Does anyone know the process for doing this? Where I live there is a god-caster type of corporate religious radio corporation...that has repeaters on multiple frequencies. One of their stations that is nearly 60 miles away....interferes with a local station that is on the same frequency....Only three miles away from the local station's transmitter. If the local station is off the air....They come in clearly...even on a portable radio...or a walkman....As a matter of fact...They will sometimes over power the local station on a walkman!!!! To say the least...this is totally annoying!!! I strongly suspect that they are not operating with in their legal parameters. How would I go about filing a complaint with the FCC about this problem??? The local station has been around for 20 years longer than the one that is causing the interference too...
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Filing a complaint with the FCC about interference....
- Thread starter Time Traveler
- Start date
Have you discussed this situation with the local station you feel is being interfered with?
If the stations are on FM, there may be summer ducting in your area. In that case, there is nothing that can be done.
If they are AM, one or both may be directional and the interference may actually be normal.
So there may be "legit" reasons for the interference and conversing with the station in question may give you guidance.
K
kenglish
Guest
I haven't seen any place on the FCC website where you can file a written complaint about broadcast (reception) interference, but you can call the FCC INFO number and talk to them. They can pass the info to the FCC Enforcement Bureau, which would then create a Case Number and try to do some follow-up on it.
Getting the "victim" station involved is a good idea, since they may not be aware of the issue. They can add a lot of weight to your complaint with the FCC, if necessary.
Getting the "victim" station involved is a good idea, since they may not be aware of the issue. They can add a lot of weight to your complaint with the FCC, if necessary.
The real issue is, excluding ducting on FM, unless the interference is in the protected contour of the offended station, there is no issue at the FCC level.
We need more info on this, What Radio Station is being interfered?
How many frequencies are there, Is the interference commom?
Where are you located?
How many frequencies are there, Is the interference commom?
Where are you located?
If the interfering station is a translator it can be outside of protected contours and cause objectionable interference, as per 74.1203.
The only thing that would fix all the translator interference to former de facto FM station service areas would be to have an expanded FM band. Right now, translator numbers are exploding because there are no new full time FM frequencies available, and because nothing has been done to stop interference to AM signals from either electrical noise, or poor compliance by stations in this country and others in not changing to properly maintained night facilities, or leaving the air entirely at night as specified. AM signals can and did far exceed FM facilities in area covered listenably well until probably about 20 years ago, maybe more. AM stations find it necessary to have translators because they can't even depend on a noise free signal a few miles away in many cases, and this has not always been the case. Many people are young that follow radio, and they may never have known a time when small AM stations could easily be heard 40 miles away and large ones hundreds of miles away, even in the daytime.
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Not quite.......
Part 74.1203
(a) An authorized FM translator or booster station will not be
permitted to continue to operate if it causes any actual interference
to:
(3) The direct reception by the public of the off-the-air signals of
any authorized broadcast station including TV Channel 6 stations, Class
D (secondary) noncommercial educational FM stations, and previously
authorized and operating FM translators and FM booster stations.
Interference will be considered to occur whenever reception of a
regularly used signal is impaired by the signals radiated by the FM
translator or booster station, regardless of the quality of such
reception, the strength of the signal so used, or the channel on which
the protected signal is transmitted.
(b) If interference cannot be properly eliminated by the application of
suitable techniques, operation of the offending FM translator or
booster station shall be suspended and shall not be resumed until the
interference has been eliminated. Short test transmissions may be made
during the period of suspended operation to check the efficacy of
remedial measures. If a complainant refuses to permit the FM translator
or booster licensee to apply remedial techniques which demonstrably
will eliminate the interference without impairment to the original
reception, the licensee of the FM translator or booster station is
absolved of further responsibility for that complaint.
http://www.fcc.gov/complaints is where the public can complain....but broadcast interference is a hard issue. You must provide details....dates, time, how bad the interference, how long, etc...in any case, unless its not tropo (which the FCC will not deal with in any case), probably have to complain that it is a possible illegal broadcast....like KVST tried to claim against KROY lately.....but their complaint was SERIOUSLY flawed; of the two listener complaints used in their arguments, one was outside the 60dbU contour and the other was MAYBE outside; the area the second complaint was located at is cut almost in half by KVST's 60dbU....besides it was major tropo in this case....and KROY recently signed back on with an upgrade...KVST in its filings claimed KROY was running an illegal antenna with 5-6db more gain in KVST's direction..but KROY has filed a letter from ERI stating the antenna is a standard model and meets the licensed specs......yet within the City Grade (70dbU) of KVST, no complaints were noted...
IF the offending station is 60 miles away and is actually interfering with a local full power station 3 miles away from the local tower site, I would have a problem with that. I can see tropo causing a distant full power station causing it to overpower a local translator or similar..
Posting more info on this would help a lot...otherwise, we are all speculating.
This is actually a year round issue....and I am confident that it is occurring with in the station' protected contour.....
The station being interfered with is 91.1-WSPN Saratoga Springs, NY....The interfering station is WHVP Hudson, NY. I am approximately four miles...line of sight...north of WSPN's transmitter. WHVP jams WSPN in every direction...North....South....West and East....WHVP is south of WSPN....I am north of WSPN and they interfere....Thanks for all of your replies everybody!!!!
Again, I suggest you speak with the management or engineer at WSPN. They can tell you if such interference is normal or not.
Given that WSPN is just 250 watts at 98 feet, it does not have a reasonable expectation of coverage going out more than just a few miles. However, 4 miles seems a bit extreme so a call or email to the station would be in order.
This interference, while not 4 miles away, happens a lot on the west side on the edu band and some commercial channels. And it's gotten even worse. 88.9 is KPLK, mixing with K205FO South Everett and their SS Religion, mixing with KMIH Mercer Island, mixing with CBUX-FM1 Victoria. Just a few years ago it was ONLY CBUX-FM1 Victoria anywhere near the water - and maybe sometimes inland. 91.1 KROH screws a lot with CJZN 91.3 in Victoria and you could probably see Port Townsend, KROH's city of license, from Victoria. 100.3 CKKQ Victoria interferes with 100.5 CFRO in Vancouver. The list goes on and on.
-crainbebo
-crainbebo
From looking at the Radio Locators for both stations, you have the interfering station (WHVP) being 220 watts at 2043 feet above sea level, WSPN being 250 watts at 587 feet (and it looks like their pattern slightly favors areas SE of the transmitter). According to Radio Locator, at least, the fringe areas of both stations touch at Schenectady.
WHVP's antenna height and large coverage area might explain why WHVP is fairly strong. It wouldn't explain the level of interference you're talking about, though.
Unless I missed it, you didn't mention how long the interference has been happening (although you said it's "year 'round", implying at least a year). But if it just started up all at once, perhaps the local station (WSPN) is having transmitter issues, or other issues with their installation they aren't aware of. So maybe you should give them a call first.
I'd also drive around and see if it's just in your area of town, or other areas in Saratoga Springs. You may just be in a dead spot for WSPN, because of local terrain, and a hot spot for WHVP, for the same reason.
WHVP's antenna height and large coverage area might explain why WHVP is fairly strong. It wouldn't explain the level of interference you're talking about, though.
Unless I missed it, you didn't mention how long the interference has been happening (although you said it's "year 'round", implying at least a year). But if it just started up all at once, perhaps the local station (WSPN) is having transmitter issues, or other issues with their installation they aren't aware of. So maybe you should give them a call first.
I'd also drive around and see if it's just in your area of town, or other areas in Saratoga Springs. You may just be in a dead spot for WSPN, because of local terrain, and a hot spot for WHVP, for the same reason.
This is an interesting situation. WSPN's antenna is horizontal polarization only. WHVP uses a vertically-polarized antenna. Both stations are at roughly the same ERP, but WHVP has a much higher antenna, so it will have a larger coverage area, generally speaking...although it is directional.
Would be interesting to see what happens in the affected areas when using a radio with a whip antenna, and changing the orientation of the antenna.
I could imagine that WSPN would have trouble with car-radio listening, with horizontal-only polarization.
Would be interesting to see what happens in the affected areas when using a radio with a whip antenna, and changing the orientation of the antenna.
I could imagine that WSPN would have trouble with car-radio listening, with horizontal-only polarization.
Thanks for your comment...The interference issue started years ago...after WHVP signed on. Prior to that WSPN got out very well....in spite of their 250 watt signal. I am actually in a strong signal area for WSPN...but in a car...if I hit a slightly weak spot for a second...WHVP will pop right in on the frequency...or even on a walkman for that matter. Since it is a college/community kind of station....most of the students/volunteers involved with the day to day operations are oblivious to the problem...and most of them stream the signal for that matter...not to mention that the WSPN signal is strong enough on the immediate campus...where the transmitter is located...for WHVP not to be a noticeable issue to them. The Radio-Locator map certainly suggests that WHVP should fade out 30 or so miles further south than it actually does. Interestingly...the owners of WHVP also own WSSK 89.7 which is licensed to Saratoga Springs....but barely puts a decent/audible signal in to the city....Not that I would ever be inclined to listen to it anyway!
WSPN, per the FCC website is 250 watts at 30 meters, or about 98 feet. At that power and height, I think the protected contour goes out about 5 or 6 miles, maybe less. It is very possible that the OP is indeed outside the protected contour of this station.
For illustration, the 70 dbu contour of a Class A FM which is 6 kw at 328 feet is 16 miles.
The radio-locator maps are rightfully labeled "for amusement purposes only" as they are approximations. The innermost red contour is approximately the 60 dbu, and useful in-home and at work listening happens inside the 65 dbu contour, somewhat inside the red contour.
The other two contours on radio-locater are nearly meaningless as outside the protected contour, there is no expectation of a good signal due to co-channel and adjacent-channel stations.
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If the interference started after WHVP came on, I doubt there would be very much you could do, aside from convince the folks at WSPN to get a permit to boost power or move their antenna -- which could be a real hassle for a college station, permit wise (I'm guessing) and monetary wise (not all college stations get terrific funding from the colleges).
Otherwise, try a different radio, one with higher FM gain, that would pull in the local station a lot better.
I figure you've already worked with rotating and re-orientating your FM radio's antenna.
In Manistee, MI, 89.7 WLMN sometimes gets knocked out in its own city of license by 89.7 WHND from Sister Bay, WI. Very rarely, 97.7 WMLQ will suffer interference from 97.7 WQDC Sturgeon Bay, WI within Manistee.
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