New Radio-Locator Maps

[Ai4i]

And if only Radio-Locator was free for everyone without limits...

Actually, it was free for everyone, and without time constraints, but was is the operative word.

I would recommend the following sites for the financially challenged among us
(and for those of us who want more info than that which R-L provides):

The FCC's official AM Inquery pages (the ".gov" part gives this one away)
The FCC's official FM Inquery pages (the ".gov" part gives this one away)
FCC Data dot org is a private site which uses published FCC data
The FM Fool (for the FM fools among us)
The TV Fool (for the TV fools among us)

They each have pros and cons, but one important difference is that the was gets transformed into an is.
The Grammar Girl weighs in on subjunctive verbs.

 

[ChocoMingo]

Actually, it was free for everyone, and without time constraints, but was is the operative word.

I didn't know that Radio Locator was free one time. When was it? Whenever I run out of uses for R-L, I just use fccdata.org.

 

[Ai4i]

When was it?

Up until that date and time when they restricted it, whenever that was.
I like the:

one too because they include 70db contours which are good for real-life listening.

 

[Casual_Observer]

Hey all -

In response to ai4i's original question, radio-locator.com did have an issue with how directional FM signals were depicted. It was a simple oversight in the way that FCC database pattern envelopes were converted into ERP values. Ted fixed the problem earlier this year and reran coverage maps for every directional FM to account for the change. You can ask him about the specifics, but the way that it is shown now is correct, at least as far as the FCC "curves" methodology would predict.

--- Casual Observer

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

You have to square the field values to get the proper ERP value. For example, if the maximum ERP is 10000 watts and the relative field value in a particular direction is 0.5, the ERP in that direction is 10000 X (0.5 X 0.5)=2500 watts. That is what was wrong that I saw. They weren't squaring the relative field values. After so many people telling me and other people that I didn't know what I was talking about, I got frustrated and stopped trying to tell people how to correct this error and other similar errors at various sites.

 

[Ai4i]

That makes good sense Mr. Cat, because the power ratio is the square of the voltage ratio.
I had noticed that the FCC polar plots were much more exagurated than the R-L maps.