[TowerTalk] Amateur Exemptions

[Dave Bowker]

Barry,

The requirement for evaluating compliance is well defined and discussed in
the FCC's OET Bulletins 65, 65A and 65B.  Your situation MUST be evaluated
using the OET bulletins as guidance.  Multiple transmitter sites are a
complex situation and your digipeater may or may not be categorically
exempted.  OET Bulletin 65 is quite helpful (and I would say the first 45
pages are required reading), while 65A and 65B provide supplemental info
that may or may not apply in your specific situation.  The bulletins include
tables, worsheets for maintaining records, etc., which will be quite helpful
in your situation.

Here's my recommendation on how to handle this situation and perhaps save
the expense of the tests.

1.  Get a copy of OTE Bulletins at:
http://www.fcc.gov/oet/info/documents/bulletins/#65 .  I'd suggest printing
65 (general guidlines) and 65B (amateur radio guidelines),  (and 65A if
there is an AM/FM or TV transmitter involved at the site).

2.  Evaluate your situation using these bulletins (if you are not
experienced in this area, perhaps one of the local hams is, or the site
owner, or you can find a local radio station engineer who would volunteer to
assist with the correct interpretation of your situation and assist with
evaluation by calculation, if applicable).

3.  If you (or another qualified individual) can determine that your
proposed installation is either categorically exempt OR that the evaluation
can be made by calculation relative to existing measured MPE test reports
for that specific site, then I would recommend the following:

a.  Meet with the site technical manager or engineer (and your technical
expert) and see if you can reach an agreement on satisfying the compliance
evaluation by categorical exemption or calculation.

b.  It may be necessary to perform (a.) above with each of the engineers or
technical representatives for each of the emitters at the site and the site
owner.

This may take quite a bit of time, but it can be done and could save you the
cost of an actual MPE measurement.

73, Dave, K1FK
Fort Kent, ME


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