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…)

Tower Lighting

The FCC has issued waivers of the requirement to visually check tower lights annually instead of every three months when using a high tech monitoring system. Flash Technology’s ArgusON monitors have won the confidence of regulators to let broadcasters cut back on these visual inspections.

This is partcularly valuable when the tower site is remote, or difficult to reach during winter.

Consultants and Station Owners have been asking for twenty years for relief on burdensome rules to prove the performance of directional antennas for AM stations.

Last week the shoe finally dropped, and the Commission approved as a notice of proposed rulemaking, the analysis of directional antennas using Method-Of-Moments and rigorous monitoring standards to verify that AM antennas actually perform as they should.  The new rules only apply to series fed, non-toploaded, non sectionalized towers.

For stations meeting the specifications, it means a substantial decrease in cost to commission or rebuild an AM directional array.  The labor intensive and sometimes dangerous and always problematic field measurements may be dispensed with.

For those who choose, the old way remains available.  Several safeguards have been added – regular calibration of the entire sample system, and external measurement reference points.  The good thing about this is that it all encourages regular rational maintenance of antenna systems, instead of inhibiting repairs to ailing systems.

Stations with series fed simple radiators and solid sampling systems may want to consider going through the effort of changing over to the new regulatory scheme, especially if the system needs a good cleanup.

The complete Report and Order is available at the FCC website. This is now at the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking stage, with a comment and reply comment period, and publication period before the final rules are in place. There could still be a hitch if someone files comments that cause serious reconsideration.

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!

Crawford Broadcasting has started a forum to investigate means of combating the rash of copper thefts from ground systems. You can look for ideas and add your two cents at The Copper Capers forum.  If you have a theft, please post the details here so that we can understand the risks.

The historic KFI tower fell in December 2004 when a private aircraft hit the tower.  After three years of seeking approval to rebuild the  684 foot structure, the new tower construction was underway Tuesday, 19 March 2008 when the partially constructed tower collapsed.  For a full story see Dino’s Website with pictures of the falling tower.

For those of us who have found the “Yellow Gold” in the ground at tower bases disappearing: Ron Nott of Nott LTD (the unipole folks) are experimenting with the use of #10 Copperweld for the radial wires of a ground system. They are checking out the potential pitfalls and benefits of installing a copper bonded steel wire instead of installing a wire which people want to steal!

I am looking forward to hearing of the eutectic (metal bonding) and corrosion resistance characteristics of this promising technology. Once the problems of connecting the wire to strap and assuring that the copper cladding stays continuous in the corrosive conditions of soil are understood, we just might be able to find a way to keep the ground system in the ground! (more…)

The FCC has issued RM-11384 to my petition to revise the Pre-SunRise and Post-SunSet Authorization rules for AM stations. The petition seeks relief for AM stations of all classes to operate with the maximum power that will not cause interference during the essential winter “drive time” hours.

The petition proposes that stations may maintain their present PSRA and PSSA operations, but if no interference is caused, to potentially operate with much higher power during the transition hours. Everyone knows that skywave signals don’t just suddenly reach out the great distances that they do in the middle of the night. This petition looks at the actuality, and seeks to optimize the use of the available spectrum. The main points of the petition are:

• PSRA and PSSA power need not be limited to 500 Watts if no interference would be caused.
• Secondary (skywave) service areas of class A stations expand and contract from east to west with the transit of the sun. There is no need to protect a service area that either does not exist yet on the western edge of the area, or has ceased to exist because the sun is rising on the eastern edge of the area.
• Stations should be able to use their day, night, auxiliary or one tower of the array – whatever works best for PSRA and PSSA.

• Class B, and D stations should be able to operate with any power, up to the maximum of day or night station power during PSRA and PSSA so long as no interference is caused.

All station owners who have stations with anemic night signals should comment on this petition, as it could significantly increase your coverage during the critical hours when folks are getting out to work and coming home.

To make a comment is pretty easy – Read over the petition posted here. Note the proceeding number RM-11384 and go to the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System and make your thoughts known. Simply enter RM-11384 in the Proceeding box, then fill out your name, affiliation, address, etc. You can either type in your comments directly, or you can upload an MS Word, Wordperfect, or Adobe PDF file that is prepared offline. Comments are due by August 20th. (The FCC informs me that the ECFS system has a problem right now. If you want to read other folks’ comments, for the time being, you need to download the file and rename it so that it has a .pdf extension and you should be able to read it. Otherwise it should work fine 8/03/07)

If you think that this petition would benefit your stations, isn’t too complicated and protects the night coverage of other stations adequately, then you should make your thoughts known.

The FCC has asked for comments and set July 23 as the deadline in response to the recommendations by the Ad Hoc AM Antenna Performance Verification Coalition. Comments that have already been filed, including the Coalition’s, may be viewed at http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/websql/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.hts and entering the docket number 93-177 in the search field. Your comments may be entered at http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.cgi

More details are available in a previous AMBAND.ORG article on the subject.

Congress’ change to the dates for Daylight Savings Time has madePre-Sunrise authorizations more important than ever. Operation of daytime stations and fulltime stations with weak night power is seriously impacted. Daylight will come even later in the morning this March and next October and November, and for each year thereafter.

As I reported earlier, the FCC’s Pre-Sunrise and Post Sunset Authorization calculator is seriously broken, and won’t be fixed until at least next fall. The Commission has implemented a stopgap measure to patch the system for this spring for many stations, but it is pretty bad news for stations with no pre-sunrise authorizations at all.

I am filing a Petition for Rulemaking that proposes a more rational set of rules that will significantly increase expanded hours authorizations to permit all class B and D stations to operate during the transitional hours on a non-interference basis. Those stations now eligible for 500 Watt (or lower) PSRA operations under the current rules would still be eligible, but those stations that can run more power without interference could do so. (more…)