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FM Station Separation
Requirements to Canada 47 CFR Section 73.207
The agreement with Canada concerning FM broadcasting was revised
in 1997. See U.S. Canada FM Agreement Modified to Permit Added Flexibility for
FM Translators, DA 97-1595, released July 28, 1997 [ Text | Word
Perfect 5.1 ]. Although these changes
have not yet been reflected in 47 CFR Section 73.207(b), the
spacing requirements below are in effect and should be adhered to.
These minimum separation requirements between U.S. and Canadian
stations apply to FM stations within 320 km of the Canadian border.
For the purposes of the table which follows:
U.S. and Canadian Class A1 stations which have been
notified to the opposite country with maximum permitted facilities
of 0.250 kW (250 watts) at 100 meters HAAT
(or less) are listed in the table below as Class A1. Most
of the U.S. stations so notified in this category are FM translator
stations.
U.S. and Canadian Class A stations which have been notified
to the opposite country with maximum permitted facilities of
6.0 kW ERP at 100 meters HAAT (or less)
are listed in the table below as Class A.
U.S. Class C3 stations are considered Class B1
stations.
U.S. Class C2 stations are considered Class B
stations.
U.S. Class C0 (C-zero) stations are considered Class C
stations.
Noncommercial Educational FM stations in the Canadian
Border Zone must also adhere to these separations. Acceptable applications for
noncommercial stations will
be referred to Canada for concurrence after review.
In some cases, a station or allotment may be sought to operate at
a distance less than those
separations specified below (except I.F. channel spacings). Such
requests will require a
showing of the locations of any predicted interference with the
pertinent Canadian stations
being assumed at the maximum facilities permitted for the station
class, and assuming that
the Canadian station's protected service contour is the 54 dBu
(0.5 mV/m) F(50,50)
contour. A petition for rulemaking or application which is
short-spaced to a Canadian
station will be most likely to succeed where (1) no interference
to reception of the
Canadian station will occur over Canadian soil, and (2) no
interference is received from the
Canadian station within the protected service contour of the U.S.
station. Such
applications or petitions for rulemaking will require additional
processing time while concurrence from Canada is
sought.
Minimum Distance Separation
Requirements in Kilometers
Section 73.207, Table
B -- Class A and A1 revisions included
NOTE: Class A in the following table
assumes maximum
facilities of 6.0 kW ERP at 100 meters HAAT, or the equivalent.
See text
above.
