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NJ Broadcasters Fight ‘Spectrum Inefficient LPFMs, Translators’

NJ Broadcasters Fight 'Spectrum Inefficient LPFMs, Translators'

New Jersey Broadcasters say the way FMs have been allotted in their state is unfair, with mostly Class As and Class Bs, compared to neighboring states and they’ve had enough. In a petition for rulemaking filed by the New Jersey Broadcasters Association and Womble Carlyle, the broadcasters propose banning 10-watt LPFMs and translators with an ERP of less than 100 watts “because they do not contribute to spectrum efficiency.”
The broadcasters suggest other changes as well and they argue that granting new LPFM or translator applications in New Jersey without considering the issues raised in the petition “would be tantamount to a premature decision on the future of DAB in New Jersey.”
The petitioners are asking the agency to put a freeze on such filings in New Jersey pending the outcome of the petition.
“An LP10 station operating at maximum facilities has a service area of 12.36 square miles, with an interference contour ranging from 126.26 square miles, with respect to Class A stations, to 244.69 square miles, with respect to Class B stations,” state the NJ broadcasters in the petition. “In other words, for a service area of a mere 12.36 square miles, an LP10 carves out an area of interference that is almost 2000% larger with respect to Class B stations.”
“In New jersey, this would result in cannibalization of the already limited existing FM service,” states the NJBA.
“In assessing the need to protect New Jersey stations from additional interference, the FCC should take into account that the FM listening audience no longer consists of static listeners, sitting at home, receiving signals from a fixed antenna. A mobile audience will not tolerate fluctuating signals as they drive into squalls of interference,” notes NJBA president Philip Roberts, and Chairman Robert McAllan.
NJBA proposes the FCC require FM translators and LP100s applying to operate in New Jersey to provide protection to the 44 dBu (50, 50) contour as the protected contour for full power, commercial FMs licensed in New Jersey with a 20 dB desired to undesired ratio for the second adjacent channel.

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