Broadcast television at BM

simian · Post by **simian** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:45 pm

Does anyone know of precedent for a theme camp (or individual) broadcasting television signals using VHF/UHF in BRC? Is this something that would be accepted? I am interested in attempting this in conjunction with live video mixing performances at our camp, I just don't know how feasible it is. I imagine that some of the RadioFree BRC people (or other radio people) might have some insight? I am not yet familiar enough with the law but, from what I gather, the FCC allows low-power transmissions that do not interfere with other television transmissions. The circumference of that transmission is what is in question for me. AFAIK, it would have be less than the total circumference of BRC to be legal. Does anyone know for certain? Thanks.

b00m3rang · Post by **b00m3rang** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:13 pm

From what I understand (which in this case comes from nothing more than rumor and hearsay), the radio broadcasts are not technically legal, but are tolerated. Personally, I like to get /away/ from TV for my week on the Playa, but I do see how it could be a lot of fun to do.

If you record footage at the event, prepare your broadcasts, and play them back on a monitor at your theme camp where everybody can gather around, that would be neat too.

simian · Post by **simian** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:55 pm

b00m3rang wrote:From what I understand (which in this case comes from nothing more than rumor and hearsay), the radio broadcasts are not technically legal, but are tolerated. Personally, I like to get /away/ from TV for my week on the Playa, but I do see how it could be a lot of fun to do.

This is my understanding as well. I should investigate the FCC website ... assuming I can get beyond all of the redtape and witch hunts.

b00m3rang wrote:If you record footage at the event, prepare your broadcasts, and play them back on a monitor at your theme camp where everybody can gather around, that would be neat too.

That is one of my intended ideas. I can certainly respect the desire to escape television for at least a week while at Burning Man. It is for that very reason that I want to do this project and then abhor the idea at the same time. I suppose what is important is the content, as you stated. I have been working in this medium for about 7 years and have attending Burning Man once before. When I was there last I was unable to bring any of my equipment with me. I feel that, at the very least, this year I will bring my mixing gear so I can share some of my art with the BM community. If I can figure out a way to broadcast, so I can share with people remotely, all the better. :) The largest downside (aside from TV having a stigma of corporate whoremanship) is that I doubt tons of people bring TVs capable of picking up broadcast signals into the desert.

swampdog · Post by **swampdog** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:41 pm

gotta think audience - who's gonna sit in camp and watch tv? Even those with RVs that *have* tvs (a subset right there), they may not want to spend their time watching even the most excellent burning man video footage when it's all happening right outside. Dunno, I'm not an rv'er myself. IMHO, you'd probably have more luck with an in-camp display.

simian · Post by **simian** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 7:15 pm

swampdog wrote:gotta think audience - who's gonna sit in camp and watch tv? Even those with RVs that *have* tvs (a subset right there), they may not want to spend their time watching even the most excellent burning man video footage when it's all happening right outside. Dunno, I'm not an rv'er myself. IMHO, you'd probably have more luck with an in-camp display.

I should have mentioned that there <i>will</w> be an in-camp display on an approximate 4'x6' screen with and LCD projector. The broadcast would be in addition to this. You're probably right about sitting in camp. Perhaps I could rebroadcast a previous night's show the following day for the mid-day lounge. Thanks for the input though, you have a good point about the audience.

simian · Post by **simian** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 7:15 pm

Oops, I screwed up that italic tag. Bleh, I should get some sleep. ;)

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 7:29 pm

A TV bar??

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:02 am

unjonharley wrote:A TV bar??

Better yet, a sports bar.

trying to get away from all that, no not me.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:30 am

theCryptofishist wrote:
unjonharley wrote:A TV bar??
Better yet, a sports bar.

trying to get away from all that, no not me.

_
Very Sporting of you hhmmmmmm

HughMungus · Post by **HughMungus** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:51 am

b00m3rang wrote:If you record footage at the event, prepare your broadcasts, and play them back on a monitor at your theme camp where everybody can gather around, that would be neat too.

I almost did this one year except that I was going to loan cheap 8mm cameras to strangers, let them shoot footage and then bring it back and display it using a video projector/white sheet (white sheets are translucent so you can put the projector behind it which is easier than putting it in front and having people walk in front of the light). Actually I might do this for ambient video in our camp this year...hmm...

simian · Post by **simian** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:56 am

DallasPlaya wrote:
b00m3rang wrote:If you record footage at the event, prepare your broadcasts, and play them back on a monitor at your theme camp where everybody can gather around, that would be neat too.
I almost did this one year except that I was going to loan cheap 8mm cameras to strangers, let them shoot footage and then bring it back and display it using a video projector/white sheet (white sheets are translucent so you can put the projector behind it which is easier than putting it in front and having people walk in front of the light). Actually I might do this for ambient video in our camp this year...hmm...

Our camp has done the video screen, projected from behind, at camp for a couple of years. It works really well. You can project from inside a car to protect the projector and make the screen out of cheap PVC and other parts found at the hardware store. The biggest issue is that the screen acts like a sail when the wind gets going. You can cut and sew wind-holes into the screen to cut down on the resistance to the wind, but it kinda puts a damper on your video presentation.

PurpleSoul · Post by **PurpleSoul** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 2:29 pm

Have you said something about "radio broadcasts" at BM?
I´m from Buenos Aires and i´m working in a radio station, i´m a radio speaker and i would love to get in touch with the ones in charge of the BMRadio.
Any contact?
Thx!

sierrahiker68 · Post by **sierrahiker68** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 4:42 pm

Leave the TV at home. Unplug from the world.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 6:48 am

If you want to do it, then do it. Perhaps the only place in the US you can get away with putting up a TV station for a week and actually broadcast will be in BRC. If you've got the kahunas to understand how to broadcast, then you'll know how to power limit your signal so it doesn't go beyond the city limits.

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:11 am

It would be pretty cool to rig up a kiosk-like artform wayyyy out in the deep playa, all by it's lonesome, with a TV that picks up your broadcast....that way there would be at least ONE set receiving it, and some people would be tripped out when they found it....

...you could also bring a few extra cheap sets and loan them to the bars in your neighborhood...or set them up by the street so passerby's could gawk at them (and bask in the reassuring glow of electrons).

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:56 am

I recently saw a videodoc about some guys that had a TV thing going on back in '98...."Burning Man- Just Add Couches". (Thanks again, Martiansky!) They had satellite TV set up, and couches, obviously, and also showed the day's footage from their "Minute of Fame" booth wherein BRC denizens would tape themselves in a tiny, automated studio for one minute.

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:09 am

You might want to check this out:

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/lptv.html

"LPTV presents a less expensive and very flexible means of delivering programming tailored to the interests of viewers in small localized areas, providing a means of local self-expression."

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:10 am

Hey, another idea... Talk to certain theme camps that have stuff going on (like TD, for example) and then have a remote sports bar with a TV showing the live action from the location. Give it a sports bar feel without being outside BRC.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:32 am

Interesting, the LPTV thing. However, this is a licensing issue and I think we can probably get away with unlicensed broadcast at BRC as long as the power is low enough that it doesn't interfere with licensed signals (not that there is any licensed broadcast out there anyway). Did find this on the site

LPTV stations are subject to a minimum of program-related regulations. There are no prescribed amounts of non-entertainment programming or local programming, and there are no limits on commercials, and no minimum hours of operation. However, the broadcast of obscene and indecent material between 6 A.M. and 10 P.M. is prohibited.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:47 am

I'd just roll self-produced tape and make it look like a scratchy satellite download.

Re: sports, you could do a two-hour still shot of the open playa at night and call it a Stanley Cup game.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:51 am

Or the BRC open.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 10:59 am

sputnik wrote:Interesting, the LPTV thing. However, this is a licensing issue and I think we can probably get away with unlicensed broadcast at BRC as long as the power is low enough that it doesn't interfere with licensed signals (not that there is any licensed broadcast out there anyway).

Yeah, I just did a search on LPTV thru my favorite bueraucracy (NOT!!), technically it has to be licensed, and not cause any interference to any existing station, meet basic technical standards, and all that stuff... The biggest worry (and we'd have to make sure we were on and surrounded by clear channels for a ways around the channel operated on) is interference with one of the translator stations servicing Gerlach/Empire (I'm sure the big stations in Reno have them - they also have them servicing other thriving metropolises in Nevada like Hawthorne, Yerington, Silver Springs, etc...) and having one of the locals turn it in to the FCC. I don't want to even think about that (I heard that was an issue in the past where one of the pirates choked out a Reno FM station translator and there were official complaints filed...)

Otherwise doing Playa TV (as a pirate) seems as easy as getting the transmitters and antennas and video/audio equipment - setting them for an open channel (Hmmm... KBRC Channel 69, Bringing the Dust from the Playa into your Home... wonder if it's available and clear??)

Of course, someone *could* put in for an official station license and do it legit. Then you wouldn't be jeopardizing the pirates out there, and give it a sense of legitimacy, but you gotta deal with the FCC... and with their rules on "profane and indecent"... Yeech.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 12:45 pm

Bay Bridge Sue wrote:Of course, someone *could* put in for an official station license and do it legit. Then you wouldn't be jeopardizing the pirates out there, and give it a sense of legitimacy, but you gotta deal with the FCC... and with their rules on "profane and indecent"... Yeech.

My point exactly. As long as whoever does this keeps the signal strength down (possibly even using special antennas to localize and attentuate the signal) then who will know or care.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 1:20 pm

And as long as the freq. is high enough (that's not why I chose ch. 69, but it's the highest channel now available - 800-806 mhz - which means essentially a rubber duckie sized antenna) that the antenna can be *small* and *discrete*... As long as it's high enough you could run pretty low power and it wouldn't go too far... (too bad the top of the man is so far away - then again, he's a spinner this year, would make it kinda tricky...)

BUt one could do a cardio-directional gig either shooting at a bare mountaintop or up the playa from, say, 6:00ish, or a solar and battery power mini-transmitter at the top of the man, fed by a remote link, using his spinning to change the wave propogation depending on where he's facing, or some kind of umbrella ground effect milti-element radial, or ... ... ... ... Man, I shouldn't be thnking this hard on a Friday!! >grins<