73.827: Difference between revisions

FM translator stations are intended to rebroadcast the signals of a full-service FM station to another area.  Some translators are used to rebroadcast the signal of an AM radio station and others are used to rebroadcast the HD subchannels (HD2, HD3 or HD4) of a full-service FM stations allowing these HD subchannels to be heard on an analog FM radio that does not include [[HD Radio]] functionality.

An LPFM station that is located at a distance from the primary FM station far enough to make the distance separation requirements may still interfere with a FM translator trying to receive the primary station. This rule addresses those situations.  

Section 6 of the [[Local Community Radio Act of 2010]] (LCRA) requires that the FCC establishes standards to address interference to FM translator inputs by LPFM stations operating on the third-adjacent channel of the input channel that the FM translator is monitoring.  The rule states that an LPFM station will not be authorized if on a third-adjacent channel, there is an input channel for an FM translator and the LPFM station is located either within 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) of the FM translator in any direction or within 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) of a translator when the LPFM station is located in the "path" between the FM translator and the station it is monitoring.  This is done by determining the bearing (direction) of the path from the FM translator to the station it is monitoring and then protecting the radii within 30 degrees in either direction.  An LPFM station proposing operation in this "potential interference area" may need to be prepared to make a technical study that shows that no interference takes place.  The rule provides three different technical methods to demonstrate a lack of interference.

The rule also includes a basic policy that an LPFM station may not interfere with the input frequency of a FM translator as long as the translator was carrying the impacted primary station before the time when the FCC announced a filing window for new LPFM stations (the last being in 2013).   

This rule was created in the 2000 ''Order on Reconsideration'' with the "other input channel interference" policy shown above.  In the 2012 ''Sixth Report and Order,'' the rule was amended to implement Section 6 of the LCRA to address interference to translator inputs on third-adjacent channels.  In 2013, in the ''Sixth Order on Reconsideration,'' additional language was added to acknowledge that some translators do not receive their input signal from the ultimate primary station, but instead from another translator (this is also known as "daisy chaning").  The 2013 reconsideration order also clarified that the translator is only protected if had the same primary station relationship at the time when the FCC announced the LPFM filing window.