Power Limits, Channel Protection, Proximate Transmitters and Border Spacing – All Concerns Of NAB.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is offering comment on the Commission’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), on a number of broadcast radio technical rules under consideration for elimination or adjustment.
“NAB appreciates the Commission’s goal of eliminating or updating unnecessary or outmoded regulations and supports many of the changes proposed in the NPRM. However, given the thousands of radio stations currently operating in the U.S. under challenging economic conditions, it is critical that none of the changes cause any unanticipated consequences.”
Several of the proposed changes noted in the NAB comments:
The Commission Should Eliminate the Maximum Rated Power Limit for AM Transmitters-
“The rated power of a transmitter has nothing to do with compliance with the station’s license terms, and elimination of this rule is not likely to result in increased noncompliance. Further, elimination of this rule should broaden the market of transmitters available to stations and enhance the secondary market for AM transmitters by allowing stations of any class to use transmitters of any rated power. Elimination of this rule may also improve the economics of running an AM station and may reduce the number of transmitters scrapped.”
The Commission Should Harmonize the Second-Adjacent Channel Protection Requirement for Class D (FM) Stations-
“NAB submits that the interference potential for Class D stations is no greater than for other classes and there is no reason to have a different second-adjacent channel protection requirement, particularly given the demonstrated success of the less restrictive requirements for other stations. NAB also observes that few, if any, new Class D licenses have been granted in the past decade and therefore the impact of this rule change will be minimal.”
The Commission Should Not Eliminate the Regulatory Requirement to Consider Proximate Transmitting Facilities-
“The Commission proposes to eliminate a section of the rules, which provides that applications proposing the use of FM transmitting antennas in the immediate vicinity of other FM or TV broadcast antennas must include a showing as to the expected effect, if any, of such approximate operation. The Commission concludes that the rule is unnecessary because broadcast radio antennas within this physical proximity are unlikely to create interference problems. NAB respectfully disagrees. We submit that this requirement provides an important legal tool for defining interference protection rights. NAB believes that eliminating the rule is tantamount to instructing applicants not to worry about the potential effects of their operation on existing stations.”
Other proposed changes addressed in the NAB comments included concerns that broadcasters in the Canadian and Mexican border areas should not be adversely harmed by “Spacing” changes in the regulations.
You can view the full comments from the NAB HERE.
