Please stop this translators! Now I see K203CC has a CP to move to 88.3 if that happens, I will also no longer be able to get KPAC, I would think that would have a impact on that station. I have a hard enough time trying to get to Jack with K274BB. And now on top I cant get KTXX any more. This has got to stop! FM is turning more and more like AM nighttime now. to many little low power stations comming in the commercial stations will almost have no use to me any more!
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FCC Please stop!
- Thread starter jras20
- Start date
The increasing congestion of the FM band is setting up a beautiful case for an eventual migration to digital. I can hear the argument in my head already.
"Why are we allowing these inefficient analog signals to continue to congest the airwaves? We need to get everyone moved over to efficient digital signals, so we can turn off the sloppy analog signals and tighten the bandwidth of each channel."
;D
"Why are we allowing these inefficient analog signals to continue to congest the airwaves? We need to get everyone moved over to efficient digital signals, so we can turn off the sloppy analog signals and tighten the bandwidth of each channel."
;D
jras, I feel your pain. But the FCC isn't going to stop. What's happening around Austin and San Antonio is happening all around the country. The FCC will continue to allow translators to be licensed in virtually any place they can be "shoehorned" in.
When Docket 80-90 was being discussed about twenty-five years ago many broadcasters complained that allowing so many new stations would result in the "AM-ization" of the FM band. Well, it happened. But as bad as the crowding of the dial became after the FCC issued its revised table of allocations, things would only get worse with the "Great Translator Invasion." During the translator filing window in March, 2003 the FCC received more than 13,000 applications for new stations. As you know, the vast majority of those came from large religious broadcasters. With so many of the applications being "mutually exclusive" the FCC had to find ways to whittle the list down. But even if some applicants were disqualified for various reasons and others withdrew a huge backlog remained. The process of sifting through all the translator applications is still going on, despite the fact that we've seen many new stations signing on in recent months.
There's another issue here. It's about programming diversity on a local level, and the FCC dropped the ball on that one, too. Literally thousands of potential low power broadcasters (LPFM's) basically lost the fight before it began, since many of the large religious broadcasters applied for LPFM channels. Despite what the rules say, a great number of LPFM's essentially carry no locally originated programming. It would have been good if the FCC had given priority to locally owned and locally originated LPFM's, but without anything miraculous like congressional action, that's not going to happen.
When Docket 80-90 was being discussed about twenty-five years ago many broadcasters complained that allowing so many new stations would result in the "AM-ization" of the FM band. Well, it happened. But as bad as the crowding of the dial became after the FCC issued its revised table of allocations, things would only get worse with the "Great Translator Invasion." During the translator filing window in March, 2003 the FCC received more than 13,000 applications for new stations. As you know, the vast majority of those came from large religious broadcasters. With so many of the applications being "mutually exclusive" the FCC had to find ways to whittle the list down. But even if some applicants were disqualified for various reasons and others withdrew a huge backlog remained. The process of sifting through all the translator applications is still going on, despite the fact that we've seen many new stations signing on in recent months.
There's another issue here. It's about programming diversity on a local level, and the FCC dropped the ball on that one, too. Literally thousands of potential low power broadcasters (LPFM's) basically lost the fight before it began, since many of the large religious broadcasters applied for LPFM channels. Despite what the rules say, a great number of LPFM's essentially carry no locally originated programming. It would have been good if the FCC had given priority to locally owned and locally originated LPFM's, but without anything miraculous like congressional action, that's not going to happen.
jras20 said:
I'm thinking that the year 2030 might be a soft target date for a transition to all digital broadcasts, at least on what is now the FM band. Analog FM is a spectrum hog. You could have much more diversity of programming with digital, and since it would be pure digital, with appropriate power levels, the current signal issues with IBOC would be eliminated.
Of course, it is always possible that advancements in mobile internet technology--that is as portable as current radios--could make the traditional broadcast model from a central transmitter--obsolete.
I think the medium-wave band (AM) is probably going to be toast, regardless of any digital technology. Nighttime skywave issues, the limitations of digital at such low frequencies, plus the often sizeable transmission facilities (in an era of urban sprawl) are going to work against it. Other platforms will make more sense from a business and programming perspective.
Well back to the subject, if they do aprove this CP which probably will. Why dont they then just move KLTO to 98.1 and put it to the tower of the americas? I dont see any problem with that if they dont see any problem with the low powered translator in Lockhart over KPAC.
sorry just pissed about the hole thing :
: : :
sorry just pissed about the hole thing :
: : :
"...sorry just pissed about the hole thing"
and the whole thing, too.
and the whole thing, too.
JRAS: I'm from the east coast but have spend a good deal time in the Great Plains. These low or limited power FM's really get out a long way, a lot further than the engineers have calculated. perhaps they have underestimated the flatness of the terrain or the highly increaing quality of home and car stereos. And yes, the LP's really interfere with the stations that were there first. I imagine, but am not sure if this reduces the overall value of the station that is being stepped on. And fustrates the hell out of you and a lot others!
jras...
I see you post on the HD Radio board, so you know (from the authority...David Eduardo) that no station owner really cares about station coverage and listenerrs outside the metro area where they can sell spots.
How come you are so mad about 50 watt translators on a second adjacent, but don't have anything to say about the 10kw of first adjacent channel HD2 interference?
You need to get a woman to keep you occupied/frustrated instead of writing 10 posts a day about how hard it is to rotate a directional antenna.
I see you post on the HD Radio board, so you know (from the authority...David Eduardo) that no station owner really cares about station coverage and listenerrs outside the metro area where they can sell spots.
How come you are so mad about 50 watt translators on a second adjacent, but don't have anything to say about the 10kw of first adjacent channel HD2 interference?
You need to get a woman to keep you occupied/frustrated instead of writing 10 posts a day about how hard it is to rotate a directional antenna.
jras20 said:Well back to the subject, if they do aprove this CP which probably will. Why dont they then just move KLTO to 98.1 and put it to the tower of the americas? I dont see any problem with that if they dont see any problem with the low powered translator in Lockhart over KPAC.
sorry just pissed about the hole thing :
Well, a full-power station couldn't move to 98.1 because of spacing requirements for KVET!
Keep in mind that translators, at least in the commercial band, are supposed to have a system of checks and balances. The problem is that all of these network stations, like K-Love, have found loopholes in the law that effectively let them circumvent those checks and balances.Remember, a commercial entity can't operate translators in the non-commercial band. All translators in the commercial band are prohibited from relaying a station they can't receive over-the-air, and a commercial operator cannot translate its own station outside of the primary signal contour. The exception to that rule is for areas that are unserved. I seem to remember several of these areas in the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona and parts of Utah, Nevada and Alaska.
However, the provision prohibiting non-commercial operators from owning translators outside the primary signal contour doesn't apply. So, K-Love can have as many translators as it wants so long as those in the commercial band get their programming off-air. The translator rules were created in 1970, and there was never any thought that a single entity could own several hundred stations 25 years in the future. Remember, also, that major broadcasters have little reason to complain. Almost all of your big broadcasters have or have had stations relayed by translator and/or booster, and this law benefits them. So, you wouldn't see them complain about a translator on 98.1 close to KVET unless it interfered with KVET's business.
slim101 said:
He has a digital receiver. Digital receivers don't get the same IBOC interference.
As someone who's going through problems with my woman right now, I think you might be giving him some bad advice. I wish the only thing I had to worry about right now was rotating a directional antenna! What an easy life it would be!
Time out! these LP FM's are pesty to some, obnoxious to others. Boston's 96.9 is suddenly lost along I-95 in Southwestern RI in favor of a 100 watt LPFM on the same frequency that operates in Ashaway RI. Other Boston FM's can still be received in this area and clearly at that . A lot of FM's go out well beyond the grade B contours shown on coverage maps with a good car receiver or a good home setup/ antenna w/o any unusual stuff happening atmospherically.
Send a formal complaint about the interfering translator to the FCC describing the reception problem at your location. Include as much detail as possible.
Send a copy to KPAC.
Send a copy to the owner of the interfering translator.
KPAC can also file a complaint to the FCC using your letter.
Note this line: "regardless of the quality of such reception, the strength of the signal so used..."
Sec. 74.1203 Interference.
(a) An authorized FM translator or booster station will not be permitted to continue to operate if it causes any actual interference to:
(1) The transmission of any authorized broadcast station; or
<snip>
(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.
<snip>
(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.
More translators would be taken off the air by this rule if the public were aware of it.
Send a copy to KPAC.
Send a copy to the owner of the interfering translator.
KPAC can also file a complaint to the FCC using your letter.
Note this line: "regardless of the quality of such reception, the strength of the signal so used..."
Sec. 74.1203 Interference.
(a) An authorized FM translator or booster station will not be permitted to continue to operate if it causes any actual interference to:
(1) The transmission of any authorized broadcast station; or
<snip>
(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.
<snip>
(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.
More translators would be taken off the air by this rule if the public were aware of it.
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