FCC Drafting Rules to Gauge Wireless Interference to AM Stations
The FCC is drafting rules on testing for interference to AM antennas (CD Sept 17 p4) by emissions from cellular, wireless data and two-way radio and other communications towers, said three proponents of the computer analysis method. Media Bureau officials are working on an order, with a draft expected by month’s end, said Ray Benedict, head of a group of 33 broadcasters supporting method of moment testing. The order would go to the office of Chairman Kevin Martin for review and circulation among colleagues, said Benedict. He hopes for a mid-April vote. “It seems to have good support in the Media Bureau,” he said. “The issue will just be that the commission is so busy and finding time to look at it” is hard.
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The tests would save broadcasters and tower operators money by letting them use computer interference modeling when building antennas or making major changes to existing systems, said supporters including Benedict. He heads the AM Directional Antenna Performance Verification Coalition, whose members include Clear Channel, Cox Radio, Cumulus, Entercom and CBS, where Benedict works. Today’s test methods cost thousands of dollars, often requiring technicians to take multiple measurements across wide areas. The new tests would save money and time by avoiding field measurements, said Benedict. That could help minority owners of AM stations upgrade old antennas to serve larger areas without the burden of interference testing costs, he said. “If you've got better coverage you've got more listeners and more money, which allows them to grow and expand in more markets” by buying stations,” said Benedict. “With the present procedure it’s expensive, time consuming and open ended.”
All three other groups standing to be affected by the new rules continue to back them, they said. They are the Land Mobile Communications Council, representing government and corporate two-way radio users, wireless tower group PCIA and the Wireless Communications Association. LMCC likes the proposal because it would treat all towers similarly. The group hopes the FCC will upgrade its database so tower operators can check to see if their proximity to directional AM antennas requires method of moment testing, said President Ralph Haller. “It assures that everybody is doing it the same way, so we think that is an important part of what will make this proposal work smoothly,” he said. The AM coalition revised its proposal to reflect concerns voiced by several groups, a move LMCC supports, he said. “It’s significantly simplified the determination of which towers would have to be studied and which would not, and that was one of our biggest concerns.” PCIA continues to back the proposal, said Jackie McCarthy, director of government affairs.
A bureau official told PCIA’s annual meeting in October that she was drafting the rules, said engineer Rich Biby, who moderated the panel at which the official spoke. The official and a bureau spokeswoman both declined to comment. The official said in October that the rules might be ready for commissioner consideration in December, said Biby. Even so, the item isn’t dead, he added. “It has apparently received enough attention within the broadcaster community that there is some pressure on it to get done and it’s not expected to be controversial and will probably just get approved by circulation,” said Biby. “Those of us in the industry that are actively involved in it are all for it and we're getting ready” to use the new method, he added. At the FCC, he said, “things do seem to be moving along.”