Group Services
Group Services are designed for station groups of 5 or more stations. We can provide individual services tailored to each station group. In the past group services have included regular scheduled station inspections for compliance with the technical rules of the Federal Communications Commission.
Our FCC Application Flag service, which is included in group services, provides a technical review of pending FCC applications or grants as to their impact on your technical operation (example, increased interference to your facilities).
Group Services is a subscription service and can be tailored to your needs. Stations enrolled in our group services program are eligible for discounts on our in-house fees.
Enrollment in group services requires a minimum of 5 stations to participate.
Please call us to inquiry on how group services can help you.
AM Broadcast Services
AM Broadcast Services, include but are not limited to new station allocation studies, site relocation studies, frequency changes, power increases, antenna design services, and AM directional antenna adjustments and antenna proof of performance measurements.
Fees for AM services vary greatly due to the complexity of the project or task assigned to us.
AM Field work (antenna adjustments/proofs of performance) are billed at our per diem rate plus expenses. Typical time in the field can very greatly depending on the antenna pattern complexity, but usually ranges from 4 to 10 days per antenna pattern. Field proof of performances can be time consuming and we encourage our clients to use qualified station personal or other qualified local engineers when possible to conduct the proof of performance measurements. It's simple not cost effective to have our personal conduct the proof of performance measurements unless absolutely necessary due to the complexity of the project.
We invite your inquiry as to how we can assist you in obtaining the maximum coverage for your AM Broadcast Station.
FM Broadcast Services
FM Broadcast Services include, but are not limited to frequency searches, site selections, site moves, directional antenna designs, power increases, channel/frequency changes, city of license changes, and class upgrades/down grades.
FM Channel studies include a search area approximately 30 miles in radius from the starting point. Typically the starting point is the geographical coordinates of the proposed city of license. An area to locate potential transmitter site location map is provided if the channel search is successful.
FM channel search are conducted for Class A, then move progressively higher in station class until all possible channels and station classes have been examined.
If a channel is found, a petition to add the channel must be filed with the Federal Communications Commission. The technical portion of petitions to add a new channel to a community (city of license) are an additional fee.
FM Upgrade studies follow a similar format in the search area. Fees for FM FCC applications (FCC Form 301-FM) depend on the complexity of the project/application.
Site selection services include visualization of the surround terrain using our 3-D terrain modeling program, and additional radio propagation studies using the Longley-Rice method for determining a more realistic station coverage area. The fee charged for site selection services depends upon the number of sites studied.
Station Coverage maps are included in most all of our services and include the total population and households counts for each contour displayed on the map. Each map comes with a minimum of two contour levels.
If you are interested in our FM Broadcast Services, please let us know.
TV and LPTV Broadcast Services
Television Broadcast Services include, but are not limited to frequency searches, site selections, site moves, directional antenna designs, power increases, and antenna/coverage maximization studies.
Digital Television Channel studies like FM Broadcast Channel Studies include a search area approximately 30 miles in radius from the starting point. Typically the starting point is the geographical coordinates of the proposed city of license. An area to locate map is provided if the channel search is successful. New Digital Full Service Television Stations require a petition to add the channel to a community and must be filed with the Federal Communications Commission. The technical portion of petitions to add a new digital TV channel to a community (city of license) and require an additional fee.
Fees for Full Service or Low-Power Television (LPTV) FCC applications depend on the complexity of the project/application
If you are interested in our Television or LPTV Broadcast Services, please contact us. Where possible we will provide certain types of simple applications on a fixed fee basis.
Auxiliary Broadcast Services
Auxiliary Broadcast Services include, but are not limited to frequency searches and frequency coordination services in support of applications filed with the Wireless Branch of the Federal Communications Commission for microwave or remote pick-up stations. Applications are filed with the Commission using the Commission's Universal Licensing System.
Antenna/Tower Registration Services
Tower Registration Services provide the tower or structure owner with electronic registration of his or her antenna structure with the Federal Communications Commission. Not all antenna structures are required to be registered. We have the software tools to determine if your antenna structure requires registration with the Federal Communications Commission.
Tower registrations are not limited to towers only, if you have a building with a transmitter antenna system located upon it your building may require registration. The proper term for tower registrations is antenna registration.
Tower/Antenna registrations are submitted electronically with the Commission's using Antenna Survey Registration (ASR) system.
FAA Notification Services
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notices of proposed construction or alterations to an existing structure or new structure are filed on your behalf using FAA Form-7460-1.
A sponsor (typically the tower or structure owner) proposing any type of new construction or alteration of an existing structure that may affect the Nation Airspace System (NAS) is required under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 77 (14 CFR 77) to notify the FAA by completing FAA Form-7460-1 at least 30-days prior to the date the proposed construction or alteration is to begin.
The notice is required to be filed on or before the date that an application for construction permit is filed with the FCC. In practice, the FAA requires a minimum of 30-day and sometimes much longer to process the notice. Our advice is to file as soon as possible to avoid delays at the FCC in the processing of your application. The FCC will not issue a grant of your application until the FAA has finished its determination concerning your proposed structure.
Notice to the FAA are usually required if your structure is within 5 nautical miles of a public use airport or heliport or other landing area, or if the structure exceeds 200 feet in elevation above ground level regardless of its location. We have the tools to evaluate your proposed structure to determine if notice to the FAA will be required. Structures within the 5 nautical mile zone are evaluated using the various slope formulas contained within 14 CFR 77 (Code of Federal Regulations).
Station Inspection Services
Station Inspections ("due diligent" inspections) are provided to the owner or the prospective buyer of broadcast properties. Each station is inspected for compliance with the technical rules of the Federal Communications Commission. Recommendations are made where necessary to bring the station into compliance with the stations' authorization. Additional recommendations are made concerning the overall transmission system and the service life of the equipment in use at the station.
Brokers and financial institutions are experts at the financial analysis of station performance. However, it's much harder for brokers and buyers to analyze the technical details of a broadcast property. Frequently, buyers use their own personnel to make these evaluations. This doesn't always give the buyer enough information to be completely informed. An even worse problem is the evaluation of a potential facility's possibilities of improvements based solely on the representations made by the seller which may turn out to be not quite true.
Equipment condition can often be easily evaluated. What is more difficult to determine are the subtle problems that can be discovered only by a careful inspection of the facilities and their FCC authorizations.
Some typical problems that have been uncovered during the inspection are; Stations with transmitter sites built at locations different than the authorized locations; Stations operating with more than the licensed power or under power; Stations relying on coverage from illegally operating translators or boosters and Stations operating with unauthorized antenna systems.
Due diligence technical inspections cost very little, You wouldn't buy a used car without a detailed inspection, you shouldn't buy a broadcast property without a review of its technical facilities and authorizations.
Station Owners are encouraged to inquire about our annual inspection process to determine if the property is operating in accordance with the technical rules of the Federal Communications Commission.
Station Inspections normally require a minimum of 2 weeks prior notice for scheduling purposes, however immediate service can usually be accomplished if required.
Cellular/Wireless Services
AM Broadcast Tower Protection & Verification. The FCC has issued Public Notices and codified rules, which outline the requirements for construction of new towers within 1-kilometer (0.6 mile) of non-directional AM antennas and within 3-kilometers of (1.9 miles) of directional AM Broadcast antennas.
Many land mobile and common carrier technical personnel are unfamiliar with the requirements for field intensity measurements as outlined in this Public Notice. As a result they may deliberately avoid choosing sites that are close to AM antennas. This is often an unnecessary restriction on site location.
We maintain a complete current database of all AM antenna facilities (updated daily), so that quick calculations of the distance from a proposed new land mobile or cellular antenna structure can be made to determine if the FCC restrictions listed above apply.
If the restrictions apply, we can quickly determine if a proposed new antenna/tower structure will adversely affect an AM antenna, and to what degree if might be necessary to make adjustments to the AM antenna system to restore service, or if it is more appropriate and cost effective to simply detune the new structure to reduce re-radiation from the new structure, thus, eliminating its impact on the AM antenna system.
In most cases the use of a de-tuning skirt on the cellular/wireless tower is sufficient to provide protection to the AM Broadcaster without any adjustments to his antenna system.
However in all cases within the protected zones listed above, "before" construction and "after" construction field intensity measurements should be made to protect the wireless/cellular operator and to demonstrate that the new construction has not impacted the performance of the AM antenna system.
We offer quick and efficient “before and after” field measurements to demonstrate that no adverse impact has occurred to the AM Broadcaster as a result of the construction of the cellular/wireless tower, so that license application filing for the cellular system is not delayed.
T.Z. Sawyer Technical Consultants, can provide assistance to cellular/wireless companies and operators in their efforts to design, build, and operate towers near AM broadcast stations without interference to AM Broadcast Stations by providing:
• Interference modeling studies • Coordination with broadcast stations
• Design and Recommendations of De-tuning hardware • Before and After Construction Field Intensity Measurements
In the past we've done projects for Verizon, Sprint, AllTel and AT&T. How may we assist you with your project?