Part 15 AM operator recently cited by FCC

Heck though.. a 30 *meter* ground lead? He had that thing like 97 ft up in the air or something? Any way you look at it, that's kind of really pushing the 3 meters total length of the transmission line, antenna, and ground lead (if used). Have to wonder what kind of range he was getting if it was actually that high off the ground though. And what gear he was running, etc.

It appears to be a Pentecostal church at that address, though I didn't find any details about their station. Maybe the antenna was on the top of the church roof with a wire leading down for grounding?

On the other hand, it seems to indicate that compliance with 15.219(b) is a workable option provided the 3 meter total isn't exceeded. That part is good to know. Yes, it would be nice if ground vs ground lead were more clearly explained.. But technically a citation is to inform the person with the station of what the problem is, and logically he already knows his own station's setup.

Daniel

See the full citation and additional links to FCC Enforcement actions here in the EH Antennas Thread.

Experimental broadcasting for a better tomorrow!

Rattan (Daniel) wrote: On the other hand, it seems to indicate that compliance with 15.219(b) is a workable option provided the 3 meter total isn't exceeded. That part is good to know.

Could you please elaborate on this idea? Do you mean that the 3 meter total radiating length defined by 15.219(b) has a "workable option" allowing the use of a radiating length greater than 3 meters for Part 15 AM?
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http://www.am1000rangemaster.com/hints.pdf

The above link shows how Rangemaster would have you set up the 'ideal' set up, not one I'd do but it's strange that the FCC has turned a blind eye to these installations.

Go figure....

Nope, what I'm saying Rich.. is that the citation implies that *IF* he had stayed in the 3 meter total allowed for "feedline, antenna, and groundwire (if used)" he wouldn't have gotten in trouble, at least on that matter.

To me, this implies that the specs listed in 15.219(b) are alive and well and that sticking to them can indeed qualify as part15 compliance as it is currently being enforced. They are easy for a person to measure and comply with compared to the field strength rule for FM BCB, for example, and that is what I was saying is good to see an indication of.

I was most definitely *not* stating that 15.219(b) shows a 30 meter ground wire to be allowable.

Now, on another matter, somone mentioned the grounding system of a house or building's permanent electrical wiring. The Talking House transmitters' instructions mention trying placing the unit on different floors to see what works best. Since that unit has a wire antenna of at least near 3 meters length and is plugged into a wall outlet, it obviously is using the house electical wiring as its ground and I would think the house elecrical system will radiate at least some small part of the signal. But since it is an FCC approved device, I would assume that the house electrical system (meaning an electrical ground via the standard housing code wiring in an existing sctructure) is not counted the same way as a simple "ground wire" going 90 some ft into the air would be. At least in the case of that one FCC approved commercial device.

This is, however, hypothesizing based on what may be implied by some folks getting into trouble while others aren't (since I don't recall seeing any violation listings for a Talking House, even though they run on the AM band as well and certainly are common enough to be noticed and reported/investigated sometimes). Such "second guessing" of FCC inspectors is something it would be nice to avoid, but given the ambiguity of what constitutes a ground versus what constitutes a "ground wire", we end up doing a bit of guesswork on the matter.

In any case.. It seems obvious from the recent citation that a 30 meter wire between the xmitter and the ground is not considered allowable, as has already been discussed here many times.

So far as the Rangemaster question that has been raised, I don't know. But as I understand, it was properly inspected and approved/certified and I would assume the instruction for installation and use were also part of what was considered before approving it. There may be other considerations that were taken into account by the FCC personel who made the decision, such as for example if the Rangemaster has a particularly clean signal, they might have allowed a bit more latitute in the installation since it is less likely to cause interference than say a homebrew of unknown and untested design. I don't know what all they test or what they may take into account before approving a commercial design.

Now, if we were to find out that the xmitter used by the party cited *was* a Rangemaster? Well, that would be interesting as well, and I'd have to guess (again, guesswork) that the particular FCC inspector investigating did not agree with it being within rules when installed in that fashion.

At the moment though, we don't know what transmitter was being used or enough details of its installation, adjustment, or operation to even hazard a guess, really.

And if the person cited has a good lawyer and intends to fight the case, they aren't likely to provide details even if someone figures out a polite way to ask, since their lawyer would likely have advised against making any public comment of details that might not be helpful to the case.

But it appears clear that at least speaking in general (not taking into account any exceptions that may have been made for specific certified commercially made equipment), a 30 meter "groundwire" is a definite "no-no".

Daniel

Gosh Hogwash, 30 meters? If someone had something like an SSTRAN and mounted it 90+ feet in the air what type of range could you get.
Travis