Is your transmitter legal?
Transmitters for LPFM must be FCC certified with a "FCC ID" label on it. Please see our list of certified transmitters to help you decide which transmitter to use.
Never purchase a transmitter directly from a China-based company. None of them are FCC certified, even if they claim to be "FCC approved".
Use of such transmitters may result in interference that can jeopardize public safety and could lead to enforcement action.
REC operational status (April 25, 12:30 PM EDT) - REC will be in reduced operations on Friday, April 26, 2024 due to family priorities. Phone support may not be available but email will be monitored. Thank you for your patience.
REC Networks has completed its first phase of deployment of RadioDNS. RadioDNS is an open standard which has been in use in Europe for over a decade and has been recently embraced in the United States. RadioDNS permits any FM radio station to have their logos, station information metadata, internet audio streams and program schedules made available to connected cars and other compatible devices with very little resource requirement by the radio station.
Currently, all FM stations (including LPFM stations) are permitted to operate at a digital effective radiated power (ERP) of -14 dB below carrier (dBc), which equates to 4 percent of their analog ERP. Stations can operate up to -10 dBc (10 percent of analog ERP) with a contour study showing that the station meets certain contour overlap requirements to first adjacent channel stations.
In the context of smaller noncommercial educational (NCE) broadcast stations, including Low Power FM (LPFM), an “assignment” is a transaction where the license is changed (assigned) to another nonprofit entity. A “transfer” is a transaction where the license remains where the license remains with the same entity, but there is a significant change in the persons that control the licensee organization.
For over the past 10 years, myLPFM has assisted LPFM stations in checking availability for moves and in the early days, it also assisted those seeking new LPFM stations to find their perfect place on the dial.
On Septmber 8, 2022, the FCC released the tentative agenda for the Open Meeting on September 29, 2022. On the agenda for that meeting is an item related to changes to the Emergency Alert System (EAS). With the agenda, the FCC released the circulation draft of the Report and Order for the EAS item that will be voted on during or prior to the Open Meeting.
REC Networks has filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the Federal Communications Commission to propose various rule changes related to future FM translator stations. While we wait for what will likely be an LPFM filing window as early as 2023, the next logical step for secondary services will be an opportunity for new and major change FM translator stations for general applicants.
In Section 5(2) of the Local Community Radio Act of 2010, Congress ordered the FCC, when licensing new FM translator stations, FM booster stations, and low-power FM stations, they shall ensure that such decisions ade made based on the needs of the local community.
REC Networks announces an updated prediction on the potential timeframe for the next filing window for new LPFM construction permits and major changes.