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Antenna registration

O

OKCRadioGuy

If a guy had a building-top site (with a small tower on top of it) that was registered, what would be the posting requirements? Do I need to have the ASR on every entry door to the site? This location unfortunately has multiple entryways and has all four sides with streets next to the building (a few hundred feet back from the streets). Would it be proper for a nice etched glass sign to be above the door to every public entryway? I'm assuming I aught to also have one on the tower itself?

Thanks for the help!
 
What kind of access to the building? Is there a desk that everyone must pass by? Then you could post a sign there. If not, is there a "menu board" listing the tenants? That might be a place to put the sign.

Since, presumably, roof-top access is limited, some explanation might be in order. I.E.; FCC registered tower site 123456, no public access to the roof. Inquire at Room 220.
 
It's a dorm highrise with 5 Enterences. I don't think there is a desk etc. A menu board might work near the elevators. I'll check into that. Thanks!
 
I'm sure there's some who've dealt with this. Like Empire State?

But here's my take on this. The way I read it and from some of the NAL's issued, the signage must be visible at the access point to the structure or property from public property 24/7. Like at the gate where public access ends, or in this case on the building holding the tower on the sides where it’s visible from a public street.

Plus on the tower, or on immediately adjacent building (like an ATU), or fencing around the tower.

So, if the signs are inside and the doors are locked (to the public) so the FCC agent can’t see the ASRN from the street, I bet you’ll get a NAL.
 
The Empire State Building, at last check, had a classy bronze plaque in the lobby displaying the ASRN and some other information about the building.

A high-rise locally with which I am acquainted did not have a ground-level display of the ASRN. Instead, it was displayed on a sign on the upper-floor doorway that was the last point of public access before the locked doors to the equipment rooms and rooftop.

As far as I am aware, neither facility has ever been cited for violating the ASRN rules.
 
One NAL I seem to remember the FCC pulled up to a site late evening at sunset and couldn't see the sign that was on the tower 500 feet away.
Why take a chance. Just post one more sign.
 
Not that practical for this situation, but a low cost way to make extra signs is to make your sign on a word processor--using a nice, large and clear font--print it on an ordinary sheet of paper--then take it down to Office Depot and get it laminated. Tota

I've used this both for extra Antenna registration information and for translator signs. A hole punch (being careful not to get into the paper) some stiff wire, and you can mount the sign on a chain link fence.

Of course, especially for the antenna registration number, it's best to buy some nice 3" (or larger) house numbers and permanently affix them to the transmitter building, or on a metal plate near the base of the tower. But the extra 8 1/2 X 11 sign out near a gate or other convenient location can't hurt, and you can add emergency contact numbers as well. And when the sign gets a little ragged from the effects of wind, weather and sun, it's simple to make another one.
 
I had the signs for my two towers made at Fast Signs.

Did not take too long. Just make sure you get the sealed /clear coat version (not the stick on letters).

As I recall, they didn't cost much either.
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
It's a dorm highrise with 5 Enterences. I don't think there is a desk etc. A menu board might work near the elevators. I'll check into that. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Only if the doors are unlocked 24/7. If the doors are locked at night then the sign needs to be outside the door. The way I read the rule there is no requirement that the sign be visible from all angles of approach just that it is visible from a public place at all times. It seems to me that if a case could be made that one door is the main door then that is where the sign should be. For example the door that faces the parking lot, the door where the general public, FCC or FAA would normally enter the building when coming from outside the campus.
 
The rule makes mention of being visible as many places as possible, including company phone and logo. Since sign rules are very strict some places, just register your short stl tower to make sure you can place BIG signs with your call letters in multiple places with a tiny ASR on it somehwere.

Works for me I mean some, thats what I hear anyway.Neon works well as do flashing led signs.
 
This issue came up today with our tower so I went to the ASRN registration website and printed out ours. This information was included:

Posting the Registration Number: The Antenna Structure Registration Number must be displayed in a conspicuous place so that it is readily visible near the base of the antenna structure. Materials used to display the Registration Number must be weather-resistant and of sufficient size to be easily seen at the base of the antenna structure. Exceptions exist for certain historic structures. See 47 C.F.R. 17.4(g)(h).

Ours is affixed to the gate on the tower fence. I asked our attorney if it should be on the access gate from the highway and he said no, we were OK at the tower base per above even though you cannot see the base of the tower from the roadway. This is the ASRN number we are discussing, not the FCC facility ID number, right? We are getting a new highway sign at the TX site so I am going to put it there too, along with the facility ID# and emergency contact number. Cant be too safe, eh?
 
Put another one at the access gate to the property. Can't hurt.

Been there, got the answer from the R.I. ( An actual engineer, not a glorified clerk). AM station in a pasture field, fence around tower, ARN sign on base of the tower. Entire field fenced as well for the beef. R.I. suggested that he would like a sign he could see without having to climb the fence and walk up to the tower. In this case, he figured 3" numbers on the actual transmitter shack would be OK.

Incidentally, same site, several years later after we sold the station. Got a call from a "compliance specialist" asking why there was no ARN posted on the "little building by the road." We told her that a) we no longer owned the station, but b) we were sure the number was on the building at the base of the tower, and c) the building she was talking about was an old telephone exchange building with no connection with the radio station. As should have been obvious as there was no longer any electric to it!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...&q=map+newport+township+ohio&btnG=Search+Maps

(OR "466 County Road 25, Newport, Ohio")
 
Depending on tower height/building height and slope test, why register it???

Rules do not always make sense. Bank One in Indy. FAA wanted the structure painted red and white and couldn't figure out why we didn't want to paint it. After hundreds of hours we finally talked to the right person. Oh, it's a building not a structure? It is a structure which is a building.

If the building is not registered now and adding 20 feet doesn't create a slope test issue then don't register it. Make sure you have an FAA determination however.
 
In our case, the thing was registered by someone else and we were litterly never informed. I found out by accident on that Google earth map thing put out by a broadcast consultant that shows the registered towers, stations, etc. I just happened across it and wasn't anywhere close to happy to not have known in advance. It seems a deal was done by somone on campus with a cell phone carrier, and they wanted to register it even though they didn't have to. The bad thing is if the damn thing was registered by someone else and they didn't bother to post things right, I'm pretty sure our station would be fined. It's just one of those wierd deals I guess. The good news is we have temporary signs up, and soon we'll have the real deal perminately on the doors to make things 100 percent. :)
 
For a while, there was a fetish among the cell folks to have everything registered. Indeed, they wouldn't even consider looking at a rental tower unless it was registered.
 
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