The electro-magnetic spectrum belongs to the general public, but there aren't enough AM and FM channels for all interested parties to have radio stations, so the FCC, acting on behalf of the people, maintain a licensing system to allow qualified parties to broadcast. This is for radio that broadcasts in the full sense... a 'cast' that propagates over a broad area. But at the listener's perspective, life takes place in a comparatively narrow slice of the full footprint served by a station. As a sole individual the listener is also given a slice of the spectrum pie sufficient to transmit audio material to his own radio receivers, and this is why part 15 rules allow very weak signals scaled to serve a homestead and possibly a few adjoining neighbors. At the microscopic level of part 15 the term 'broadcast' doesn't actually apply, which is why the FCC uses a distinctive term for the type of device approved for such small power, namely 'Intentional Radiator'. For us at KDX the part 15 rules allow us to create the perfect radio station serving our own tastes and compensating for what we find to be the poor performance of available licensed radio. But of course many others who undertake the hobby of part 15 low power radio wish to reach a larger area and more listeners, but part 15 is not intended for such a purpose, although one can pretend.
Pretend broadcasters....now that's a good term.
We can imagine.
We can visualize.
We can believe.
We can fancy it.
We can estimate.
If we can imagine it, visualize it, believe it, picture it....we can do it!!
But I agree with Carl that part 15 was never intended to be more than to "make believe broadcast" around the house or your own property but then it wasn't considered your property could be 10 acres for example, or a farm. Or you own a golf course, or a resort.
When I started out on this subject I tried to guess what the FCC had in mind when they contrived the Part 15 Rules for unlicensed 'intentional radiators'. But some hobbyists came along, looked at the rules, and figured out ways of doing a little better than the FCC planned on. I'm sure the FCC thought that homecasters would keep their little transmitters indoors out of the weather. But imaginative hobbyists figured out ways of putting the transmitters and antennas outdoors where they would get better range. The FCC made ground leads and transmission lines almost non-existent so clever experimenters mounted their transmitters near the ground as part of the antenna. And most of all, the FCC said nothing about the ground itself nor anything buried in it, so ground radials became legally possible, thereby providing a meaningful boost in range for the AM band. The hobbyist who employs these various ways of extending coverage has reason for hoping there's an audience rather than pretending.
Mark makes this important point: "...but then the FCC doesn't consider your property could be 10 acres for example, or a farm. Or you own a golf course, or a resort."
But it would take more words added to the already bloated Part 15 rules to sort out how much territory a single individual had a right to reach by radio, and we must recognize what it is to be a government bureaucrat. Have you seen the FCC Building? Just walking from one office to another takes up a good part of the work day and there are coffee breaks and emails and telephone calls. There's no money in part 15 affairs and the national welfare isn't at stake so it is dealt with by shorthand, which give the rules that feel of being incomplete.
Sound logic Carl!