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Analysis of AM and FM Broadcast Station Operations in the Vicinity of
the Proposed Alabama Ledge Wind Energy Facility in Genesee County, NY
Comsearch was contracted by Tetra Tech EC, Inc of Morris Plains, NJ to determine if there
would be any degradation to the operational coverage of AM and FM Radio Broadcast
Stations located in the vicinity of their proposed Alabama Ledge Wind Energy Facility in
Genesee County, NY. Comsearch determined that there were two AM and five FM stations
licensed within 15 miles of the proposed wind energy facility.
Table 1 contains the parametric data for the AM stations. The two licenses for the AM
stations are actually a single broadcaster with the same call sign that operates at two
different transmit power levels. The distance to the nearest wind turbine from the AM
station is 10.08 miles, which means there will be no problems to the AM station coverage
from the presence of the wind turbines. This is the conclusion because AM station
coverage is unaffected by tower structures as long as the separation distance to the
broadcast antenna is greater than 1-km (0.57miles) for an Omni-directional antenna and 3km (1.7miles) for a directional antenna.
Table 1 Location of AM Radio Stations in Genesee County, NY
Location
Call Sign
Tx-ERP
Frequency
BATAVIA
NY
WBTA
1.0 kW
1490 kHz
BATAVIA
NY
WBTA
0.71 kW
1490 kHz
Distance
10.08 mi
10.08 mi
Table 2 contains the parametric data for the FM stations in the area. There are twenty
license records for FM stations. Sixteen of the stations are low power FM stations. Of the
sixteen, eight are new stations and have not been given Call Signs. They may not be
operational at this time. The other four stations are medium power stations.
Table 2 Location of FM Radio Stations in Genesee County, NY
Location
Call Sign
Tx-ERP
Frequency
MEDINA
NY
W207BD
0.038 kW 89.3 MHz
ALBION
NY
W209BF
0.027 kW 89.7 MHz
BATAVIA
NY WGCC-FM 0.88 kW 90.7 MHz
NORTH SYRACUSE
NY
W230BE
0.12 kW 94.1 MHz
AKRON
NY W243BW 0.016 kW 96.5 MHz
CORFU
NY
W248AT
0.01 kW 97.5 MHz
AKRON
NY
NEW
0.019 kW 100.1 MHz
BATAVIA
NY
NEW
0.01 kW 100.1 MHz
DARIEN CENTER
NY
NEW
0.013 kW 100.1 MHz
ATTICA
NY
WLOF
3.2 kW 101.7 MHz
ALBION
NY
WJCA
3.7 kW 102.1 MHz
Distance
11.37 mi
14.15 mi
11.12 mi
11.67 mi
10.74 mi
5.28 mi
10.74 mi
10.91 mi
11.84 mi
14.66 mi
13.54 mi
BATAVIA
BATAVIA
MEDINA
BATAVIA
BATAVIA
ATTICA
OAKFIELD
ATTICA
WARSAW
NY
NY
NY
NY
NY
NY
NY
NY
NY
W279BM
NEW
W287AX
W291AS
W295AM
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
0.027
0.01
0.019
0.027
0.01
0.01
0.002
0.002
0.002
kW
kW
kW
kW
kW
kW
kW
kW
kW
103.7 MHz
104.7 MHz
105.3 MHz
106.1 MHz
106.9 MHz
107.1 MHz
107.3 MHz
107.3 MHz
107.3 MHz
8.97 mi
10.91 mi
12.98 mi
13.23 mi
10.94 mi
14.66 mi
2.58 mi
13.70 mi
2.58 mi
The low-power FM stations are designed for very limited coverage. They will cover a small
college campus or a small-town church community with special broadcasting for a limited
audience. Normal coverage for these stations is nominally less than 1 mile. Since the
closest low power FM station is separated by 2.58 miles no problems to the low power FM
stations coverage in the area is anticipated from the Alabama Ledge Wind Energy Facility.
The other four FM stations, which operate at medium transmit powers should also not be
affected by the wind turbines. This is concluded because of their separation distance from
the wind turbines, all greater than 11 miles, and the characteristics of FM radio signals.
The wavelength of the FM broadcast signal is long enough to wrap around the blades of a
wind turbine minimizing the attenuation affect to the signal. The FM broadcast audio signal
is not that noticeably affected by wind turbines for two additional reasons; mainly, the signal
modulation is frequency modulated (FM) and the wind turbines have the affect of varying
the amplitude of the signal which will produce distortion to an amplitude modulated signal
but not to a FM signal. Also, changes to audio coverage or distortion are not that
noticeable to a listener when factored together with other causes of degradation; such as
being out of range of the station or signal fades. In other words, the effects to FM audio
coverage from wind turbines will not be as noticeable as the distortion that will occur to a
video signal.
Figure 1 shows the location of the AM stations and Figure 2 shows the location of the FM
stations in the Alabama Ledge Wind Energy Facility area.
Figure 1 AM Broadcast Stations in the Vicinity of the Alabama Ledge Wind Farm
Figure 2 FM Broadcast Stations in the Vicinity of the Alabama Ledge Wind Farm