http://amband.org Medium Wave broadcasting forever Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:00:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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. Actually, two stations are diplexed onto the tower, each with ... http://amband.org/2009/01/knsn-nee-kson-gets-new-tower-after-2004-collapse/ [caption id="attachment_74" align="alignleft" width="120" caption="Tower Lighting"][/caption] 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 ... http://amband.org/2008/12/are-your-tower-lights-on/ The FCC has not said why, but it has postponed indefinately its decision on letting AM stations use FM translators. More when we know! http://amband.org/2008/09/fcc-delays-am-translators/ 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 ... http://amband.org/2008/09/after-20-years-the-fcc-acts/ This is a link to the FCC website for a document that is to be kept with the Public Inspection Fle. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.pdf I thought that you should be aware of it. I became aware of it by reading about it in a trade journal this summer. Basically, Public and Broadcasting is FCC 101 for ... http://amband.org/2008/09/yet-another-one-for-the-public-inspection-file/ There is a way to cope.  Try a little Karma ---enjoy! The Environmental Thesauris Instead of Writing this: Write this! We will be replacing a buried cable . We will emancipate the corpulence of an electromagnetic medium with the internment of another that shall repose and be at one with the bosom of Mother Earth. No ... http://amband.org/2008/09/coping-with-the-environmental-mandates-of-fcc-part-11306-11307/ I was just looking at the Fiscal Year '08 table of FCC regulatory fees for AM radio stations. At first I didn't believe it, but Daytimers in small markets are getting screwed! Class B stations, with real full-time service are hit with a $500 annual fee in the smallest markets, but ... http://amband.org/2008/08/am-regulatory-fees-huh/ http://amband.org/2008/06/first-mexican-am-hd-stations-on-the-air/ The FCC released a new "Public and Broadcasting" manual that is required to be in your station's Public Inspection File. Here is the link to the manual.  It can be downloaded below. http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/public_and_broadcasting.pdf Courtesy of Jim Pollock, PE http://amband.org/2008/06/new-public-and-broadcasting-manual/ 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 ... http://amband.org/2008/06/radio-locator-decoded/