Chapter 16 members Marty Hadfield and Jim Dalke led the March Chapter Meeting with discussion of keeping the station legal and the FCC Self-Inspection Checklist. Much of the discussion was about changes in the Checklist and how the station could still use it to keep the station legal.
Jim talked about one of the biggest changes was the FCC move to put all of the stations Public File online. Files that were once kept in a file cabinet in the stations offices now is on display for the whole world to see. Further, each of the files online has a date stamp, so the FCC knows if the files are up-to-date and filed in a timely manner.
Marty talked about how the biggest technical changes have been made in the TV stations having gone all digital, while the TV Self-Inspection Checklist refers to the analog NTSC regulations only. FM stations have new requirements when they go HD, while virtually all AM stations are still under analog regulations.
Marty talked about how many FM and TV stations have different parameters for the transmitters and antennas, many of the as a result of changes that took place during the recent repack. There was also a discussion about the importance of making sure the engineering staff needed have their “power budget” up-to-date, with a calculation showing how the TPO is determined using the antenna ERP and losses due to transmission line, filters and multiplexers.
Jim Dalke and Marty Hadfield are both inspectors for the Washington State Association of Broadcasters Alternative Inspection Program (ABIP).
