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Commission had approved the change in May

By Paul Mclane ⋅ Published: November 14, 2022

It’s official now: FM and LPFM directional antenna patterns in the United States can be verified by computer modeling by the antenna’s manufacturer.

The change was approved unanimously in May by the Federal Communications Commission, as we reported, but officially it just took effect on Nov. 10, when the rule change was published in the Federal Register.

After the vote last spring Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said: “Right now, more than one-fifth of our FM radio stations use directional antennas. These antennas increase the operating power of a station in a specific direction while still respecting the interference ratios that are essential for shared use of these airwaves. This is smart — and spectrally efficient.” But FM rules hadn’t kept pace. Now, she said, FM broadcasters have an option that was already available to AM and TV broadcasters.

Four FM antenna manufacturers had requested the computer modeling option.

[Read more technical and equipment news.]

Paul McLane is editor in chief of Radio World, which he joined in 1996. He directs the editorial content of 32 annual print issues; RW's daily SmartBrief newsletters; webcasts; and a growing library of 100+ ebooks.. He has interviewed directors of engineering, FCC chairs, Hall of Fame radio personalities and C-suite leaders about digital radio, connected cars, industry standards and other topics. Prior to RW he was an award-winning broadcast journalist and technology sales/marketing executive.

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Tags ⋅ Federal Communications Commission ⋅ Directional FM Modeling

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