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How old were you when you got your FCC First Phone License?

Age 13 for 3rd Phone, 16 yrs, 8 days for First Phone w/Radar.

The FCC did a real disservice by "dumbing down" the license structure...and it's reflected by the incredible number of nonsense NAL and NALF's, crap signals, out of band broadcast and blatant disregard for power rules.

you can't hire a Shoe Salesman to run a broadcast transmitter.
 
My 3rd at 13 my 2nd at 16 and my first at 18 All three were in a crowed room at the Federal building in Miami. I missed element 9 by one question to many and had to retake my second class. I got my Chief Examiner licensee for commercial radio in 1994 but almost nobody ever test's for it anymore.
 
a6driver said:
you can't hire a Shoe Salesman to run a broadcast transmitter.
Click to expand...

No, but with today's technology, the transmitter can effectively be monitored and controlled by the chief operator 24/7. Before the FCC relaxed the rules on directionals, we had 6-week REI wonders sitting in front of equipment they did not understand and could not fix.

Today's transmitters and related gear are ultra reliable. Looking at transmitter manufacturer Nautel, we see a heritage of equipping sites that may not be easily accessible for months on end and which are rock stable and reliable.

The cause of failures to change power, deteriorated equipment, etc., at some stations is the economy, the overall moribund state of AM, and lack of profitability at all but the best AM stations.
 
a6driver said:
Age 13 for 3rd Phone, 16 yrs, 8 days for First Phone w/Radar.

The FCC did a real disservice by "dumbing down" the license structure...and it's reflected by the incredible number of nonsense NAL and NALF's, crap signals, out of band broadcast and blatant disregard for power rules.

you can't hire a Shoe Salesman to run a broadcast transmitter.
Click to expand...

What do you expect? Way back when transmitters were not as stable as they are today. If reliable automation was around back then there wouldn't be any DJ jobs either.
 
The Boston Customs House for all of them. 12 for the third w/broadcast endorsement, 19 for the second, first, and radar endorsement. 20 something for my ham license, 40 something for my GMDSS and Commercial Telegraph licenses (not taken at the FCC)
 
With the exception of the ham license, none of them are really worth anything.
 
I guess my point about the "shoe salesman" line is that at the end of the day, rock solid, well designed, stable equipment will only get you so far. A chief operator should have a fundamental engineering background and a chief engineer (if they exist anymore) should have an extensive background.

At a very minimum...CO's should have an absolute rock solid understanding of the regs pertaining to bandwidth, TPO, ERP...as well as a basic understanding of intermod and transmission issues. I know for a fact that of the stations in this market, 2 own a Spectrum analyzer...and 3 own a field strength meter, none of which are calibrated.

I'm in a 100-120 rated market with 18 stations at the city of license...of those 18, 8 are running 290-330kHz out, 11 are more than 15% over power, 1 is 40% over, 2 are 400kHz off freq and 1 4 station cluster has such a horrid studio RF problem you can listen to all 4 stations during the pauses on any one of them. ALL of them subscribe to that school of "Turn your audio processor chain all the way up and you're louder" 5 are running non licensed or out of license STL's.

Solid engineering can't be maintained by a rubber stamp from the FCC. The other side of the coin is that it may well be their intention to let terrestrial broadcasters sink into the mire of horrid audio and bad RF, keep slamming the fines to finance their auctions and let us go the way of the dinosaur.

But hey...I'm not bitter ;D
 
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