[cma-l] E-petition DCMS - Community Radio - Please sign

Fri Aug 5 13:29:17 BST 2011

Hi Alan

I fully appreciate that the power limit is according to application of Ofcom's policies, and that they are not specified explicitly in statute. This is no different than the position for commercial licensees. CR licences are supposed to be granted in terms of the communities (geographic or of common interest) that they are intended to serve, and it was the clear intention of parliament that these would generally be very local communities. The radiated power and the intended geographical area flow from consideration of the community to be served.

The clearly expressed expectation when CR licenses were introduced was that they would be for typical service areas of around 5km radius. But this is only a rule of thumb, not set in stone. Ofcom has the discretion to license for larger areas where it thinks appropriate to a community. So it's not really a 'one size fits all' for power, except that with a rule of thumb 5km radius coverage in typical circumstances 25W would suffice, leaving non-typical circumstances to be dealt with on their merits.

The reason I don't think the petition is ideal at the moment is that it really should be couched more in terms of allowing geographically larger communities to be properly served where it is appropriate to the intended function of communty radio (as for example in CCR's case for macclesfield and neighbouring towns), or to maintaining acceptable signal strength across the licensed area. Increased power (or relay transmitters) would very likely then be required to meet accepted signal strength and protection ratios across a wider area or one wih challenging terrain. But it should be that way around. To simply lobby for increased power would be to call for the tail to be wagging the dog.

Of course, if Ofcom did agree to significantly increase acceptable commmunity radio service areas across the board, it would then be very likely also to decide that fewer stations could be licensed in many areas, owing to the likelihood of interference from other more powerful community stations in the distance. While 25W may give generally acceptable coverage of 5km radius in typical conditions, in particularly good conditions or in particular directions it could easily provide a usable signal 15-20km away, and that has to be allowed for when planning acceptable transmitter locations and frequencies.

Alex

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alan Coote 
  To: 'Two Lochs Radio' ; cma-l at commedia.org.uk 
  Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 1:04 PM
  Subject: RE: [cma-l] E-petition DCMS - Community Radio - Please sign

  Hi Alex,

  ·         In many cases the extremely low power affects a station's ability to fully meet their key commitments, particularly in dense urban or hilly areas. 

  ·         Ofcom have the ability to allocate more than 25W if the choose - their 'Policy' is NOT to. 

  ·         There are currently 21 Community Stations that have greater than 25 Watts - mostly in hilly or sparsely populated areas of the UK 

  ·         The statute does not specify a power limit - it is Ofcom which apply their own 'policy'.

  ·         Retrospectively altering the power requirement is often permitted for commercial stations - almost never for community stations

  ·         The new round 3 application form does not even have a section for power requirement 

  ·         The one size fits all rule is a nonsense. It assumes every town, city, village is exactly the same. 

  Please sign the petition there really is reason not to.

  Kind Regards

  Alan

  Alan Coote

  Business Development Director 

  The Bay Radio

  Office 01202 580200

  Studio 01202 571028

  Mobile 07801 518858

  Email alan.coote at thebayradio.com

  Web www.thebayradio.com

  The Bay Radio, 25B Elliott Road, Bournemouth, BH11 8LQ

  From: Two Lochs Radio [mailto:tlr at gairloch.co.uk] 
  Sent: 05 August 2011 11:45 AM
  To: Alan Coote; cma-l at commedia.org.uk
  Subject: Re: [cma-l] E-petition DCMS - Community Radio - Please sign

  Alan

  Playing Devil's Advocate for a moment, isn't Ofcom's position already that it can and will authorize greater powers where a proper case can be made for that within the purpose of a community radio licensee?

  I noticed, for example, that recently sanctioned station VoAR had originally been authorized to use up to 50W and that had recently been increased to permission for 200W, which with a good antenna site should give a pretty good coverage area. (Mind you, they'll need to make sure now they have better ready access for commissioning the new transmitter!)

  I think also in London Desi Radio and Westside are authorized for well over 25W. Several stations in the midlands are authorized for more than 25W.

  And bear in mind if they allow more than is needed for reasonable coverage of the licensed area, that may mean more restrictions or interference for other stations elsewhere.

  Alex

  ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Alan Coote 

    To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk 

    Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2011 10:06 PM

    Subject: [cma-l] E-petition DCMS - Community Radio - Please sign

    ..

    Local radio in the past was successful in informing communities with local news and specialised programmes. 

    There are numerous community stations doing that job at present with hundreds of volunteers but restricted to low power transmission by OFCOM. 

    To survive these stations must be given sufficient power to get out to their whole community. 

    Your e-.commedia.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/cma-l
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