Re: [IRCA] Opinions requested on documenting station swaps

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike Hawkins wrote:

> I used your reply as a reference here because it addresses two things.
> First is that FCC's website has so little information on it that is
> accessible outside the FCC that its rather useless.  Tracking applications
> always results in "major change", "minor change", STA or license.  I have
> not been able to view an authorization for many moons.  There is little if
> any correspondence, and legal action is rare.  

Two things here:

First, the FCC will soon be abandoning the CDBS database in favor of a 
new, more versatile database system that's being billed as having more 
direct public access. So much of what I'm about to explain will soon be 
obsolete.

That said: there's actually lots of information accessible there. You 
just have to know where to look. Here are a few basic tips; I'm happy to 
go into greater detail either on- or off-list if there's interest.

I find the quickest way into CDBS is through FCCInfo.com. It's a 
privately-operated site, and it's free. The basic searches are right at 
the top of the front page: search by callsign, COL, distance from a 
given community or set of coordinates, FCC facility ID number, etc.

KTRB offers a good example. Plug those calls into the "callsign" search 
box, be sure you've checked the "AM" radio button to the left, and be 
sure you've checked the "Include Archive Records" box beneath the callsign.

What comes up is this (watch for word wrap):

http://fccinfo.com/CMDProFacLookup.php?sCurrentService=AM&calls=ktrb&ArchiveRecords=Y&tabSearchType=Call+Sign+Search

There's a lot of chaff here, but also a lot of good information. Ignore 
all the "0 kW" power entries for now - they represent FCC records with 
no engineering data attached. Ignore anything with a blank space or 
"App" in the "Status" column on the left.

What matters to us are actual license records and construction permit 
records...and here's what turns up: there's a set of license records for 
the old Modesto facility, with 50 kW days and 10 kW nights. We know 
that's no longer active, because it shows up as an archived record. Then 
we see another set of licenses for the former 50/50 San 
Francisco-licensed facility. Those show up as "archive records," 
too...but we can get at the engineering data for those, or for the 
Modesto facility, by clicking on the callsign for each entry.

Then we have the current license. Unless the database records are screwy 
(and occasionally they are), there should only be one active set of 
"license" records for any given station. Click on those and we learn 
more about the current KTRB 50/50 facility - location (with a link to a 
Google map), tower layout, directional pattern and more.

This page also gives us a link called "Other KTRB Applications," which 
returns us to the FCC's own website, to the "Application Search Page" 
that can also be accessed directly from the FCC's AM Query:

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_list.pl?Facility_id=66246

This page links us to all the applications that are in CDBS; generally, 
that will include at least some information about anything filed after 
1978, though detailed electronic applications only exist from the last 
decade or so.

If the application was filed electronically (look for the "E" in the 
"Paper/Elect" column), you can see it by clicking the "application" list.

Which brings us to the complex system of prefixes the FCC uses for apps. 
The ones that matter to us as DXers are BL-, which indicates an AM 
station's application for a license, BP-, an application for a 
construction permit, BMP-, an app to modify an existing construction 
permit, BMJP-, an application for a major modification (change COL, 
change frequency more than 30 kHz) and BSTA/BLSTA-, an application for 
special temporary authority.

What you get when you click on the application link is the application 
itself, which often includes a full engineering narrative that explains 
in detail what the application intends to do. A good example is in the 
KTRB app to move from Modesto to San Francisco, which appears on the 
application list as BMJP-20020910AAB. The first part of the application 
consists of a bunch of form entries that are filled out by the 
applicant, but the meat is in the attachments. Keep scrolling down to 
the section marked "exhibits," and here's your meat - a link marked 
"ENGINEERING STATEMENT."

That brings up this:

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=100662136&qnum=5110&copynum=1&exhcnum=1

which in turn tells us this:

"The application appended to this Statement proposes relocation of the 
transmitting site of
AM Radio Station KTRB, pursuant to Commission Decision (Reference 
1800B3-TSN,
copy attached), which authorizes reassignment of community of license 
from Modesto,
California to San Francisco, California.
The transmitting site proposed herein is on Jersey Island within the 
delta region of the
San Joaquin River. From this site predicted signal strength over all the 
City of San
Francisco will exceed the required level of 5 mV/m day and 11.01 at 
night. Separate
directional radiation patterns are proposed for day and night.
As proposed, the day operation will not cause interference to nor 
receive interference
from any other existing station or proposals now before the Commission. 
Nighttime
operation will not increase interference to any other station beyond 
presently existing
values. The interference- free contour from the re- located site is 
slightly lower than
interference- free service from the presently licensed KTRB Modesto 
operation."

In KTRB's case, the proposal ended up being massively modified before 
the station went on the air, so you have to keep reading through a bunch 
of modified CPs to learn that the plan changed to dual-site operation 
(daytime at Jersey Island/nighttime in the hills above the Sunol Grade), 
then to single-site operation at the Sunol site, then back to dual-site 
operation with daytime at the KFAX site in Hayward and nighttime at Sunol.

This one is an unusually complex application; most stations have a much 
shorter trail of applications, CPs and licenses that's easier to follow.

So...the information is indeed there, if not always in the most 
accessible form.

> Second is that I asked the question from the perspective of documenting
> radio history without any regard for logging of stations.  DXers would be
> interested in history to varying degrees, but the perspective may be
> radically different.  The two examples I gave - as well as the one Mike
> Sanburn mentioned - really highlight two different perspectives ... the
> listener noticing two frequency changes, and the FCC noting two call
> changes.  Please note that I am not at all dismissing the DXer point of view
> (and obviously welcome that point of view since I asked the question here),
> but I am trying to consider as many different perspectives as possible...as
> long as they hold water.

I'm passionate about documenting radio history, too, of course - and to 
that end I'd suggest another really useful resource.

David Gleason has done the radio community a tremendous favor by 
acquiring and scanning a nearly complete run of Broadcasting Yearbooks, 
White's Logs, RADEXes and much more, which he's sharing with the world - 
for free - at americanbroadcastinghistory.com. It's a great way to track 
information that predates what's now in CDBS, and I use it constantly.

s
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