[BC] lpfm question

[Peter Moncure]

Richard Fry wrote:
> ...test range measurements made by most FM antenna OEMs do not include 
> measuring the elevation pattern at any  (possible) azimuth, let alone 
> at enough azimuths to adequately characterize it.
How very true.  I can recall the astonishment when a ten-bay was 
measured by helicopter and the elevation pattern found at both 90° and 
270° from the boresight to be between 13° and 18° down, not good for a 
Class C FM in flat terrain!

<soapbox>
Any of you who are in a position to pay for a new antenna: please ask 
for at least two complete elevation cuts.  no, demand them.  So rather 
than one cut which goes from (for example) +10° to -90° at the 
boresight, ask for all 360° both at the boresight and at 90° rotated 
from it, which "completes the gyroscope".

I understand that the ranges are typically not calibrated for this 90° 
rotated elevation pattern (and many are woefully inadequate at the 
boresight as well!), but my gentle requests over the decades, largely 
unsupported by actual orders, have met only deafness.  If they aren't 
pushed, they will never calibrate, and we'll all never know what's 
really going on.
</soapbox>

-- 
Peter Moncure, VP RadioSoft
706.754.2725 -2745 FAX
PMoncure at RadioSoft.com
...a Customer Friendly Company