"The top of the church roof appears to be about 30 feet high. A long, thin, pipe, perhaps two inches in diameter, is mounted on the roof. The pipe extends far up into the air. The visitors could not guess how high the pipe extended. They only said it is "very high." We know from the citation that it is about 30 meters above the earth. On top of the pipe, a thin whip antenna, perhaps a quarter inch in diameter, was visible. This must have been the CB whip connected to the top of the transmitter. The visitors could not tell me anything about the conductive path from the bottom of the pipe to earth ground."
Ok, well that isn't even "whip and mast", that's something like "whip and mast and *then* some".
"So, it appears that the FCC does not buy the notion that that the top of the pipe is the "ground" to which the "ground lead" is connected."
Considering the pipe wasn't actually in the ground, I'd think it's not sufficiently clear to conclusively say what they buy or don't buy. However, obviously this precise model is not considered universally approvable by the FCC. Since it's very unlikely that they put the pipe all the way down through the building so the bottom of it was in actual earth ground, I'd say it's more indicative of a specific case being a clear "no-no" than what the FCC approves/disapproves of as a general rule.
Also, with the tip of it over 90 ft above ground, shouldn't it have had a marker light or at least highly visible paint or something? Even from the top of the building it was "very high". It'd be almost invisible day or night to something like a low flying emergency helicopter. I would hope it was guyed, considering the damage that much pipe could do, depending on how it fell?
"There seems to be some confusion about the name "lglesia de Dios Ebenezer." It is not the name of an individual, or even the name of a particular congregation. It is the name of a Protestant sect that has several churches in various places in this country. The entity that was cited was the Iglesia de Dios Ebenezer church in Oceanside, CA."
I doubt it really matters much. A specific church in a given location is a legal entity with a board of directors and etc. They are legally liable just like any corporation or individual and generally enjoy no special immunity other than certain tax privileges. If someone falls and breaks a hip in the church parking lot and they decide to file a lawsuit, they would usually sue the church, not the pastor. The church might concievably file suit against the pastor to recover that loss if it was due to neglect or carelessness on his part, but that would be another matter.
Daniel
200 feet is the level at which you need a light. So as long as the top of the atenna is only 199 feet, no light needed. Yes I actually know of a local station that build the tower and antenna so that the top was only 198 feet tall so that he didn't need the light.
Thanks for clearing that up for me, Greg. I've never been involved with any project that had an antenna very high up in the air, so I knew that at some point it was required, but wasn't sure what the point was.
Daniel
Certain other local conditions may apply, but as far as the FAA is concerned, no aircraft should be flying at less than 200 feet above average terrain, hence the 200+ foot lighting requirement.
"lglesia de Dios Ebenezer" is the Ebenzer Church of God in Spanish. The Church of God is a well recognized denomination in the U.S and worldwide. This would be a hispanic Church of God congregation attempting to broadcast to a niche of their community. Not exactly a worrisome group to be investigated by Homeland Security.
Marshall Johnson, Sr.
Senior Pastor, President
Rhema Christian Fellowship, Inc.
Rhema Radio - The Word In Worship
AM 1660 - FM 93.5
http://www.rhemaradio.org
There are plenty of churches of that denomination around the country and it certainly appears respectable. I don't know the case particulars, of course, but my guess would be that someone saw the antenna and/or heard the broadcast, maybe didn't understand it because it was in spanish, and for whatever reason reported them as being a "pirate radio station" and the FCC found the groundwire violation when investigating. There's no mention of them doing anything else wrong.
Daniel
I don't know, but I would suspect that with that long of a ground wire, they were probably covering quite a large area. Given that, maybe some commercial station turned them in.
I did some checking and the only licensed station in Oceanside is a 500 watt station with a directional antenna. I wonder if the Part-15 was covering better than they?
Frank
www.easthillradio.com
Since the station antenna is visable, how about a re-visit with some pictures for us to look at?
WDCX AM1610 Part 15
John
Owner-Operator-Chief Engineer-Program Manager
I recently contacted Rev. Mario Bonilla, Pastor of Iglesia de Dios Ebenezer in Oceanside, CA. I told him that there is a great deal of interest in his predicament among low-power radio hobbyists because many of them are using antennas similar to the kind that got him into trouble. Rev. Bonilla told me that he is fully complying with the FCC orders, but he no longer has a functioning radio station. He tried operating his transmitter at the level of the earth, but it didn't have any useful range. I told him that, without adding to the antenna length by mounting the transmitter on a metal pole, or using a long ground wire from a roof-mounted transmitter, the range would be expected to be about 400 feet, or so.
Rev. Bonilla told me that he was expecting to get a two-mile range, because that is what was advertised in a Rangemaster ad in Radio Guia, which, I think, is a radio program guide in Spanish. The ad also said that the transmitter was approved by the FCC, and so he was surprised to get a citation from the FCC. He thought, he had done everything right, since he had followed all of the manufacturer's instructions.
If you check the link below, even Rangemaster admits there are grey areas where elevated installations are concerned.
http://www.am1000rangemaster.com/elradial.pdf
Frank
www.easthillradio.com
What is his range at the top of the church without the ground?
WDCX AM1610 Part 15
John
Owner-Operator-Chief Engineer-Program Manager