[TowerTalk] AM Protection Rules — What’s the Impact on Amateur Installations?

[Donald Chester]

FCC rules require action on the part of a "communications tower owner" or wireless 
carrier if they plan to build a new tower or 
install a “significant modification” of an existing one.  This has long been in the rules, which the FCC has recently updated.  The owner of the new tower may be required to detune the tower at the broadcast frequency so that it  doesn't alter the BC station's radiation pattern. 

For non-directional AM stations, the coordination distance is defined as 
“within one wavelength”, so this would rarely apply to ham towers. HOWEVER, for directional stations, the distance may extend out as far as 3 kilometres. It doesn't seem so unusual that a ham putting up a new tower might happen to live within a radius of 3 km of the directional AM array of a local AM broadcast station.

The key word seems to be "communications tower".  Do they only mean by this definition commercial communications towers, or does it include amateur radio towers and antennas? Part 97 includes specific requirements regarding tower height and FAA rules, but I see no mention of AM BC towers or the necessity for hams to take measures to protect the radiation patterns of AM broadcast directional arrays, but I wonder if these  rules might apply if a ham decides to put up a tower of  significant height, say, 100 ft or more, in the vicinity of a broadcast installation.

Has anyone here ever looked into this, or been approached by a station owner claiming that a tower needs to be detuned from a broadcast frequency ?

http://www.radioworld.com/article/new-am-protection-rules-%E2%80%94-what%E2%80%99s-the-impact/274648 


Don k4kyv