Build your own legal Radio Station

When I was a kid, I had a pretty active, diverse, some would even say A.D.D. way of spending my time-while-not-in-school. Mostly because I spent a lot of my young (birth till 7 years old, and various periods in between)life with a single mom raising me, and she would work any hours she was allowed at the Sharp Microwave factory. Based on her salary, there weren't a lot of extras for me to go off buying stuff, toys, and electronics were out of the question.

If I wanted something, I had to find parts for it and build it myself, or get lucky and someone would give me a hand-me-down toy. Probably the very first thing I ever built (outside of a failed airplane at age 6 that I built from some 2x6 wood and a lawnmower engine that luckily wouldn't start) was an AM Crystal Radio Receiver. I would go to Radio Shack with my grandfather (he was more like my dad)and drool over the stuff they had for kits there. Back at this time, the electronics kits were all analog kits, and were lots of fun. He did get me the AM Crystal Radio kit, and I don't know if it was for a birthday, xmas, or for the heck of it - I do know 2 things; 1) They were really cheap, 2) Really cheap for our family was still too expensive. So for him to spend money on something like that might have meant he didn't add meat to the goulash he made every now and again. Looking back - that radio really meant a lot than I realized at the time.

I was living in Memphis, TN at the time, and man did we have some great radio stations. I didn't know it then, but that radio eventually led me to being a DJ one day.

So - with all of that comes this: http://www.part15.us - it is possible for a person to build an actual broadcasting radio station in the garage, basement, local high school, church, or, if you are lucky, business without incurring the wrath of the FCC. Totally true. And if you are lucky enough to live in Northern California, your FCC enforcement guys actually know what a part 15 AM transmitter should look like. Which is cool.

I would encourage anyone who happens to sift through this diatribe of "What Rick Is" to experiment and build a radio transmitter, buy a commercially available one, go grab a radio scheduler for your PC, and have some fun.