[cma-l] CR on AM

Thu Sep 25 19:09:21 BST 2014

We see this all the time.Applicants take advice and make vital decisions without consulting a propagation specialist and wonder why they don't get the coverage their Licence requires.
The original Application goes in with a notional transmitter site and a coverage area someone has drawn on an OS map with a pencil round a jam-pot lid - or something not much better qualified.When it comes to installing transmission the site has already been agreed and we have to do what we can with what we're given - and then get questions afterwards when the result isn't good enough.With VHF/FM we can plan reasonably well to give the coverage that's specified. but we're always up against this "25 plus 25 giving a 5km radius fits all" edict which in most cases simply isn't enough.At the moment we're looking at a station licensed to cover two towns whose centres are 6km apart and the urban area alone spans a minimum of 12 km but Ofcom refuses to consider two transmitters.
So we proposed 100 + 100 on a central single site and that's refused too.Ofcom predicts coverage with its own excellent software from the Applicant's proposals, tells him it's not good enough, but won't allow another transmitter or higher power.With MW/AM as illustrated below it really is a shot on the dark - and who suffers?
The Licensee - who goes ahead and spends his (and other peoples') money - and then wonders why his project fails.OK - an over-simplified analysis maybe - but let's see who disagrees?                                     

Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 16:34:03 +0100
From: rj.thorne at btinternet.com
To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk
Subject: Re: [cma-l] CRonAM

There may well be life in the old dog yet but after our experience with  Forest of Dean Radio I never want to be on AM again. Throughout the life of the station we constantly got complaints about the quality of the signal and spent thousands looking for ways to improve it. Even with two frequencies and two transmitters (one of which had 250 watts) there were whole areas of the Forest where the signal was either too poor to listen to comfortably or didn't exist at all, especially at night.(We did get picked up in Sweden though).
I'm not a technical bod and didn't understand many of the discussions and suggestions made except that most of them cost way more than we could afford, still didn't offer too much and certainly couldn't guarantee we'd get what we needed. The geography and geology of the Forest were major factors it seems, as were the hundreds of thousands of trees. 
Personally I'm convinced the way forward for those who can't get FM is to go digital in whatever form becomes universally available.

   From: fantasy office <office at fantasyradio.co.uk>
 To: cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk 
 Sent: Thursday, 25 September 2014, 12:33
 Subject: [cma-l] CRonAM

    it's true to say AM is not considered very sexy these days, but
    there's life in the old dog yet.

    Our first RSL broadcasts were on AM back in 1995, using a
    transmitter of my own design, and we had good daytime reception over
    a wide area, with none of the black spots you often get on low power
    FM! The antenna design is vital for AM, but we were on 1 watt EMRP
    and we had listeners as far away as Sweden and Germany. It's worth
    remembering that there are far fewer stations on AM these days,
    causing less interference, so for community broadcasting, AM could
    be very worthwhile. especially when backed up by a good quality
    stream.

    If anyone would like more info on AM, feel free to get in touch.

    Phil Dawson

      FANTASY RADIO 97FM 

    DEVIZES AND MID WILTSHIRE

    office at fantasyradio.co.uk

    07710 027389

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