[TowerTalk] Commercial FM Station Interference

[Larry A. Crim]

On Mon, 9 Jun 1997, Ken Anderson wrote:

> Is there a station engineer or otherwise knowledgeable person
> on FCC standards for location of Commercial FM stations.

As a soon to be former owner/operator of over 7 commercial FM stations I 
am somewhat knowledgeable, depending on with whom you ask.

> The station in question is a Class A at 107.5 MHz (second harmonic is
> in Ch13 the local CBS affiliate!) running 6KW to an Omni antenna at 
> 60 feet above local terrain.  Is this a normal situation for such stations?

I have operated FM stations from 410 watts to 100kw, from 92.5 mHz to 
106.9 mHz and have never had a single TVI complaint in over 19 years in 
the business.  If there IS a real TVI problem, it is probably the fault 
of the FM broadcaster.

> I've searched the FCC web sites and can't find any guidelines on 
> locating such antennas/stations within residential areas.

As far as I know, there aren't any.  But speaking from practical 
experience, a properly engineered and installed Class A FM station could 
operate in a residential environment without any TVI problems.

Hint:
Call the Chief Engineer at the station in question and ask him if the 
"harmonic filter" has been installed properly or has it been omitted
for "economic reasons".

GL!
-Larry K4AB

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