AMband.org

From CGC Communicator – The new KSON(AM) tower was
completed and activated today at about 4:30 p.m. according
to Joel Saxberg who performed the RF matching. The tower is
grounded at its base and skirted to permit RF to be induced
onto the structure.
(more…)

I have received a lot of questions about the contours shown on the Radio-Locator maps. For AM they are:

• Red – 3.0 mV/m – Generally the Sellable area of the station
• Purple – 0.5 mV/m – Rural protected service area, but nobody would buy ads.
• Blue – 0.1 mV/m – You might still get it on a car radio

For FM they are:

• Red – 60 db/uV or 1.0 mV/m – Protected service area for Class A and C stations
• Purple – 50 db/uv or 0.316 mV/m – A pretty weak Signal, nobody would buy ads.
• Blue – 40 db/uv or 0.1 mV/m – You won’t pick it up, except in rural areas

I determined this by comparing the plots of sample stations in Radiosoft’s Comstudy with their Radio-Locator maps. Hopefully this clears a few things up!

All across Canada broadcasters have been moving their AM signals over to the FM band. The Canadian Radio Television C ommission will authorize only so many stations in each market – to assure that each station has the economic potential for success, and each station has to promise to meet a specific programming need. In many Canadian markets there are several FM channels available.

Most of Canada’s population is clustered on the border with the US. The FM channels are generally not limited to the north by other stations, so it has been possible to move many AM stations over to FM channels. The CRTC requires that the AM signal go off the air when the FM takes over. (more…)