- its excellent.

Audiocraft, which is published by the NFCB [www.nfcb.org], if you want to buy a good book on the subject.