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FCC & Radio Ownership Limits

KC8UOK said:
So basically the UK system of
Heart, Capitol, Hits Radio etc. Hundreds of stations playing the same networked music virtually nationwide. No local character, local news opt outs. Just a computer in an office churning out music. I'd basically stop listening to FM and go 100% podcasts and Spotify Playlists.
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We have global music companies. The music you hear is being marketed globally, not just nationally. The idea that a radio station in Des Moines is providing local programming because of a local DJ is not really true. If you look at the music they play, there are likely many other stations playing the same music somewhere else. The musicians want to be heard everywhere, not just in certain places. They tour nationally to promote that music. If they just wanted to be heard on one station, they'd stay in their bedroom and never leave.

The FCC is hoping this will help the radio companies compete better with online and satellite. They're not thinking about programming at all. They thought that by giving AM stations FM translators that would keep the AM stations afloat. What it led to is companies wanting to shut down the AM and just operate the translator.
 
TheBigA said:
It's hard to get the Chinese to comply with US laws.
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If we'd had administrations during those decades when that interference was starting to emerge, and if the FCC has been more diligent during those same decades, there could have been legal blockades created to prevent the import of the offending devices.

But that's two "ifs" in a row, unfortunately, and unless we can build a time machine to go back and change the timeline (channeling the spirit of H.G. Wells here) ...
 
The FM Translators for AM stations HAVE saved some AMs from being cancelled. However, the ones that have been saved are often low powered <=1 kW Class Ds and generally 1 kW Class Cs. More powerful facilities have been lost because of a combination of translator rules. Also, DAs for the more powerful stations. But not all markets have a demand for land which makes small amounts of DA land ridiculously valuable. Mainly large markets do. The need for two dimensional multitier arrays would be reduced if the standard pattern rules for RSS computation were relaxed. That would allow linear and slight dogleg arrays that use less land to be used. Selling part of the land and using remaining towers saved KAAY as a Class B.
 
cc333 said:
If the FCC had enforced their rules properly 30 years ago, the AM band wouldn't have become so overwhelmed with noise from sloppily-made electronics that lack proper shielding.
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There is very little to no evidence that such devices even exist. Yes, modern devices like phone chargers and LED light fixtures produce some RFI, but the question is whether they produce RFI in excess of regulations. To date, I haven't found any documentation of a specific product exceeding regulations.

However, BigA and K.M's point is very valid. Even if everything that gets sold via Target is compliant, there is a ton of stuff that comes in via Temu and similar that probably is not certified to US regulations at all, and should be seized at the border by CBP.
How much money do you think went into certifying the QZIIW brand phone charger to FCC specs?
 
cc333 said:
If the FCC had enforced their rules properly 30 years ago, the AM band wouldn't have become so overwhelmed with noise from sloppily-made electronics that lack proper shielding.
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Interference in the AM band goes back to the dawning of television in the 1940s, if not before. The TV horizontal sweep circuits generated noise every 15.75 kHz throughout the spectrum below 30 MHz. There were also fluorescent lights, as well as various appliances that had motors that generated noise. All of those could be heard throughout a house.
 
PTBoardOp93 said:
There is very little to no evidence that such devices even exist. Yes, modern devices like phone chargers and LED light fixtures produce some RFI, but the question is whether they produce RFI in excess of regulations. To date, I haven't found any documentation of a specific product exceeding regulations.
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The EBU came out years ago saying that the minimum AM field intensity was 1y5 mV/m. This has gradually increased from the standard of 1 mV/m in the 50's. It is all due to man made interference from wall warts, certain electrical motors, fluorescent lights and then LED lamps, etc., etc.

One of my competitive secrets or tricks in Ecuador in the 60's was to build lots of 1kw AM stations on low frequencies like 570, 590, 660, 810, etc. Other stations had high expenses with 5 to 10 kw transmitters, yet I covered well every area of each market I was in.

Recently I chatted with an old tech friend there, and he did some noise measurements in Quito and we decided that 10 kw at minimum was needed to deliver the whole market with only minimal noise problems.

In 1999 when we build Radio 10 in Buenos Aires, we saw that non-directional 10 to 50 kw station had many areas where they were unlistenable. So we built a 100 kw AM on 710 with a transmitter on the west side and directional to the east towards the downtown areas that were very noisy (like Europe, Buenos Aires has huge civilian populations in business districts on the upper floors of banks and retail operations or next door to government or corporate offices).

So I have 6 decades of experience owning or operating AMs that shows that man made noise, along with urban sprawl and crappy audio, are the reasons why that bend is dead now.
 
KeithE4 said:
Interference in the AM band goes back to the dawning of television in the 1940s, if not before. The TV horizontal sweep circuits generated noise every 15.75 kHz throughout the spectrum below 30 MHz. There were also fluorescent lights, as well as various appliances that had motors that generated noise. All of those could be heard throughout a house.
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Your point about fluorescent lights is very significant. In the late 50's my school installed them, and none of us kids who had transistor radios to listen to at recess could hear anything any more.

I learned to make a big cardboard screen covered with aluminum foil to put between our TV and my radio, and it blocked some of the noise.

We had a fan we used before AC became common and it wiped out the lesser semi-local AM stations, too. The motor in our brand new washing machine was noisy. too, but it only ran briefly during the daytime.
 


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