Major Modifications to an AM Facility

[HurricaneRun]

A friend of mine owns an AM station in a mid-size market and wants to make some adjustments to the day and night (the night pattern is horrible) coverage areas.

Something he has thought about is moving the station to a much cleaner adjacent frequency.

Does anyone have any recommendations for outstanding contract engineers who specialize in major modifications?

HR

 

[Les]

> Does anyone have any recommendations for outstanding
> contract engineers who specialize in major modifications?


Sounds more like your friend needs a consulting engineer with
Washington connections. Glad to see you use the term "major",
'cause this doesn't sound like something for a hobbyist. There
may be some "contract" engineers who are up to the task but
I feel you're gonna need a good engineering consultant for
the legal work/general design plus a good contract engineer
for the implementation.
<P ID="signature">______________
"Only sick music makes money today."
--Friedrich Nietzsch (he said this before
rap was invented, or even rock!)</P>

 

[tpt]

Roy Stype/ Al Warmus in Bath, Ohio; or the folks at Munn-Reese in Coldwater, MI.

Some changes can only be done inside a filing window, other changes which one think are "major are actually "minor" within the FCC rules. However, these folks will have a good grasp of what can or cannot be done. They can also do the actually nuts & bolts work on the transmission system once you get a CP

 

[CW]

> A friend of mine owns an AM station in a mid-size market and
> wants to make some adjustments to the day and night (the
> night pattern is horrible) coverage areas.
>
> Something he has thought about is moving the station to a
> much cleaner adjacent frequency.
>
> Does anyone have any recommendations for outstanding
> contract engineers who specialize in major modifications?
>
> HR

Several good consulting engineers....if the move is only 10kHz, I think that qualifies as a minor change...but dont quote me on that
Cavell, Mertz and Davis is the best engineering company in my book. www.fccinfo.com is their web site...

 

[JasonW]

> Several good consulting engineers....if the move is only
> 10kHz, I think that qualifies as a minor change...but dont
> quote me on that
> Cavell, Mertz and Davis is the best engineering company in
> my book. www.fccinfo.com is their web site...

Under the rules, if an AM station only moves one or two 10 kHz channels up or down the band, are they required to change their tower height and/or radial lengths, or are they allowed to just re-tune the ATU and adjust the output power (if necessary) to maintain the reception contour? -- JasonW

 

[Neal]

Another really good am consultant is
EDWARD A. SCHOBER
Radiotechniques Engineering Corp.
http://www.radiotechniques.com
E-Mail: [email protected]

> Roy Stype/ Al Warmus in Bath, Ohio; or the folks at
> Munn-Reese in Coldwater, MI.
>
> Some changes can only be done inside a filing window, other
> changes which one think are "major are actually "minor"
> within the FCC rules. However, these folks will have a good
> grasp of what can or cannot be done. They can also do the
> actually nuts & bolts work on the transmission system once
> you get a CP
>

 

[tpt]

Unlikely in most areas that you could move an AM one or two channels up or down without resulting to a DA, reduced power, or other somewhat drastic change.

 

[JasonW]

> Unlikely in most areas that you could move an AM one or two
> channels up or down without resulting to a DA, reduced
> power, or other somewhat drastic change.

Thank you. Yes, I know a DA can't be tinkered with without a *lot* of physical work and many, many new FS measurements. I was thinking in terms of a simple ND stick operating at a fixed day/night power level. -- JasonW

 

[tpt]

Even then, you'll probably find the options limited unless you go DA to protect one or more co channel or adjacent channel stations.

Local Class IV had to move a few miles because it's site was bought by the city, was still required to cut back transmitter power. Partially because it was jeeped into the taller tower of a co-owned AM, partiually because of minor short-spacing to another 1230 station.

Hence, even minor changes are not a do-it-yourself project. A number of quite qualified consulting engineers suggested in this thread. If ownership is serious about improving the facility the first step is to invest into a thorough study of the possibilities.

Another thought--if the station has any kind of archives, musty as they may be, would be worth digging though them. Provides insight at times in to the engineering considerations involved in building the station in the first place.