[BC] CALLING ALL AM DAYTIMERS

[Phil Alexander]

On 22 Feb 2006 at 12:55, Bailey, Scott wrote:

> 
> 
> Phil,
>   We had a situation here where there was no way that this particular
> daytimer couldn't get any nighttime authorization, and no Pre-Sunrise or
> Post-Sunset. It was the only station in the county, and high school
> football was big, and nobody wanted some stupid Saturday Morning Replay
> of the game, it was considered old news.
>   What the station owner of the daytimer did was contact the management
> of the Class A dominate station, they both sign a letter that on Friday
> Nights, (during football season) from 7:30 PM Central until 9:30
> Central, the Class A station would accept the interference from the
> daytimer, to allow the community to hear the football game live.
>   I know most engineers would totally disagree with this, but this was
> the only way this could be done, and thank goodness, the Class A station
> went along with it.

First, I'm not a lawyer, and this is a legal question about the rules.
That said, on the surface, it appears to be a violation because I don't
believe the Class A *can* make such an agreement, but I could be wrong.

>From a practical standpoint, the FCC generally does not act in this
area without a complaint, and the Class A is at the top of the list
of potential complainers. Thus, their "permission" probably would 
remove the biggest potential complaint. 

This is a common problem of Class D stations on Class A channels or
on foreign (Canada or Mexico) clear channels. Even for a minimum
power 250 W night operation under the best of circumstances you are
usually looking at protecting an arc of 90 to 120 degrees down to the
equivalent of 1 to 3 W, and it is just not practical. That is in the
best of circumstances. In the worst cases, there is just no way to
design an array that will work.

It is fairly common for a Class D on an A channel to have no PSSA
if the Class A is east of them although they might have a one hour
PSRA or more. Sometimes the locations are such that there will be
nothing but the daytime license. These are the ones that the X band
was originally intended for, but it didn't work out that way.


Phil Alexander, CSRE, AMD
Broadcast Engineering Services and Technology 
(a Div. of Advanced Parts Corporation) 
Ph. (317) 335-2065   FAX (317) 335-9037





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