Yet another ground lead action

I'm leaning toward ground mounting too, just to be safe. Question is, can the antenna be a full ten feet tall, or does the line to the studio inside count?

I don't have it handy to quote, however the total length of ground lead, feed line and antenna need to be 3 meters long maximum (9' 9"). Usually the transmitter chassis dimension is included also.

this is getting really retarded. the fcc agents could just inspect and if it's a fcc certified tx running 100mw input go tell the complaining station the install is legal and to go pound dirt and have that be the end of it.

being on a 50 or 100ft tower ok. i will admit excessive, but being installed on an apartment balcony or say 20ft high mast or tower to prevent vandalism or theft then i cant see it being excessive.

the problem seems anything mounted more then 18 inches above dirt is considered illegal.

we need an exception to the rules if something like an MOV arrestor or similar is inserted in the ground lead.

this should give lightning protection while still maintaining an 18 inch ground lead and still allowing the tx to tune up properly.

i don't know if you noticed or not, but whether 18 inches above ground or 18ft above ground a hamilton won't tune properly or easily without a ground attached.

scwis and others interested--

Apparently there has been a misunderstanding here. The record of enforcement actions speaks for itself, and needs no further comment from me. I would not be surprised if there were more actions of a similar nature in the future.

I personally would not like to receive a NOUO in my mailbox, or be told that I had to pay $10,000 because I had connected a ground wire to my equipment to protect my property from lightning. I would not think of erecting any kind of outdoor antenna without having it well grounded. That leaves only one "safe" installation option under the current rules-- ground mounting. That is not a useful option for many people, myself included. If that is considered "fear-mongering mis-information", I apologize. That was not my intent.

I have no agenda other than what I have presented. I invited others to join me and contribute their ideas and suggestions if so inclined. Apparently this was not appreciated, and in any case there has been no expression of interest, so I withdraw my invitation. I assume that means that everyone here is well satisfied with the status quo.

Only one person is needed to file a petition to the FCC, but more is more credible. There is a very small chance that a petition will ever become a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. For a petition to have any chance at all, it has to be realistic.

I think that a fair comparison between a Part 15 station and a licensed station on the AM BCB is not between said Part 15 station and a 1000 watt broadcast station, but between the Part 15 station and a TIS station, which is also licensed to operate on the AM BCB. The FCC is certainly not going to give an unlicensed station any privileges comparable to those of a licensed station.

Section 90.242, which governs TIS stations, allows 10 watts of maximum transmitter output power, and a maximum of 15 meters of antenna height. This sounds pretty good, but a TIS station will not need this much power or antenna length near the upper end of the AM BCB, where the Part 15 AM stations operate. There is also a field strength limit of 2 mV/m at 1.5 km (roughly one mile). With a perfect ground, this corresponds to a radiated power of 100 mW. With a poor ground (in the vicinity of 1 mS/m conductivity), There is about a 10 dB attenuation at one mile due to ground loss. With poor ground conductivity, the radiated power would be about 1 W. Thus, we should compare Part 15 stations to stations in the vicinity of 0.1 to 1 W of radiated power, not 1000 watts. Please get a copy of Section 90.242 (linked on the FCC wbsite) to see how much trouble TIS station owners (which are government agencies) must go through to get their licenses. Unlicensed stations don't have to go through any of this grief. It seems reasonable that the fewer responsibilites of unlicensed operators should be accompanied with fewer privileges. Don't get me wrong: I would like to be able to legally transmit a mile without a license. In fact, I have been working on a number of ways to increase transmitter and antenna efficiency to possibly be able to do it under the current rules. It's a divergent problem.

For a Part 15 AM transmitter operating at ground level, 1 mW of radiated power is the "Holy Grail." Even this power will not reach a mile, except under very favorable ground conditions (like a community with houses on stilts over salt water). 1 mW is theoretically possible, but it can't actually be achieved. 100 uW can be obtained from a very good installation. 50 uW is more typical. 50 uW can get a range of 1/4 mile in an urban area.

When considering power ratios, 50 uW gets a surprisingly long range. This is because ground attenuation is small a short distance from the antenna; and, even over a perfect ground plane (which has no ground attenuation at all), range is proportional to field strength, which is proportional to the square root of power. The much higher 12.25 mW of radiated power mentioned in this thread would not give the great range one might expect. Depending on the ground conductivity, the range would be in the vicinity of only 1 to 2 miles.

but lets face it. an elevated install using 100mw input to final and a 3 meter whip is not going to come close to 2mV @ 1.5km even under the best conditions.

no matter how it is looked at the ground restriction is outdated and poses no threat even to TIS stations.

the politicians @ the fcc need to get with reality.

if they are worried about clustering then they can put a limit on the number of transmitters simulcasting the same programming in a geographical area similar to canada and nz. canada limit is one, nz is two.

or even do away with commercial high power AM. move all the AM stations up to abandoned ch 5 & 6 in digital format then give the X band above 1600 KHz to an unlicensed, or licensed by rule service and TIS stations.

leave the established 50kW AM's where they are or move and move all the daytimers, DA's, and PSSA stations to the new digital band.

since oduma is doling out bailouts anyway they could give these stations a grant to move to this new band.

part 15 carrier current can remain where it is staggered between the big boys on the low end of the dial.

and the above i just pulled of the top of my head within 5 minutes!!!!

an even better plan could be thought up i am sure if some time and thought were put into it.

we are at a time where all this is possible if people would just give a damn about something other then lining their own pockets with everything in sight.

Radio started out as a business and will always be a business, but unless the GM's and Salespeople start caring about their communities of license like in the old days, radio will just fail in favor of ipods and other media that more grabs our attention.

"Part 15.219 ... (b) The total length of the transmission line, antenna and ground lead (if used) shall not exceed 3 meters."

I don't know that any antennas are counting the TX chassis. I know the length of wire in a loading coil is not counted, but the length of the active portion of coil form probably is.

Best to be careful in extending the length for matching.

A good chance the Ken Cartwright issue is over. In the next few weeks Ken will be still working out some minor issues, but unless there is some other major problem, looks like Ken will be back on the air soon and finished with his FCC episode. Details upcoming in the next few weeks.

I think these two recent (visits) from the FCC isn’t necessarily a bad thing, they can help nail down just what is acceptable and what isn’t currently.

People don’t realize, but I am involved in about 3-4 visits a year, most are simple inquires from an agent, something like (this fellow needs to stop using a call sign) for example, and then no one ever hears about it except the customer involved. People heard about these two because Ken was issued a public notice, and Charles was talking about his visit on the Internet. But really nothing much is new except we are learning EXACTLY what the agents are thinking right now.

Something new I have heard this year is the allowed 3 foot wire to a "direct Earth Ground" that is supposed to be in the Agents manual. (Or so I have heard)

Something new I have heard this year is the allowed 3 foot wire to a "direct Earth Ground" that is supposed to be in the Agents manual. (Or so I have heard)