This suggestion has been made before, but perhaps it can be made officially, and also through legislators, if nothing else will get the WPC off its .... errr... whatever. See below:
Vickram http://communicall.wordpress..com http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com ________________________________ From: sajan venniyoor <[email protected]> To: CR India <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, 7 August, 2009 12:14:25 Subject: [cr-india] there's something about 100 watt transmitters According to a recent Parliament Question (Lok Sabha, 7.7.09), All India Radio is setting up ninety-four 100 Watt FM relay transmitters across India, at a cost of 7.65 crores of rupees. That works out to Rs.8.14 lakhs per relay transmitter, I think, which seems like a pretty decent sum of money to play around with. Maybe we should get into this business... The relay txs also need a power supply, a building (or at least, some shelter), a tower and a fair amount of expensive wire. Quoth the Minister, "94 nos. of 100 Watt FM relay Transmitters [...] could not be commissioned due to non-receipt of frequency clearance from WPC." While it is not a trivial task, the total number of FM broadcast txs in the country still numbers in the hundreds, so it is not a huge job either. The average coverage area of each tx should be mapped, together with the frequency in use. Now, theoretically, radio signals go on forever, but at some point, they aren't strong enough to matter, as far as interference with another FM station is concerned. That is the only extent of signal reach that needs be considered. The WPC has permanent employees in every single state, and more for the metros. Once this exercise is done, the FM part of the licensing process will be reduced to a few minutes. The maps need not be published by GoI (heaven forbid that some terror organisation listen in to our favorite stations!), if the mandarins want to look for excuses to shirk this simple responsibility. They only need be handy for the WPC to be able to do a quick yea or nay, or are proactive enough to suggest a pliable frequency to a new applicant who doesn't care about national branding at a particular frequency. If the CR forum or any other group of individuals want to take up this task, it needs only a RF meter and a GPS, and probably some transport, to save the leggy part of this legwork. Also a notepad, and an explanation for the paranoid cops, who (in Mumbai) recently arrested a telco wireman for carrying RF test and measuring instruments in his car. A photographer friend of mine told me how to get past this hurdle: apply to and get a letter from the top cop in the area, explaining what you are doing and why. Keep it handy at all times.
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