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Talk:List of North American broadcast station classes

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Aren't there some stations that go over these power limits? For example, WXXA-TV had an 8600 kW ERP, but it hasn't been shut down by the FCC. We should mention when the power limits were added somewhere in this article. --KelisFan2K5 14:45, 15 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Not by any significant amount in the U.S.. For some reason, two stations in Texas (KTMD Galveston and KFWD Fort Worth) are allowed 5010kW but no other U.S. station exceeds 5000kW. There are three apparent typos in the FCC database right now. The most powerful station in Canada right now is 2572kW. (CHCH-TV-3 in Muskoka, Ont.)

Reference: FCC CDBS database (http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/cdbs/) and Industry Canada database (http://spectrum.ic.gc.ca/engineering/engdoc/baserad.zip) (unfortunately both require some data massaging to be useful)

Six stations in Canada significantly exceed the 100kW limit for VHF-Low stations. The most blatant are the two VHF-Low stations in Edmonton - CFRN-TV channel 3 at 609kW and CBXT channel 5 at 318kW. Two stations slightly exceed the 325kW limit for VHF-High.

(do note that the cited 325kW limit applies in Canada - and may be in the international treaties - but the limit for VHF-High in the U.S. is 316kW.)

I am quite confident the maximum power limit for U.S. UHF TV stations has never exceeded 5000kW. It was 1000kW until some point between 1966 and the early 1970s.

Not particularly useful (though proving Cmh's point below) but I have seen trade magazine articles suggesting much higher powers in use in other countries, notably Kuwait.

W9wi 06:56, 5 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

US Centric Problems

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This article suffers greatly from US-centrism. Most of the information relating to regulations is presented as universal, with rag-tag "exceptions" presented below. In fact, much of this information is likely different from country to country, and the page should be organized by Country first. It is almost impossible to learn anything from this page at present, especially if you aren't in the US. I don't have the knowledge to do a rewrite of this page, but appeal to anyone who does to start some major surgery here. cmh 05:44, 27 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Suffixes

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I was wondering, should low-power digital translators/transmitters have the suffix -LD (or DL), and should standard transmitters have the suffix of -TX if their FCC registry information has it? I know many stations do not have a -TV or -DT/-HD suffix.

As for -LP and -CA stations, should the Class-A digital stations get a -DC (or -CD) suffix, if their FCC registration information has it?

RingtailedFox • Talk • Stalk 20:39, 25 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

problem with the units on this page

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I think there is a problem with the units used on this page: it keeps refering to mV/m2. I think they meant either mW/m2 or perhaps mV/m but not mV/m2. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.83.31.2 (talk) 15:11, 3 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

I would be quite confident you're right about that. See FCC Regulations 73.21(a)(3) and 73.215(a)(1) (among others).

W9wi 06:56, 5 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

More on power limits for TV stations

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The quoted aural power limits for TV stations are not applicable in the U.S.. See FCC Regulation 73.1560(c)(2) which limits the aural power to 22% of visual. [1] I'm having difficulty finding the aural power limit for LPTV/Class A stations. (strongly suspect the full-service regulations are incorporated by reference *somewhere*...)

The LPTV and Class A digital power limits are 300 watts VHF, 15kW UHF. See FCC Regulation 74.735(b). [2]

Oh, backup transmitters (DS and TS) don't have separate callsigns. They use the same call sign as the associated main transmitter.

W9wi 06:56, 5 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

AM classes and clear channels

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Some edits on 2010-10-20 changed the reference for the clear channel list from the FCC list to http://www.oldradio.com/archives/stations/ccs.htm and then added class II-A and II-B stations (which are now class B, the class of most AM stations, not class A) to the list. At the beginning of October (last time I grabbed the FCC AM database), there were around 7867 AM stations in North America (counting each combination of frequency+class+city+state as a separate station); of those, 4328 (55%) were class B. If there is a reason for specific class B stations to be in the list, the reason needs to be in the article with references. (While we're at it: there are some stations notified to/by the United States (at least in the FCC database) as class A even though they're either not on clear channels or didn't used to be considered clear-channel stations. I'll try and make a list in a while.) --Closeapple (talk) 21:11, 21 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

So, here are some stations whose status is confusing and need some further investigation. First, stations notified to the United States (at least in the FCC database) as class A even though they're not on clear channels:

Then, these stations which are not traditionally considered clear-channel stations but are on clear-channel frequencies and somehow are tagged as class A in the FCC database for unknown reasons:

Some other problems I noticed when looking through this list:

  • I'm pretty sure 850 XETQ-AM Orizaba, Veracruz is a real class A clear-channel; it has several notifications: DAN pattern, 100kW day, 50kW night; and a DA1 pattern for 10kW at night.
  • 870 KSKO McGrath, Alaska is not class A or I-N in the database; it's a class B with 10kW unlimited non-directional. It is, however, listed as A/I-N on http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amclasses.html (the original source for this list). Looks like this station needs some investigation.
  • I'm pretty sure 1000 XEOY-AM Mexico City is a real class A clear-channel: ND1 pattern, 50kW day, 10kW night

This isn't counting the dozens of stations in the Caribbean that have class A under the 1982 Rio treaty (when the I/II/III/IV classes were replaced by A/B/C). 1540 ZNS-1 Nassau, Bahamas is usually included in the list, though, because it has been part of NARBA lists continuously for a rather long time before Rio without dispute. Cuba has 21 class A stations, ranging from 30kW to 500kW (for 550 CMBV and 1010 CMBX Wajay, Boyeros, Havana). --Closeapple (talk) 01:03, 22 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

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FWIW of the Canadian stations listed above, all except CFTE are listed as Class A in the Industry Canada database.

Which doesn't explain why.

KSKY is notified to Canada as Class B.

W9wi (talk) 16:25, 29 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

FM Broadcast Station Classes and Service Contours

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In the references, the URL for "FM Station Classes and Contours", http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/fmclasses.html, is 404; the page it goes to says "The requested page '/redirect-transition/bureaus/mb/audio/fmclasses.html' could not be found." Search results on the FCC website for "fm classes" produced this description of the most recent version of the equivalent page:

FM Broadcast Station Classes and Service Contours
Dec 11, 2015 - page
The following table lists the various classes of FM stations, the reference facilities for each station class, and the protected and city grade contours for each station class.
https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/fm-station-classes

The title is longer than it was in the ref, but the introductory text of the page is identical, and the table appears to be. I've made the correction, with the archive information. The archive copy is titled the same as the current copy, "FM Broadcast Station Classes and Service Contours", not just "FM Station Classes and Contours" as was stated in the reference. Maybe the title changed since the ref was first put in, and some more recent editor changed the link but not the listed title. Now they're both up to date. --Thnidu (talk) 19:06, 28 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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