Use of another station's aux xmtr site in emergency

[Hunter]

KKGO L.A. was off the air last weekend due to weather created damage at their transmitter location that also affected their aux back up, both located on Mt. Wilson. KROQ, whose aux transmitter is located on Flint Peak a few miles to the SW, allowed the use of their aux so KKGO could get back on the air. What provisions does the FCC allow a station to move to another temporary location to get back on the air immediately? Would this need to be approved by the commission first? If it affects the answer, KKGO on Wilson is licensed at 18KW at 1776 meters above sea level. KROQ's aux is 6.5KW at 617 meters.

Classy move on KROQ's part as they are owned by another company.

 

[Countrykev]

In times of emergency, such as this, the FCC is pretty allowing/forgiving of what you need to do to get back on the air. Do you what you need to do and then apply for an STA. 99% of the time, unless the engineering is just downright horrific, the FCC will grant the STA immediatly.

The great thing about station engineers are they work together, for the most part, very well. They see past competitive lines and help each other when they need it. Whether it's loaning equipment, manpower, or facilities. Most of the time owners are okay with this, because hey, you never know when you might need help.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

That's the thing I like about radio engineering in general. Most of us will help each other regardless if the bosses like it or not. In TV it's not that common.

 

[jboydingram]

It is that spirit of co-operation that has kept me interested in the business for such a long time...it has really been obvious in Mississippi...as evidenced by the help during natural disasters. Too bad there are not many engineers around
any more...but that's another story...

 

[rcs]

IIRC FM stations in an emergency can use any combination of power, antenna and location to stay on the air as long as it doesn't extend it primary coverage area.

 

[Studio1]

I'll second those comments about comraderie amongst radio engineers. I've met a few in my time and in the most part, we're a very
helpful group.
I would help any other engineer/tech that required assistance to get the job done.
Which, in fact, I did - only recently.
A good friend who is also an independent (freelance) engineer here was working solo trying to get everything back up to speed after
a station he works for moved their operations from one building to another.
Without any expectation of payment, I went and gave 8 hours of my time to help him sort a few issues out.

With regards to the situation here, I think it depends on what you class an emergency.

For example, if someone's life is in danger you are authorised to use ANY frequency you can at the time and ANY amount of power in order to summon assistance or alert a third party.
I don't know if the RFS would classify damage to both main and backup transmitters as an emergency, but I dare say they wouldn't be too
concerned if you used an alternative site to transmit from for a short period - as long as you weren't using excessive power. For example, if you normally run 1kW and you suddenly pop up with 200kW I think someone would be upset.

Most TX sites around the country have a high degree of redundancy built in. There are almost always back-up and spare transmitters at all of the sites, and there's usually enough spares on hand to at least get something functional again while alternative options are explored.

This is an interesting question you have raised however, and I shall be making some inquiries as this situation has never presented itself to me here.

 

[ontheair247]

Helping out works both ways, often creating a win-win for both engineers and related broadcast companies.

I had a situation where one of my southern transmitter sites lost commercial power and had no generator since it was a temporary site. A neighboring broadcast engineer offered to retune his auxiliary site to my FM frequency, I dialed up my ISDN to his TX site and we where back on the air until the power situation resolved itself.

Some time later I was at a shared FM tx site, I heard the building power switch from generator back to commercial, noticed I was still on the air but my neighbor's FM was not. Called up the Chief, since you never know if the TX is off for some other reason like maintenance or whatever. He had me reset the AC breaker and they roared back into action, saving him about an hour drive to get the TX back on and saving his station from being off the air a considerable amount of time. The next time that station had an outdoor music event, they comped me a few tickets too.

George Kowal CBNT