[RTC List] Responsible Frequency Assignments

[William Van Hefner]

Dwight,

The FCC doesn't assign (exact) frequencies to overlap in coverage of their
intended broadcast area. You didn't say where you were, but if you are in
California you are most likely NOT within KURY's intended coverage area to
begin with.

As for the "bleedthrough" from nearby frequencies, it is almost always due
to poor receiver design, and not the fault of broadcasters themselves.
Most consumer electronics equipment does a lousy job of separating signals
from adjacent frequencies, or even strong signals from frequencies that
are nowhere near one another. Radio receivers that do a good job of
handling this are not cheap.

All broadcast equipment used by radio stations has to be type accepted by
the FCC, and is rarely responsible for interference. Radio stations also
have to pay thousands of dollars to engineers prior to submitting their
plans to the FCC in order to make sure that their antenna placement and
transmitter power will not cause interference with other authorized
stations.

As far as the FCC is concerned, unless a broadcast is unlicensed, there is
not much that they can or will do. It is the consumer's responsibility to
ensure proper reception. They would likely advise you to invest in a
high-quality receiver combined with a well placed outdoor, directional
antenna. This will solve the problem in the vast majority of cases.

Coincidentally, there is a local company in Fortuna that specializes in
manufacturing and selling this type of equipment. If you visit their store
or give them a call, I'm sure that you can find someone there that is
highly knowledgeable and probably even knows the stations you are talking
about. Their website is at http://www.ccrane.com . We're extremely lucky
to have a company like theirs in an area as small as this.

-- 
William Van Hefner
President - Vantek Communications, Inc.
e-mail: vantek at humboldtonline.com