102.5 to Spanish? Nahhh.....

[Scott Fybush]

At 02:31 PM 12/18/2005, Dan Strassberg wrote:
>What am I missing? 102.5-10.7=91.8. Is 102.5 prevented from moving to the
>Pru by WUMB in Quincy and various low-power 91.7s that ring Boston?

Yup.

Section 73.207 of the FCC's rules sets out the table of spacing 
requirements for FM channel separation, and it includes spacing rules 
for stations 10.6 and 10.8 MHz distant. In the case of a class B 
signal like WCRB, it must maintain a 15 km separation from a class A 
facility like WUMB. (The spacing requirements vary, from 10 km 
between two class A stations to 48 km between two class C stations.)

 From FM128 to WUMB in Quincy is 17 km. From the Pru to WUMB is 10.9 km.

The FCC does not waive the IF short-spacing, nor does it allow the 
use of directional antennas or terrain-based contour protection to 
alleviate IF short-spacing as it does with other short spacings.

Channel 5 isn't an issue with regard to WBOS, since 82.2 is outside 
channel 5's spectrum. (It's in channel 6.) The only potential 
conflict that the FCC recognizes between low-band VHF and FM is 
between channel 6 (with audio carrier at 87.75 MHz) and stations on 
98.5, and there's a chart of allowable spacings for such stations on 
the FCC website. (In one notable case a few years back, KUPL-FM in 
Portland OR moved from 98.5 to 98.7 to allow it to move its antenna 
to the same ridge as KOIN-TV 6.)

The FCC spacing charts are at www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/spacing.

s