WMLK in Bethel PA - Drive By Diathermy?

[KA3EKH]

It’s a little known fact outside of the commercial broadcast world but the religious broadcasters are exempt from any federal or financial regulation. Or so they believe and not with any difference of opinion offered by the FCC. In thirty years of work I have seen any number of religious broadcasters operate way over licensed power, over modulated, move stations from the licensed location to a new location without notifying the FCC and operate the worst collections of old and some cases not type accepted junk you can imagine.  The FCC is always ready to come after commercial broadcasters and fine for serious offenses like not having your public file up to date or improper storage of EAS logs but the religious non coms can apparently get away with anything. I can think of maybe two or three religious broadcasters who were good to work with and operated their stations like a business, you know things like paying bills and complying with federal regulations but can tell stories of at least a dozen who I have known to willfully violate regulations and when caught cry the  " I am just a poor old preacher" song and continually get away with it. Maybe the only thing worse than a religious non com is a station owned by a lawyer, but that’s just my opinion.
KA3EKH

[W2PFY]

It’s a little known fact outside of the commercial broadcast world but the religious broadcasters are exempt from any federal or financial regulation.

I have seen a few that operate as much as 1 KC off their assigned frequencies but no one seem to care.

[flintstone mop]

I think to be a broadcaster on SW you need to have 50 KW PEP. If it were 5 to 10 KW there might be more SW stations on the air. My thinking is that the costs to do everything would be less costly if the power level was lower. A lot of us could put a 5 KW station together.

YUP 50KW and a 10dB gain directional antenna. The shortwave B'cast is intended to broadcast to a foreign country beyond the USA. The licensee must specify the target area for his/her broadcast.

I know it is strange how Allan Weiner has his dream SW B'cast station on one end of N. America and "beaming' to central America. And at times blankets most of the USA, except the Left Coast with WBCQ.

Here is a link to the requirements to have a short wave broadcast license. I think it is a 50kw carrier not a 50kw P.E.P.
http://www.fcc.gov/ib/sand/neg/hf_web/appinfo.html

[W2PFY]

Very interesting read on that FCC site. I do think it could be done for a lot less than a million dollars.The other big hassle would be getting the land and the approvals from local governments to construct such an enterprise especially, if anyone seen those RF Radiation signs. 

The cost of a station with a minimum transmitter power of 50 kW and a directional antenna with a minimum gain of 10 dB, the land for the station, the studios, and the operational cost could easily exceed one million dollars.