Reminder:  Respond Immediately to Spurious Emissions

The Regional Director of Region Two of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau recently issued two Notices of Violation to broadcast stations whose operations were creating unattenuated and therefore spurious emissions on frequencies removed from their authorized frequency by more than the FCC’s rules allowed.  The two NOVs can be found here and here.

In the second case, the spurious emissions were interfering with frequencies used by air traffic at Orlando International Airport, and the station didn’t respond to requests to cease operations for 41 hours.  The FCC’s rules require stations in such situations to cease operations within three hours.

Like tower light outages, spurious emissions from broadcast transmitters are serious matters that can create imminent danger or cause death, and the FAA and FCC take them very seriously.  Your station’s phone number and contact information are important tools in these situations, so be sure that they are up to date and that someone answers the phone.  Typically, the FAA will call a station when the spurious emissions identify the station call letters or provide other identifying information.  Always respond, and remember your duty to cease operations within 3 hours.  In the case above, the eventual cessation of station operations remedied the interference immediately.