Channel Finder Chaos In the past few days, we have noticed that several of our favorite applicants have lost the channel that they were planning to apply for. About a month ago, we had found available frequencies for a few stations in New Mexico, Texas, and Pennsylvania. When we went back to recheck their frequencies to make sure that the one that we found before was still good, we found that some places that previously had two available channels suddenly had none. There can be a variety of explanations for this- the most likely is that the FCC did some routine maintenance to their database and made some corrections- adding stations that had been approved years ago but had not gotten into the database, for whatever reason, until sometime last week.
One particular incident that has come to our attention is a glitch in which, apparently, the FCC channel finder program somehow was not taking into account existing stations on the channel 107.9. That means that even if there was an existing station on 107.9 in our town , the FCC channel tool was ignoring it and giving falsely positive results when people were looking to see if they were eligible for a station. This could effect you if the frequency it spit out for you was 107.9, 107.7, 107.5 or 107.3. Especially if one of those is the frequency that the channel finder found you to be eligible for- check again now because it may be gone. Our deepest condolences and apologies to anyone who this happened to. I'd note that this was not limited to low power stations- there were a number of full power applications that seem to have been screwed up by this glitch as well. In any case, now is probably a good time to recheck your site and the availability of your frequency on the FCC channel finder (instructions for using this are at http://www.prometheus.tao.ca/fcc.shtml) If you are planning on applying in June. If a "correction" suddenly made your site unavailable, you still have time to look for another one. If you do find that you have been mysteriously bumped, we can try to get to the bottom of it- we'll try to make sure that it's not some weird accident. We have special software that can help you look for something else, or you can get a professional engineer to investigate it. Hopefully, only a few groups were affected by the modifications to the database. Please tell us your results either way, so we can get a sense of the scale of this problem. We can't singlehandedly check every group we've been working with for the past few months- there are dozens, if not hundreds and we can't even keep track of them all- but will check yours upon request. We are concerned about all of you and would be gladdened to hear that your frequency is still secure. We have checked a few others that were not affected at all- so this could just have been a freak co-incidence that we hit a few problems in a single day. If you do have a channel available to you now, it may be a good idea for you to document it- print out the page on the FCC website that says that your location has passed the minimum distance spacing requirements for your channel and location. That way, if anything goes wrong later, we have some thing solid to work from in order to figure out what happened. As it is i am scrambling through old notebooks trying to find the frequencies that the channel finder originally indicated was available. Feh! Making Changes to Meet the Diabolical New Congressional Rules: If you are an Appendix B applicant- meaning that you are eligible to attempt to amend your application to try to meet the draconian new spacing rules that sideswiped so many peoples applications- you should be aware that the channel finder is probably not too much help right now. Apparently, your application may have been in the database and you may be listed as blocking your own move! This confusion will be sorted out soon- we will report as soon as we know exactly who is in the database now, and when it will be re-configured so that you can figure out how to amend your application. We do not know when the window will be in which you can make your move. Gglitches, Typpos and other Emmmbarrassments... The main reason that the FCC is moving so slow getting out the permits right now is that there were a lot of weird little mistakes in the applications that no one noticed before now- plus they are short-staffed at the moment. As soon as we can, we'll try to learn the procedure that applicants need to make to fix minor mistakes that are coming up at this point in the processing. There was also apparently some problem in the transcription of the paper applications into the web format- this could have also accounted for some of this particular brand of entropy which has ensued. You may want to look up your application on the FCC site on the internet and make sure that it was trancribed correctly. For the next few months, expect construction permits to gurgle out of the FCC like antifreeze spitting out of an overheated radiator on a lovely old junker car that has gone twenty miles too far on a hot day. A total of about 40 have been released so far. BEWARE: sharks of the airwaves! Low Power FM applicants are starting to get bombarded with advertisements for products and services. Some of these are helpful, in the sense that advertising (as it was originally conceived) can help to inform consumers of the going rates for purchasing various equipment and services. Unfortunately, I have also seen some seriously fallacious claims being made in the past week or so and would like to set the record straight on some things. Part 15, FM or AM: Any product that you see that says "no license needed," or "part 15 FCC accepted" is not something that is worth pursuing. I have yet to see a single part 15 transmitter that carries more than two blocks in an urban (or even a small town) environment. I have checked out a number of these and I have not seen one that works up to the product claims yet. A part 15 radio station is a fun toy, but I would not pay more than a few bucks for one and it is fun for informational purposes only- not for broadcasting. I have seen some people spend some serious money on these things and the fact is this- they are not practical for broadcasting, except under very specific circumstances. $9000 is about 900 times what one of these things is worth. Engineers: I have also seen, this past week, mass emails from engineering firms making statements to the effect that "We have special information that your application will be denied, you need professional help now." They even sent this to the people who had already received their construction permit! There are a number of applications that are now in limbo because congress changed the rules by which LPFMs are allocated. There will probably be a short window of time in the next month or two when you can make an amendment, which has the potential to "cure" an application that would have been derailed by the act of Congress. Making an amendment is not much different than filing your initial application. Using the FCC channel finder, you can determine whether there is a place in your town that you can move your transmitter site to, allowing you to amend your application and meet the new restrictions. An engineer can certainly help in this process, and can help prevent you from making some foolish mistakes. But whether you hire an engineer or not, you will have to do most of the work in finding a location that is acceptable to the FCC. If you are so inclined, you can do the work yourself. Prometheus, as always, is willing to work through this process with you for free- and we can help you assess whether it is a relatively simple matter or whether you need professional assistance. We have software that can crawl through your town and figure out which areas have available frequencies- You may need an engineer, but try us first. If the channel finder and our tool don't work for you, you may need to break open the piggy bank and shell out for a pro engineer- don't give up just because the channel finder doesn't spit a good location right out at you. An engineer can sometimes save your application for as little as a few hundred bucks. Use the same discretion and consumer habits you use when getting repairs done on a car or choosing a cure for baldness- don't let anyone scare you into anything. We remind you that we are happy to "proof read" any applications and look for errors. Many people did make silly mistakes on their applications (as did at least one professional engineer I heard about). It can be really difficult to fix errors once they've been made- so please have us check your work... |
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