{"id":6016,"date":"2013-01-07T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2013-01-07T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/?p=6016"},"modified":"2023-04-08T20:22:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T00:22:42","slug":"nautel-radio-coverage-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/2013\/01\/nautel-radio-coverage-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Nautel Radio Coverage Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This is a Webinar video from<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nautel.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Nautel<\/a> about their Radio Coverage Tool:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WhXUQnz02oI?list=UU434Pyw95gLf6olKF0Jqy2A\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Highlights of the Nautel RF tool kit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Analyze the proposed transmitter location&#8217;s coverage<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tower heights can be adjusted<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antenna gains can be changed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Transmitter power levels<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Includes Terrain data<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Includes population within coverage areas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Frequency Range 30 Mhz to 3GHz<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Useful for general broadcast or point-to-point systems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This can be a useful tool for those looking to gauge the realistic coverage of a station in terrain-challenged areas.\u00a0 It can also be useful for studying STL paths, RPU coverage, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One problem is the power levels and antennas are preset, with the minimum setting of 200 watts into a two-bay antenna.\u00a0 These settings are too high for use when investigating a potential LPFM.\u00a0 For that, Radio Mobile Online (which is the engine behind the Nautel RF tool kit) can be accessed directly via www.ve2dbe.com\/rmonline.html.\u00a0 Requires an account, which is very easy to set up.\u00a0 For most users, FM broadcast band frequencies will not be available, however, 2 meter amateur frequencies (146 MHz) are the default, and for all practical purposes, will model coverage in the FM band (88 to 108 MHz) just fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By creating a hypothetical LP100 transmitter site, the coverages between the FCC 60 dBu contour and the actual coverage based on terrain can be compared.&nbsp; This is the FCC 60 dBu coverage contour:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"609\" height=\"526\" src=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100.jpg\" alt=\"Example contour, LP-100 station\" class=\"wp-image-6047\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100.jpg 609w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100-150x129.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100-300x259.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100-400x345.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 609px) 100vw, 609px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Example 60 dBu contour, LP-100 station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the US Census data, this station has a population coverage of; 30,721 in the 70 dBu or 3.162 mV\/m contour, 92,574&nbsp; in the 60 dBu or 1 mV\/m contour, and 165,183 in the 50 dBu or 0.316 mV\/m contour. Courtesy of<a href=\"http:\/\/home.recnet.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> REC Network<\/a>.&nbsp; The 60 dBu contour is considered the protected area licensed for use by the FCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at a coverage terrain map, the picture changes somewhat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100terrain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100terrain-650x392.jpg\" alt=\"Example coverage map, LP-100 station\" class=\"wp-image-6048\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100terrain-650x392.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100terrain-150x90.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100terrain-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100terrain-400x241.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/testlp100terrain.jpg 1017w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Example coverage map, LP-100 station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is based on predicted receiver location using terrain data; receiver antenna height 1 meter, 90% reliability, minimum signal level 10 \u00b5V (20 dBu,&nbsp; yellow, very good car radios) and 31.62 \u00b5V (30 dBu, green, good radios and indoor reception).&nbsp; Areas to the south and east of the transmitter are shaded by a large hill, thus they show low or no signal on the terrain based coverage map.&nbsp; UN Population data indicates the yellow has 178,573 and the green area has 72,014 persons.&nbsp; This map does not take into account co-channel and adjacent channel interference, which there is sure to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When comparing the two maps, one can see the coverage holes in the terrain map that are within the 60 dBu contour.&nbsp; There may also be a slight difference in populations covered because the FCC map uses 2010 US Census data and the Radio Mobile Map uses UN population data.&nbsp; For general planning purposes, the area shaded in green would be a safe bet on good reception, all other things being equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the LPFM stations are very limited in their ERP, finding a good transmitter site that will cover the desired area will be key to a successful operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a Webinar video from Nautel about their Radio Coverage Tool: Highlights of the Nautel RF tool kit: This can be a useful tool for those looking to gauge the realistic coverage of a station in terrain-challenged areas.\u00a0 It can also be useful for studying STL paths, RPU coverage, etc. One problem is the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/2013\/01\/nautel-radio-coverage-tool\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Nautel Radio Coverage Tool<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[264,82,304,45],"class_list":["post-6016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-stuff","tag-coverage","tag-fm","tag-lpfm","tag-rf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6016"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11469,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6016\/revisions\/11469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}