by Harold Hallikainen
San Luis Obispo, CA - This is article 97 in this series. Over the years I've used a lot of resources to research FCC rules for the series. This time I'll let you in on a few of the secrets.
We are fortunate to have a local library with a good government documents section. The entire third floor is devoted to these documents. You can find a lot of information in the "FCC Record" and its predecessors. When the FCC is making a decision or discussing an issue, the full text generally shows up here. Each entry in the FCC Record often cites other entries, giving you a full history of the issue. Many (though not all) FCC documents that are published in the FCC Record also appear on the internet.
The "Federal Register" is also available in many libraries. This daily publication provides a detailed summary of the proceedings of various agencies, including the FCC. Rules generally become applicable so many days "after publication in the Federal Register." The Federal Register is now available on the internet. Earlier Federal Registers are generally available on microfiche. Even earlier ones (back to the early 1930's) are available on rolls of microfilm. A typical citation of the Federal Register would be "60 FR 55481, Nov. 1, 1995". In this case, 60 is the volume of the Federal Register and 55481 is the page. The date is the date of publication, though it is not necessary to uniquely identify the FR page. There may be more than one article on a page, so the FR cite does not uniquely identify an FR entry.
The "Code of Federal Regulations" contains all the regulations established by various federal agencies. These are available as books, and are now available on the internet. Title 47 of the CFR deals with the FCC and telecommunications. A typical citation to the CFR might be 47 CFR 73.1400, where 47 is the title, 73 is the part, and 1400 is the section. The CFR generally includes a history of each rule (printed at the end of the section) in terms of references to the Federal Register.
The "US Code" contains laws passed by Congress (and signed by the President). The FCC establishes rules and regulations to implement the requirements of the US Code. A typical citation of the US Code is 47 USC 309, where 47 is the title (telecommunications) and 309 is the section (application for license). The US Code is available in book form (in many libraries) and is now available on the internet.
Since so many documents of interest to broadcast stations appear on the internet, having internet access can be quite valuable. Generally we can break internet access down to email only (free) or full access (generally under $20 per month). The most popular email only service is Juno (with 3.4 million users). To run Juno and get full email access to the internet, you need only a 386 or higher computer with a 9600 bps or faster modem, 4 megabytes of RAM, 15 megabytes of free hard drive space, and Windows 3.1 or higher. You can download the software from http://www.juno.com or get a copy on disk by calling (800) 654-5866. The download is free, but there is a $8.82 charge (to a credit card) to get the software by mail. Although Juno does not provide web access (other than to their advertisers), you can use Agora to get web pages emailed to you.
Full internet access (including email and web access) is available from a variety of suppliers. Most local communities now have several local suppliers (called Internet Service Providers). Check the yellow pages of your phone book. There are also several national ISP's (such as AOL, Prodigy, etc.). Full internet access allows you to take advantage of the hypertext features of the World Wide Web. This is especially useful when you're checking an FCC rule section, and that refers you to another. You can then just click the mouse on the cited section, and there you are!
Agora is a program that runs on various computers around the world. It gives text only web access through email. A few Agora servers are listed in the table below. At my request, Broadcast Net has kindly added an Agora server. To use Agora, just send email to the Agora server (such as agora@broadcast.net) with a single command on each line of the message body (the subject field should be blank). If you want to get the FCC home page, a line would contain the text send http://www.fcc.gov. For more details on using Agora, send a message with the command help on a line by itself. Note also that if your mailer includes a signature file, the Agora server will try to interpret it and give you some error messages.
There are several broadcast related mailing lists run by Broadcast Net. Subjects include radio, radio technology, FCC rules, SBE, jokes, and lots more. You subscribe to a list to see all the messages other subscribers send. Once you are subscribed, you can hit "reply" on your email program to participate in the discussion. To subscribe to any of these lists, visit http://www.broadcast.net/blists.html or send the message help to majordomo@broadcast.net .
Most documents on the web are either plain text or hypertext markup language. These are easily handled by any web browser or the agora servers. However, some documents are stored in Portable Document Format. You can download a free reader from http://www.adobe.com. Some documents are stored as Microsoft Word documents. A free reader is available from http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/default.asp. Many FCC documents are available as either text or Word Perfect files. The text files do not include the footnotes. I have not yet found a free Word Perfect viewer. If you own a copy of Word Perfect, you can download FCC WP files and view or print them with excellent quality. Finally, some interesting material is available as audio files (typically Real Audio). A free player is available at http://www.realaudio.com.
Table 1 lists some of the many documents that are available on the web covering a variety of current issues. Do a little browsing!
| Subject | Uniform Resource Identifier | Comments (sample commands, etc.) |
| Free Email Program | http://www.juno.com | Order by phone at (800) 654-5866 |
| Free PDF Viewer | http://www.adobe.com | Displays and prints Portable Document Format files |
| Free Microsoft Word Viewer | http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/default.asp | Displays and prints Word documents |
| Free Real Audio Player | http://www.realaudio.com | Plays Real Audio files |
| Web to Email servers | agora@broadcast.net | message body = "help" for instructions, "send http://hallikainen.com" or other URI |
| w3mail@enigma.gex.gmd.de | ||
| agora@dna.affrc.go.jp | ||
| agora@kamakura.mss.co.jp | ||
| AM Band Expansion | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/decdoc/engrser.html#AMEXBAND | Fact Sheet, decisions, etc. |
| Auction of Brodcast Licenses | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/decdoc/legalser.html#AUCTION | NPRM and News Release |
| EAS | http://www.fcc.gov/cib/eas/Welcome.html | FCC's EAS Page with EAS Handbooks, Reports & Orders, etc. |
| http://www.broadcast.net/~hhallika/insite/insite88.html | RW article on EAS adoption | |
| http://www.broadcast.net/~hhallika/insite/insite92.html | RW article on EAS being upheld | |
| FCC Rules | http://hallikainen.com/FccRules | Find by index or Table of Contents. Returns PDF or hypertext with links to other rules, Federal Register and FCC documents |
| http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/index.html | Find by CFR cite or text search. Returns PDF or plain text. | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/bickel/amfmrule.html | Find by Table of Contents. Returns plain text. | |
| FCC Contacts | http://www.fcc.gov/how2contact.html | Mailing, email, phone and fax contacts at the FCC |
| FCC Commenting | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/prd/howto.html | How to comment in FCC proceedings |
| FCC Daily Digest Email Subscription | subscribe@info.fcc.gov | Send message "subscribe digest Your-first-name Your-last-name" or "unsubscribe digest Your-first-name Your-last-name" or "help" |
| FCC Fax on Demand | phone (202) 418-2830 | Call here to have a wide variety of documents faxed to you |
| FCC Forms | http://www.fcc.gov/formpage.html | Many FCC forms are available here in PDF format. You can also get forms by calling 1-800-418-3676 |
| FCC Mass Media Bureau | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb | The MMB Home Page |
| FCC MMB Audio Services Division | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd | ASD home |
| http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/decdoc/allsub.html | Legal and Engineering Decisions | |
| FCC MMB Policy and Rules Division | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/prd/index.html | Current and recent rulemakings |
| FCC Meeting Agenda | http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/Public_Notices/Agenda | The agenda of the next FCC meeting |
| FCC Meeting Audio | http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/ | Listen to audio of meetings as they occur, or listen to previous meetings |
| FCC Phone Directory | http://www.fcc.gov/phone.html | Find phone numbers online or download a directory |
| Federal Register | http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html | Search by phrase, FR cite, CFR cite. Returns PDF or plain text. |
| Main Studio Rule | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/decdoc/legalser.html#STUDIO | NPRM, waivers and violations |
| http://www.broadcast.net/~hhallika/insite/insite94.html | RW article on NPRM | |
| http://www.broadcast.net/~hhallika/insite/insite95.html | RW article on history of Main Studio Rule | |
| Pirate Radio | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/decdoc/engrser.html#LOW | FCC documents on low power radio, including shutdown of unlicensed stations |
| http://www.surf.com/~graham/microradio.legal.battle.html | Free Radio Berkeley court documents | |
| http://www.nab.org/issues/pirate.htm | NAB statements on pirate radio | |
| http://gate.cruzio.com/~rogue/microbroad.html | Rogue Scholar documents | |
| Public Inspection File | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/decdoc/legalser.html#PIF | NPRM and decisions |
| RF Radiation Safety | http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet56/oet56.wp | Q&A (Word Perfect) |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet56/oet56.pdf | Q&A (PDF) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65.wp | OET65 Evaluating Compliance (Word Perfect) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65.pdf | OET65 Evaluating Compliance (PDF) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65.wp | OET65 Supplement A (Word Perfect) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65a.pdf | OET65 Supplement A (PDF) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65b.wp | OET65 Supplement B (Word Perfect) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65b.pdf | OET65 Supplement B (PDF) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65c.wp | OET65 Supplement C (Word Perfect) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65c.pdf | OET65 Supplement C (PDF) | |
| Self Inspection Checklists | http://www.fcc.gov/cib/bc-chklsts/am.html | AM (html) |
| http://www.fcc.gov/cib/bc-chklsts/cib18am.wp | AM (Word Perfect) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/cib/bc-chklsts/fm.html | FM (html) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/cib/bc-chklsts/cib18fm.wp | FM (Word Perfect) | |
| Telecommunications Act of 1996 | http://www.fcc.gov/telecom.html | FCC's actions in implementing the Act |
| Translators | http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/decdoc/engrser.html#TRANSL | Fact Sheet and Decisions |
| http://www.broadcast.net/acamba/petition2.html | ACAMBA petition to allow AM's to use FM translators | |
| Tower Registration | http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/antenna/ | Almost everything you need on Tower Registration! |
| US Code | http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ | Hypertext version with links to other sections and history |
| http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong013.html | Search by phrase or USC cite (no spaces in cite). Returns plain text. | |
| Unattended Operation & Operator Requirements | *http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Notices/1994/ntmm4001.txt | NPRM (text) |
| *http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/1995_Orders/fcc95412.txt | Report and Order (text) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/1995_Orders/fcc95412.wp | Report and Order (Word Perfect) | |
| http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/asd/bickel/noonehome.html | FCC FAQ | |
| http://www.broadcast.net/~hhallika/insite/insite93.html | RW article Unattended - A Look at the New Rules | |
| http://www.broadcast.net/~hhallika/insite/insite96.html | RW article Unattended - Revisited |
Harold Hallikainen is president of Hallikainen & Friends, a firm specializing in electronic design and technical writing. He is also an avid contra dancer. He can be reached at +1 805 541 0201 (voice/fax), harold@hallikainen.com(email), and http://hallikainen.com (World Wide Web).