Doug Smith W9WI wrote in
:


Indeed, WYLF was fined $11,000 in 2005 for violations including
excessive power. (not only was it running excessive power at night,
but it was also running too much during the day! - nighttime power
violations are common but daytime violations are quite rare)

http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2005/DA-05-680A1.html


I live in the area. Yes, WYLF was fined for excessive power, and also
because the fence around their tower was in bad shape and not secured. The
excessive power citation came after at least two previous warnings, so it's
not like the FCC blasted them with a big fine for a single instance of
accidentally (or deliberately) "forgetting" to reduce power at night. The
violation fell into the "willful and deliberate" category since it was at
least the third time they had been caught doing it.

About four years ago, WWLZ (820) in Elmira was cited for the opposite
problem... being on their nighttime directional pattern (and *reduced*
power) during the middle of the day. 700 watts instead of their authorized
daytime power of 5 KW. That came to light during a surprise station
inspection by an FCC field engineer. No fines were levied - just a warning
- as it was determined the mistake was due mainly to inadequately trained
staff at the station. The automatic time-of-day-based power/pattern
switching function in the transmitter remote control was either inop, or
mis-programmed.

The board ops were dutifully and accurately entering the transmitter
readings in the log as required, but apparently no one had any clue as to
what the numbers actually signified. I wonder if they had noticed that
their electric bills had gone down?

It's what happens when stations have no engineering staff. Most smaller
operations use contract engineers who only get called in when something is
seriously amiss (like being completely off the air.)

Jim Barrett