Graham Brock, Inc.
Broadcast Technical Consultants
Vol. IX, No. 8
August 2002
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has been active in the past several months, handing out fines to licensees for issues found during station inspections. In one case, the inspector went to the last known address of the main studio and found the door locked and no one on the premises. Upon further review, it seems the studio had apparently been moved to a site more than 25 miles from the city and outside the city grade contour of the station. The same party was operating an additional transmitter without authorization, did not have operating EAS equipment, the tower lights were not operating and there was no notification to the FAA and there was no public inspection file. The total fine was $39,000. Another licensee was fined $4,000 for not having an EAS system and still another was fined $7,000 for failing to lock the fence at the base of an AM tower.
We were recently visited by a field inspector, who had come by our office trying to locate a local broadcaster who had apparently moved his station’s main studio and did not notify the Commission of the change. All of the phone numbers on file for this licensee were called in an attempt to locate someone, but they had all been disconnected. Having spent nearly two days trying to locate someone associated with the station, the frustrated inspector returned to Atlanta. However while in our office, he indicated that the primary issues currently being reviewed were compliance with EAS rules, tower lighting, marking and registration, as well as cable interference (leaks from cable television lines that may impact over the air frequencies). The moral of the story is to keep the FCC informed with respect to where your studio is and give them a way to contact someone.
Several months ago, we reported that LPFM’s were not required to install EAS decode systems since no manufacturer had constructed nor received type acceptance for a decode only system. Present EAS systems are both encoders and decoders. The FCC has recently issued a type acceptance to a decode only system manufactured by TFT for use by LPFM stations, and, as a result, the Commission will require the installation of a decode only system for LPFM stations.
In an effort to move forward on DTV transition, the FCC adopted a plan recently requiring manufacturers of TV sets to include an off-air DTV tuner in all television sets by 2007. This Order also covers VCR’s. This implementation of DTV tuners will be phased in over time. The tuners must be included in 50% of television sets produced with screen sizes 36 inches or above July 2004 and in 50% of sets with screen sizes 25 to 35 inches by July 2005. All new television sets, VCR’s and DVD’s must have DTV tuners by July 2007. At the same time, the Commission has indicated that after five years it will not require cellular telephone providers to make analog service available, allowing for complete transition to digital cellular phones.
Many state broadcasting associations have set up inspection programs where representatives are sent to local stations for a review of FCC compliance issues. The FCC Regional Office is then notified of the station passing the inspection. This could delay an FCC inspection for up to three years. In some cases, especially with older facilities that have made no technical changes in many years, the station may not be able to locate a copy of their licenses, nor do they have copies of the service contour maps in the public inspection files. While some unsigned copies of licenses are available on the Commission’s website, older licenses are not always available. Further, the FCC does not have coverage maps available online. This usually requires a visit to the Commission’s Public Reference room to copy the original license, as well as the coverage map from the most recent application. While the FCC may be the only source to obtain an old license, new coverage maps can be prepared and used as an alternative to an older map. In some cases, the last map was prepared in the early 1970's and does not show new roads or other new features. It may also show the population coverage from the 1970 U.S. Census. Updated maps will allow you to satisfy the need for a map in the Public Inspection File, as well as provide valuable sales information. Let us know if we can help you get your files current to avoid any future problems.