fcc – Page 10 – Engineering Radio

Welcome, LPFM 2.0

The FM band is about to get more crowded, courtesy of the legislative branch of the US government. I have been mixed on LPFM based on my own technical experiences. That being said, the FCC seems hell-bent on shoe-horning every possible signal into the FM band, so why not? It certainly won’t be any worse than IBOC or the ever-growing crop of translators. LPFM could possibly bring back local radio to some markets, depending on who gets the licenses and how they are acted on. A local school district around here picked up an LPFM license on the last go around. During the double blizzard of February 2010, they filled the shoes of the two former local stations, which have become remote-controlled repeater stations for a city 35 miles away, so there is a glimmer of possibility.

According to HR 6533, the original channel spacings (elimination of the 3rd adjacent channel protections) in MM Docket No. 99-25 are to be implemented. Additionally, LPFM stations are on the same footing as translators and FM booster stations, which is a slight change from LPFM 1.1

I’d expect to see an NPRM from the FCC rather quickly, as the bill is pretty specific. It may be interesting to see how possible frequencies are identified for LPFM service.

Shortwave Broadcasting and the free press

Shortwave broadcasting is often overlooked as a domestic news outlet. This is by design and is a throwback to the Cold War era when shortwave broadcasting was seen as an international propagation outlet, mainly used by the VOA. In fact, according to the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, the Voice of America is forbidden to broadcast directly to American citizens. The intent of the legislation is to protect the American public from propaganda actions by its own government. Nice, huh?

The way the FCC rules governing shortwave (AKA HF) broadcasting are written, the station needs to be designed and configured to transmit signals to areas outside of the US. Any coverage within the US is considered incidental. See also CFR 47 73 part F.

WRMI signal 50 KW 9350 KHz — WRMI signal 50 KW 9950 KHz

That being said, many of the non-VOA HF broadcasters are well-received in the US. There is nothing that is preventing a shortwave station on the west coast from beaming its signal across the North American continent to Europe, or over the poles, etc. These stations’ call signs start with a K or W much the same as FM and AM broadcasting stations. Most of them are religious broadcasters, however, there are a few that offer non-religious programming or a mixture of both.

As Clear Channel lays off more staff and becomes a computer-automated shell, I am beginning to think that traditional AM and FM broadcasting is on the way out. Television news and the 24-hour news cycle have blurred the line between journalism and opinion. Newspapers have filled the role of government watchdogs and general information sources since this country was founded. Newspapers have fallen on hard times with many cutting investigative reporters, general reporters and or going out of business. The internet has become the de facto information source for many people, which is fine so long as users understand its limits.

The big problem with all of this is the internet is a fragile thing, controlled by a few very large companies. A few keystrokes and a router table are re-written to exclude a site that might have detrimental information. Distributed Denial of Service attacks have taken down Wikileaks for days. Collateral Wikileaks-related damage occurred to Amazon.com, Visa, Mastercard and Paypal. A few “persuasive” calls from an important government agency or official to an ISP or server company can easily take a site or multiple sites offline. Search results can be skewed by search engines, or by large companies like BP did during the Gulf oil spill.

The FCC debates on so-called “net neutrality” have yet to produce any meaningful framework to avoid corporate and search engine censorship. This also assumes that the government can justly regulate the internet, which, in this day and age is a stretch of the imagination.

All of this is leaving an information void. As the saying goes, nature abhors a vacuum.

Enter Shortwave Radio. Now, I’ll be the first to admit, there are a lot of strange things that can be heard in the shortwave broadcast band. However, it one can separate the wheat from the chaff, some rewarding entertainment can be had. Most of the non-government shortwave stations in the US are religious broadcasters. There are at least three stations that offer time-brokered programs, some religious and some not. WBCQ is always a good bet. WRMI is offering more and more non-religious programming. WWCR also has some general programming. While government broadcasters like the BBC, CBC, and others have greatly curtailed their broadcasts to North America, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as other smaller broadcasters can be heard where the giants once roamed.

As solar cycle 24 heats up, the programming selections on any given day can vary widely. Radio Australia (ABC) has been booming in on 6020 KHz in the mornings around here. They have an excellent country music program and I have been introduced to several songs and musicians that I would not have otherwise heard. Today I heard a great show on Radio Australia Today about New Orleans, Ray Nagin, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and lots of things that aren’t normally heard here in the US.

The key to shortwave listening is the receive antenna. One particular MF/HF receive antenna is the K9AY loop. I have had very good luck with that antenna on both standard and international broadcasts. I have to say, I am finding fewer and fewer things to listen to on the AM band. I have taken the opportunity to make a few circuit boards with a 10-12 dB preamp for controlling the pair of loops used in a K9AY array. The preamp is based on a common base Norton design, which has low noise and moderate gain. I use the preamp sparingly, the main reason for it is the 4 way hybrid splitter, which adds 6.2 dB of loss to the antenna output. Still, I have noticed, especially on narrow bandwidth digital signals, that the preamp can mean the difference between decoding a signal or not.

I am making extras, K9AY antenna systems, preamps, receiver splitters, and other general shortwave receive systems, which I plan to offer for sale at a later date. As they say, stay tuned.

Where are, repeat, Where are all the dead birds?

I am reading up on American Bird Conservancy v. FCC. I must admit, I am a bit ignorant of all this bird v. tower stuff. After all, in my 25 to 30 years of working in radio, in and around towers almost every day, I have rarely seen a dead bird. By rarely, I mean I recall seeing exactly three dead birds at the base of towers. One, a mysterious-looking songbird under a 1000-foot tower in Harrisburg, PA. Another was a Pileated Woodpecker that flew into a chain link fence. The third was a half-eaten dead crow that likely met his fate at the hands of the resident Red-Tailed Hawk, who hung out on the tower looking for meals.

Even so, the FCC is going to hold hearings on this important matter, because it is so important. They also have finished all their other work and have nothing else to do.

According to the website Towerkill.com, millions of birds have been killed because they have flown into communications towers. In the FAQ section:

Thousands of migrant songbirds killed in a night at a single 1000-foot high television tower

I couldn’t reach BioFile Services, the domain owner, on their cell phones for comment.

I have been to hundreds of tower sites in states up and down the eastern seaboard, California, and Guam. In all that time, I can only account for one bird that may have died by flying into a tower. Where are all the other ones? Surely, when they hit the tower, they fall almost straight down, on account of gravity and the other laws of physics. That means the terrible carnage would be evident near the base of the tower, right?

The above-mentioned website states that tall towers that are in foggy areas and are lit at night pose the greatest risk.

Case in point:

1. WBNR, which has two 405-foot towers, is located along the Hudson River so it is often fogged in at night. The towers have four levels of lights with flashing beacons at the 200 and 400-foot levels. The site is also on a major N/S migration route for birds. Further still, it has a lawn extending 200-300 feet from the base of all the towers. This was the former studio location from 1959 until 1998. In the ten years, I worked there, I did not see one dead bird, nor did the tenant that lives in the building. No employees who worked at the former studio location recall seeing any dead birds either.

2. Mount Beacon, a group of 5 towers ranging up to 300 feet tall near the summit of Mount Beacon, around the 1200-foot AMSL. Certainly, these towers stick way up into the flight paths of migratory birds. One tower is lit at night with a red beacon light and it is often foggy. The area around the base of the towers is gravel/dirt and cleared away for at least 100 feet. Still, no bird carcasses. Nearby, however, there is a group of Bald Eagles, which have taken up residence in some of the craggy rocks.

3. Illinois Mountain, Highland, NY: Same story

4. Clove Mountain, Uniondale, NY: Same story

5. Mount Zion, Highland, NY: Same Story

6. Helderburg Escarpment, New Scottland, NY which has towers for the following stations: WRGB, WRVE, WFLY, WYJB, WPYX, WGNA, WMHT, WTEN, and WXXA: Same Story

7. Mount Equinox, Manchester, VT: Same Story

8. Pico Mountain, Rutland, VT: Same Story

9. WHP transmitter site, Enola, PA, six towers 410 feet tall: Same Story

10. WGY tower site, Schenectady, NY: 620-foot tower, same story

11. WHP-TV/WITF Harrisburg: The only place I saw a dead bird was at the base of a tower.

I could continue with the no dead birds found and include tower sites for WROW, WRZN, WDVH, WKZY, WXPK, WLNA, WKBO, WTPA, WIZR, WENT, and so on.

I would testify to these facts under oath.

There may actually be a few towers out there that are located in a position to inadvertently kill birds and that is unfortunate. The majority of towers, however, are no more deadly to birds than other man-made structures like houses and office buildings. I can think of at least two dozen times that I have been working in the office or sitting at home and there is a great big “THUNK!” Outside there is a dead bird under the window. While that is regrettable, I am not going to take the glass out of my windows.

I also see many dead birds on the side of the road when I am walking or riding my bike.

Human pets, especially cats take a huge toll on wild birds.

Loss of natural habitat from development takes a toll on birds.

This is a Red Herring. It is time to put this foolishness to bed and get back to the business at hand.

Common Alert Protocol (CAP)

Since the FCC started the CAP clock ticking on September 30th, there has been a flurry of activity regarding the manufacture and installation of CAP equipment. CAP is integrated into something called IPAWS, which stands for Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. In other words, CAP is the vehicle that IPAWS uses to get information broadcast through radio, TV, Cable systems, etc. IPAWS encompasses all alert types including cellphone, texting, e-mail, and landline phone calls. Many states, including New York State, already do this. FEMA spells out the reason for IPAWS:

The advent of new media has brought a dramatic shift in the way the public consumes information. IPAWS, as the next generation emergency alert and warning system, capitalizes on multiple electronic media outlets to ensure that the public receives life-saving information during a time of national emergency.

Historically, the public depended exclusively on radio and television to receive alerts, but current research shows that the reach of radio and TV is less than 40% of the populace during the work day. While less than 12% of the population is watching TV in the middle of the night, an even smaller number is tuned into the radio, at 5% of the populace. Television and radio will continue to be valuable sources of public information, but their reach is decreasing. Further, these information sources can only target a state or regional sized area and do not encompass alerting for people who do not speak English or those with disabilities, including the 29 million suffering from hearing impairment.

Today, the internet, including video and email, and cellular and residential phones are increasingly popular and therefore, valuable, sources of information. One study showed that the Internet has a 62% usage rate, averaging at 108 minutes a day. While television remains the most popular source for information, the Internet ranked either first or second at both work and home.

CAP figures into this by acting as a method to move data between IPAWS and EAS. The basic CAP converter polls a CAP server, somewhere, for messages. When a message for a geographic area is received, the CAP converter processes it and converts it to an EAS format, which is then sent via high-level audio to the station’s EAS encoder decoder unit. The EAS unit receives the information and then has the final say (or station personnel if the EAS unit is in manual) as to whether the EAS message gets transmitted.

FEMA will be setting up a national CAP server in the next month or so, expect an announcement from them in November. Each state can also set up a CAP server for state and local government use. This will be implemented on a state-by-state basis. Currently, there is no information on the New York State Emergency Management Office’s (NY SEMO) website, hopefully, they are aware of all of this and will be updating their system shortly.

The CAP converters installed in individual stations will access the CAP servers via secure HTTP connections. They will also be able to download software updates from the manufacturers via the same method.