OFCOM to trial LPFM style licenses

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bristolpirates
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OFCOM to trial LPFM style licenses

Post by bristolpirates » Mon Mar 22, 2021 10:30 am

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2021/03/ofcom- ... -licences/
Ofcom wants to offer ten trial licences to allow broadcasting on FM covering a range of up to 1km radius.

The regular says these licences would be lower power (typically between 50 mW and up to 2 W) and over a short range, suitable for establishments such as hospitals or army barracks.

In order to participate, applicants will need to meet the eligibility criteria set out in the Invitation to Apply document.

This trial will only be suitable for those looking to broadcast FM radio services for a minimum of 4 hours per day for any 5 days a week to a single establishment.

Successful applicants will also need to provide Ofcom with regular reports on their experiences of participating in the trial.

Ofcom says it is a viable way of making more spectrum available for the licensing of restricted radio services in the future and each licence will be for a 12 month term.

The regulator adds: “We have tested the limited coverage method in-house at our Baldock facility and the results of this testing were encouraging. However, we are now looking to test the use of this spectrum in a variety of different real-life situations and we are therefore inviting stakeholders to assist us with a technical trial.

“Amongst other things, this should enable us to see whether the coverage and interference associated with this spectrum are in line with our expectations and, therefore, whether this planning method could be used by Ofcom in the future in order to increase the supply of spectrum available for RSLs that only need to serve a small locality.”

The closing date for applications is 5pm on 30 April 2021.
I remember going off some place for a weekend, possibly Plymouth, and finding a low power station on 87.9 coming from a hospital. So isn't this already covered by whatever license they gave out for that?

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g33ky
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Re: OFCOM to trial LPFM style licenses

Post by g33ky » Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:24 pm

The station you heard is probably one of the Long-Term RSLs, there's a list here but I don't know how accurate it is http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/radio ... m-list.htm

I think Ofcom is trying to convert these "long-term RSLs" into these LPFMs that they're advertising, it's basically the same power and has the same target, so it's probably just them trying to update their database and also see if any other establishment wants one (gotta get those sweet fees...)
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radionortheast
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Re: OFCOM to trial LPFM style licenses

Post by radionortheast » Wed Jul 19, 2023 1:53 pm

York have closed their am transmitter down,(there was a rumour it had gone on ebay the 50w transmitter I saw seemed over powered) it was receivable a mile up the road here on our car radio, its been one of the longest running stations around since the 60's. I can hear the fm signal which is amazing, its meant to be only 1w, I thought it was a pirate or something new, it mixes with radio 2 a lot, the most interesting thing i’ve heard in a while. I did remind me of when you used to be able to get those 1/4w transmitters from nrg kits, picking out music, making playlists hearing the signal some distance away, your own little radio station :D

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