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FCC Wants Every AM to have an FM translator?

Interesting. Theoretically an great idea for a perfect world. Last time I checked, this is a "somewhat less than perfect" world. I suppose, however, it might be accomplished at some point on the existing FM band with HD subchannels.
 
Yes, in a perfect world this would be a good start, however let's remember the last time the FCC had a window for filing for FM Translators, it took 10 years after the filing deadline before any CP's were issued.

There are lots of issues, including what if you have, say 4 AM's in a market, but only spectrum for 2 translators,,,who gets "picked"

The LPFM window will make it so that no one will be able to figure out what spectrum is available for some time (how long depends on the number of applications,,and we have no idea if that number will be low, high or off the charts.

Making it so that currently licensed translators can be moved farther, such as the "Tell City Waiver" Bud Walters has been working on, that would do more for AM's than anything.
 
Buckeyes2001 said:
Interesting tweet from Radioinsight that the FCC supposedly wants all AM stations to have an FM translator.
Click to expand...

Everything I have read indicates ONE commissioner has been out front about cranking-up a discussion about doing this. Now a second commissioner seems to be making noise about "Let's have some discussion!"

But to say "the FCC wants to do this" is to get the horse way to far out ahead of the cart.
 
Seems like it would clutter the FM band, there may not be room in some cities to put all the AMs on an FM translator. This is where I would support the FCC expanding the FM band down to 76 Mhz. But how useful is a 250W maximum translator for a 50kW AM station.
 
Nope. Not going to happen. 76 mhz expansion or nothing. Our FM band in Marysville is already WAY too crowded, I don't need AM stations on every frequency of the FM dial, great way to lose terrestrial radio listeners due to slop and noise.

-crainbebo
 
I'm not sure where the "a translator for every AM" thing is coming from. Unless the Commissioner said something that isn't in the articles I've read.

The NPRM calls for a special filing window for new FM translators. In this window, only existing AM stations will be allowed to file, and any given AM station will be allowed to request only one translator. (I wonder if that's where the "one translator for everyone" thing came from?)

An awful lot of AM stations are going to be left out. There simply aren't enough FM frequencies to provide a translator for *every* AM. To be honest, between the translator applications that are currently being processed, the ones that will go to auction before too horribly long, and the LPFM window that's opening in a few weeks, I don't think the Commissioner's translator proposal is going to help many AMs at all.

Now, all that said, the NPRM itself doesn't seem to be publicly available yet. So I suppose it's possible there's something in there I haven't heard about...
 
spunker88 said:
Seems like it would clutter the FM band, there may not be room in some cities to put all the AMs on an FM translator. This is where I would support the FCC expanding the FM band down to 76 Mhz. But how useful is a 250W maximum translator for a 50kW AM station.
Click to expand...

The problem is many 50kW AM actually get most of their business/listeners from a relatively small area (the era of one station effectively service many states are long gone). A 250 watt translator on a 800' tower can get about the same or better coverage than a Class A,,in most areas thats enough to cover most small/medium markets,,but definitely not some of the largest markets because of the geographical size of , say LA, Dallas/Ft. Worth, etc etc
 
How many listeners of AM have an FM radio that will tune in 76-87? I don't. I'll have to continue listening to AM, especially in my car.
 
Well if the FCC wants All the AM's on a FM translator

It has to think about Expending all the way down to 76 MHz or even 65 MHz sans 72-76 MHz -- That's the only way..Alot of people going to say FCC has no plans to Expending FM...

Time is now - There's no "We have No Plans to do that" Make time

Like in large Markets like SF where when you scan on FM...You hit a station

Expand Expand Expand
 
Another way....is to dump all HD radio on AM, put in better programming (that people want to hear) as well as some FM translator when there is room.
 
Expansion is not going to happen. There are TV stations in that 54-88MHz spectrum and there is nowhere else to put them. After TV repacking, there will be *more* TV stations in that spectrum. (nearly all of the new ones will be LPTVs)
 
Uh, I don't think so...

Sorry for the topic resurrection, but in my humble opinion and the humble opinions of many others, not without the roll out of the purposed "extended FM band" from 76.1 to 87.9 megahertz. Pray that the ITU decides to allow the use of that portion of the frequency spectrum for audio broadcasting and that the FCC allows commercial use of it. When you take into account the sheer number of AM stations out there that don't yet have FM simulcasts from sister stations or translators and the still finite amount of bandwidth that it would offer, we're still looking at a bad mess of same channel interference, particularly in some tropo prone areas where FM stations are hot real estate, such as Houston or Miami. Keeping the transmitter ERPs low only creates another problem; the signal will not serve as a realistic replacement for the distance that the typical class A, B, or even C AM signal will cover. Hell, even a class C in the "zones" where it's even allowed by regulation won't fully replace the AM signal, especially when more of them on the same frequencies get crammed in on the close outsides of the protected contours of the stations or as I said above, in very tropo prone areas.
At the very end, there's the threat of adjacent channel interference from improperly installed and tweaked HD Radio transmitters.
 
The FCC would never make the Ch 2-6 for FM

I think the FCC is just talking out of it's butt, Where are they going to get the spectrum for audio broadcasting on FM for AM stations..There not going to expand the FM Band.They can't have the spectrum for audio broadcast in the Air Craft Band

HD Sub-Channels, Nope..
 
Maybe the FCC is tired of a lot of demands and pressures from some segments of the industry demanding the impossible, the unreasonable. If they try to tell these 'petitioners' they are impossible, the reaction is nasty.

If the FCC pretends they might want to do something and they actually ask for input from the industry, then people with other thoughts have their lawyers file wordy protests. Let the wordy protest folks be the bad guys who slap the "demanding the impossible" folks around.

That's kind of the way regulation works in a lot of industries. Go kick some sleeping bear in the butt and let him come up growling. Pesky people disappear in a hurry.
 
In March 2008, the FCC requested public comment on turning the bandwidth currently occupied by analog television channels 5 and 6 (76–88 MHz) over to extending the FM broadcast band when the digital television transition was to be completed in February 2009 (ultimately delayed to June 2009). This proposed allocation would effectively assign frequencies corresponding to the existing Japanese FM radio service (which begins at 76 MHz) for use as an extension to the existing North American FM broadcast band.
Click to expand...

What ever happened with that? Would of been great for AM Stations to go to the new Band..

or even go down to 65 MHz
 
I am all for it. Let's figure another issue, how crowded the AM band is at night. Not every station needs one, but a number of local stations (not 50K watt torches) should have one. That way, you hear them crystal clear without unwanted interference. It would be difficult to impossible with an expanded band like that, but I would be all for it. Not sure if it will ever happen.
 
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