[BC] A few translator questions

[Mark Humphrey]

On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 4:51 PM,  <tpt at literock93r.com> wrote:
 > 2. As noted, minor changes, which can be done at any time, 
include... changes in location so
 > long as the 60 dub contour serves some portion of the present city of
 > license.

For FM translators, the FCC has never defined the minimum field
strength to be provided to a community of license, so it's possible to
modify location of the transmitter and/or community as a minor change
if the proposed 60 dBu service area overlaps the present area in some
way.  (Not sure if they consider overlap across water, though.)  The
applicable rule is 74.1233(a)(1).

 > 3. Most of the STA's granted for translating AM stations seem to involve
 > existing translators formerly used for co-owned FM stations. One could
 > presumably buy a translator for this purpose, gambling that the FCC will
 > approve such a service shortly.

The final ruling should be announced at the FCC's September open
meeting.  Considering how many STAs have already been granted, we are
hopeful.  Our STA took effect in May and has allowed coverage of
evening high school sports for the first time.  We can now go live
every morning at 6 AM year round, instead of waiting until sunrise in
the late autumn and winter months

For daytimers, this rule will do so much more to support "localism"
than burdening owners with more paperwork and reporting requirements.

Mark
WCJW / W279BO