FCC Fines Antenna Owner for Lighting, Painting Violations

December 1, 2010

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau demanded a payment of $25,000 in November from Daniel Smith, licensee of station KANR in Belle Plain, Kan., and owner of an antenna structure, for various violations including failure to monitor the structure’s lighting and failure to maintain the paint on the antenna structure for visibility, according to a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture on the FCC’s website.

In March 2010, the agents from the Bureau’s Kansas City office inspected the station KANR tower, which is registered to Smith, and observed that the paint on the tower was severely faded and areas of bare metal were showing. Smith stated that the tower was last painted before it was erected in 1996, according to the FCC.

In addition, the agents observed that all three flashing beacons on the structure were either not lighted or not flashing, and several of the side lamps on the structure were inoperable. Smith admitted that the station did not have any automated equipment to monitor the structure’s lighting and no station personnel to visually monitor the lighting on the structure, according to the FCC.

The station’s antenna structure is 495 feet AGL and must be painted and lit.

Section 17.47(a) of the FCC’s rules states that the owner of any antenna structure that is registered with the Commission and has been assigned lighting specifications “(1) shall make an observation of the antenna structure’s lights at least once each 24 hours either visually or by observing an automatic properly maintained indicator designed to register any failure of such lights, to ensure that all such lights are functioning properly as required; or alternatively, (2) shall provide and properly maintain an automatic alarm system designed to detect any failure of such lights and to provide indication of such failure to the owner.”

Section 17.50 of the Rules states that “antenna structures requiring painting under this part shall be cleaned or repainted as often as necessary to maintain good visibility.