AM Revitalization Draft Item Seen Likely to Be Approved
A draft item that would relax certification and measurement requirements for stations using directional AM antennas isn't seen as controversial and likely won't face opposition from industry or on the eighth floor, broadcast attorneys, engineers and an official said in interviews. Chairman Ajit Pai called the draft "highly technical" when announcing it at the 2017 Radio Show (see 1709060073).
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The draft centers around measurements and techniques for modeling the pattern and strength of AM stations' signals using directional antennas, and would eliminate requirements that stations periodically perform such measurements even if there have been no changes to their equipment. Such measurements typically require the services of a broadcast engineer, and cost stations effort and thousands of dollars for little purpose if nothing about the station's setup has changed, said broadcast engineer Tim Sawyer, senior partner at TZ Sawyer Technical Consultants. Such work is “time-consuming” and burdensome, said Fletcher Heald broadcast lawyer Frank Montero. By requiring such measurements only when stations make alterations to their equipment, the FCC would allow AM broadcasters to keep those engineering funds for when they're truly needed, Sawyer said. The agency didn't comment.
The item would enact a number of proposals raised under the FCC’s AM revitalization effort, such as reducing the number of field strength measurements required for directional AM antennas and stations licensed using moment-method proof -- a technique for computer modeling the effects of a station’s antenna array. The draft item would allow stations licensed using moment-method proofs to recertify only after equipment changes, relax the rules for how such tests are conducted, do away with a requirement for surveyor certifications of towers in an existing AM array, and lay out when new moment-method proofs are required. “By identifying ways to streamline the technical requirements imposed upon AM broadcasters, we free up resources to allow those broadcasters better to serve the public,” the draft item said.
With this item expected to be approved at the Sept. 29 commissioners’ meeting, the only portions of the AM revitalization remaining are proposals likely to be seen as more controversial, such as relaxing nighttime interference protections for Class A AM stations. “We continue to evaluate those proposals, and we may consider those issues, or provide alternative proposals, in future proceedings,” said a footnote in the draft item. Since Pai is seen to have more interest in radio than many previous FCC heads, some broadcast officials see his tenure as a fleeting chance for the agency to take up such items.