Re: AM Station Interference with a Medical Device

[Scott Fybush <scott@fybush.com>]

>Who owns the "fix"?  If it is the station's engineering staff, where is 
>that documented?
>
>Any thoughts/help you could send my way would be much appreciated.

I assume the 1600 station in question is WUNR Brookline?

In general, stations are only obligated to fix interference problems within 
a certain blanketing contour (and you're probably not that close)
or within a certain length of time after making major changes to their 
facilities (which WUNR last did more than 20 years ago, when the
third tower came down). And I'll bet that somewhere on that ultrasound 
device is an FCC certification sticker that states in part that the
device may not create harmful interference and must accept any interference 
it receives.

*My* first call would be to the manufacturer of the ultrasound device. Why 
would they make something that operates right in the
midst of the AM broadcast band, anyway?

That said, have you contacted WUNR? M Street lists their CE as "Roger 
Houston," a name I don't recognize - but most stations,
even when they have no legal obligation to ameliorate interference 
problems, will still step up to the plate and help out in a case
like this. I'd bet a couple of ferrite chokes on the power line to the 
ultrasound machine will eliminate the problem...

And the power company ought to do more to address an issue like this, if 
the interference is indeed coming through its lines. A
complaint to the Mass DPU might be in order if you can't get a response 
from them through the usual channels.

s