Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in
news:b92Wj.45141$ye3.8198@fe119.usenetserver.com:

> I remember selling a pair of analog bag phones to a local radio
> station in the late 80s. They used them for live remotes with a gizmo
> that bypassed the handsets and let them plug their mixers right into
> the phone hardware. The 8KHz bandwidth was more than sufficient for
> good FM quality voice back to the studio as long as the call went
> cellphone-to-cellphone (that's why they bought two) and didn't touch a
> POTS line. (The music was actually spun by a DJ back at the station-
> the on-air personality at the live remote site just pretended to mess
> with discs and tapes for effect.) Even at the $0.25-0.50/minute
> cellular ran in the late 80's, it was _far_ cheaper for the station
> than leasing a broadcast-quality hardline for a remote broadcast that
> would only run a few hours.
>
>

The stations are STILL using analog FM back to the studio from the
remote:
http://www.martielectronics.com/hier...aj=201&sec=210
This box into a portable VHF or UHF antenna on a stick, depending on your
remote radio license, and you have broadcast quality FM sound from any
point within radio range of the station. Stations have high Marti
receiving antennas, high gain omnidirectional stacks up the tower. Radio
Electronic News Gathering (ENG) still uses these powerful FM transmitters
to link on-site news and remote broadcasting to the studio for
transmission......great fun and VERY profitable for the station, remotes.

I once interviewed Siamese twin boys, joined at the waist facing each
other that had to walk sideways, LIVE, on a radio remote from the local
fairgrounds on WOKE AM-1340. What showmen they were as teenagers
promoting their sideshow. The station owner was a big wheel in the
Exchange Club who ran the fair. We promoted all kinds of stuff with
these remotes. They still do! The station owner, an ultra-conservative
member of the John Birch Society, one of its wheels, too, was horrified
until it was over...(c; The next day I interviewed the guy riding the
motorcycle in the big barrel...LIVE while he was riding! Great fun,
remotes.