109. The 1991 Canada-USA FM Broadcasting Agreement provides for low power FM stations. Under the terms of the Agreement, stations would be permitted to operate with a maximum of 250 watts ERP and a 34 dBu F(50,10) interfering contour not to exceed 60 km. They would be secondary services and would be coordinated only if the interfering contour crosses the common border. LP100 and microradio would be coordinated under these regulations as needed. There are currently no provisions in the Canada-USA FM Agreement to provide for primary low power service of 1 kW, as is proposed for LP1000 service. Accordingly, such stations would have to be coordinated with Canada under the 6 kW Class A specification unless and until alternative provisions are adopted.
110. The 1992 USA-Mexico FM Broadcast Agreement also provides for low power FM stations. Under the terms of this Agreement, a station would be permitted to operate with specific parameters depending on the station's distance from the common border. Stations which are less than 125 km from the common border may operate with a maximum of 50 watts ERP, an interfering contour not to exceed 32 km, and a protected 60 dBu F(50,50) contour not to exceed 8.7 km in the direction of Mexico. Stations which are greater than 125 km from the common border may operate with greater than the above parameters in the direction of Mexico provided that the protected contour does not extend greater than 8.7 km, starting from the 125 km point. Microradio stations would fall under the above criteria, and LP100 stations would require possible restrictions on domestic standards in order to abide by the above regulations for coordination purposes with Mexico. There are currently no provisions in the USA-Mexico FM Agreement to provide for primary low power service of 1 kW, as is proposed for LP1000 service. These stations would have to be coordinated with Mexico under the 3 kW Class A specification, unless and until alternative provisions are adopted.
111. Under both the Canada and Mexico FM Agreements, low power and microradio stations operate on the basis of not causing interference to existing and future primary assignments. These low power stations receive protection according to their date of notification and acceptance only from future low power assignments.
