WAMC Legal ID

[Scott Fybush]

On 10/2/2011 10:12 AM, Bob DeMattia wrote:
>>
>>
>> There is no "HD station and ... analog FM station"; it's one and the
>> same station.
>
>
>
>
> I thought that there is a separate HD transmitter which is usually combined
> into
> a common antenna, though in some cases they have a separate antenne too.
>
> Although the center frequency is the same, there are two transmitters.

That's one way to configure an HD transmission. It's also possible, with 
newer transmitters, to generate the entire analog+digital signal in a 
single exciter.

But what Garrett's saying, I believe, is that from a regulatory 
standpoint there is just a single license covering both the analog and 
digital facilities. Whether it's analog or digital, it's "WEEIFM" on the 
FCC books; there's no separate license for a "WEEIHD."

> That being said, since the callsign is encoded into the data stream, I don't
> understand why there is a requirement that the HD channel has to be
> identified.
> at all.  Of course WZID in Manchester seems to revert to the string "HD"
> sometimes.
> Maybe that's why.

I know of at least some stations (none in New England) that do their 
"HD" IDs only in their PAD data and not in the form of an aural ID, 
believing that this satisfies the vague requirements of 73.1201. They 
may well be right.

s