{"id":3051,"date":"2014-08-25T01:04:41","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T07:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/?p=3051"},"modified":"2014-08-25T02:27:05","modified_gmt":"2014-08-25T08:27:05","slug":"engineering-notebook-fcc-updating-tower-rules-and-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/engineering-notebook-fcc-updating-tower-rules-and-regulations\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering Notebook – FCC Updating Tower Rules and Regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"towerart\"The FCC recently adopted a Report and Order to streamline and eliminate outdated provisions of its Part 17 Rules governing the construction, marking, and lighting of antenna structures.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Commissions goal was to improve compliance and enforcement while eliminating unnecessary and burdensome requirements for tower owners. It would also allow FCC rules and FAA rules to synchronize more closely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Among the updates are….<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a01. \u00a0\u00a0Require tower owners to comply with the marking and lighting specifications included in the FAA’s “no hazard” determination for that particular tower, thereby making FCC and FAA regulations consistent in this area.\u00a0 It also requires that any changes to marking or lightning be approved by the FCC and FAA.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a02.\u00a0 \u00a0The new rules state that FCC approval is required for any change or correction to a structure of one foot or greater in height, or one second or greater in location, relative to the existing information in the structure’s ASR form. This is the same as that used by the FAA for requiring a new aeronautical study and determination of “no hazard”.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0 Tower owners are now required to notify the FCC within five days of “when a construction or alteration of a structure reaches its greatest height, when a construction or alteration is dismantled or destroyed, and when there are changes in structure height or ownership.\u00a0 Previous rules indicated 24 hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a04.\u00a0\u00a0 The new ASR posting requirement gives tower owners greater latitude regarding where they must post their Antenna Structure Registration numbers. Registration numbers can now be posted at the “closest publicly accessible” location near the tower base.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a05.\u00a0\u00a0 The Order established a process allowing qualifying network operations center-based monitoring systems to be exempted from the existing quarterly inspection requirements that apply to automatic or mechanical control devices, indicators, and alarm systems used to ensure tower lighting systems are functioning properly.\u00a0 Specifically, systems with advanced self-diagnostic functions, an operations center staffed with “trained personnel capable of responding to alarms 24 hours per day, 365 days per year”, and a backup network operations center that can monitor systems in the event of failure, may be eligible for the exemption.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a06.\u00a0\u00a0 The FCC will now require antenna structure owners to maintain records of observed or otherwise known outages or improper functioning of structure lights for two years, and the records must be provided to inspectors upon request.<\/span><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0 With regard to painting, the FCC adopted the FAA’s “In-Service Aviation Orange Tolerance Chart” as the standard for determining whether an antenna structure needs to be cleaned or repainted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0The new rules will take effect 30 days after notice of the Order is published in the Federal Register.<\/span><\/p>\n

Larry Wilkins CPBE\u00ae<\/span>
\nAlabama Broadcasters Association<\/span>
\n334-303-2525<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FCC recently adopted a Report and Order to streamline and eliminate outdated provisions of its Part 17 Rules governing the construction, marking, and lighting of antenna structures. The Commissions goal was to improve compliance and enforcement while eliminating unnecessary and burdensome requirements for tower owners. It would also allow FCC rules and FAA rules … Continue reading Engineering Notebook – FCC Updating Tower Rules and Regulations<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dead"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3051"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3058,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3051\/revisions\/3058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-ba.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}