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 3-km (1.7miles) for a directional antenna.

Table 1 Location of AM Radio Stations in Genesee County, NY

Location Call Sign Tx-ERP Frequency Distance BATAVIA NY WBTA 1.0 kW 1490 kHz 10.08 mi BATAVIA NY WBTA 0.71 kW 1490 kHz 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 Distance MEDINA NY W207BD 0.038 kW 89.3 MHz 11.37 mi ALBION NY W209BF 0.027 kW 89.7 MHz 14.15 mi BATAVIA NY WGCC-FM 0.88 kW 90.7 MHz 11.12 mi

NORTH SYRACUSE NY W230BE 0.12 kW 94.1 MHz 11.67 mi AKRON NY W243BW 0.016 kW 96.5 MHz 10.74 mi CORFU NY W248AT 0.01 kW 97.5 MHz 5.28 mi AKRON NY NEW 0.019 kW 100.1 MHz 10.74 mi

BATAVIA NY NEW 0.01 kW 100.1 MHz 10.91 mi DARIEN CENTER NY NEW 0.013 kW 100.1 MHz 11.84 mi

ATTICA NY WLOF 3.2 kW 101.7 MHz 14.66 mi ALBION NY WJCA 3.7 kW 102.1 MHz 13.54 mi

19700 Janelia Farms Blvd Ashburn, VA 20147 703-726-5500

BATAVIA NY W279BM 0.027 kW 103.7 MHz 8.97 mi BATAVIA NY NEW 0.01 kW 104.7 MHz 10.91 mi MEDINA NY W287AX 0.019 kW 105.3 MHz 12.98 mi BATAVIA NY W291AS 0.027 kW 106.1 MHz 13.23 mi BATAVIA NY W295AM 0.01 kW 106.9 MHz 10.94 mi ATTICA NY NEW 0.01 kW 107.1 MHz 14.66 mi

OAKFIELD NY NEW 0.002 kW 107.3 MHz 2.58 mi ATTICA NY NEW 0.002 kW 107.3 MHz 13.70 mi

WARSAW NY NEW 0.002 kW 107.3 MHz 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