[TowerTalk] Field Strength comparison

[Jim Brown]

On 9/5/2021 6:31 AM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
> If one takes a lesson from the FCC/broadcast "proof of performance"
> measurements, they measure field strength at one kilometer (one
> mile?).  That (1 km) works out to be 2 wavelengths at the lowest
> frequency in the broadcast band and 6 wavelengths at what used to
> be the top of the band.

As a young EE student, I worked in the consulting office of Pete 
Johnson, who with Carl Smith (who also ran CREI), wrote the FCC's AM 
technical Rules after WWII. Pete's practice was designing arrays to fit 
new stations into a band that had been full for 25 years. Some weekends 
were sitting with other EE students with slide rules, Bessel tables, and 
25 column accounting spreadsheets computing patterns for a design, every 
5 degrees of Az and 5 degrees of elevation. During the week, I would 
compute and plot on aero maps the resulting ground wave contours using 
the graphics and conductivity contours in the Rules, with different 
graphics every 5-10 channels. (Wavelength in the AM band varies by more 
than 3:1.) In those days (early '60s), field strength was referenced at 
a mile. km was simply a shift to the metric system.

73, Jim K9YC