Kintronic Labs Talks AM Revitalization With FCC

Kintronic Labs President Tom King recently met with several FCC staffers about their suggestions to help revitalize the AM band.

He tells RadioWorld he and Dr. Steve Smith, consultant to Kintronic Labs, presented three critical steps to restoring AM:

• Enforcement of Part-15 RF emission limits for power lines and other devices, like LED traffic lights and most types of home CE devices, noting the worsening electromagnetic environment for AM
• Minimum AM receiver standards to provide parity with their FM counterparts
• Synchronization of AM stations to eliminate beats and improve coverage for all co-channel stations involved and local AM low-power synchronous boosters to provide close-in coverage in pattern nulls, for instance.

They also urged the commission representatives to consider random testing of items such as LCD plasma television receivers, LED lights and other devices to determine if they’re truly compliant with the applicable Part-15 rules before they are introduced into the marketplace.

The Kintronic president had earlier written an open letter to the AM radio industry, urging broadcasters to tell the commission they support these three concepts.