Research Projects

Monday, September 13, 2021

New York SCA Subcarrier Radio Stations

 The FCC's description of the service is a bit dry

"A subcarrier, known also as Subsidiary Communications Authority or SCA, is a separate audio or data channel that is transmitted along with the main audio signal over a broadcast station.  These subcarrier channels are not receivable with a regular radio; special receivers are required"

These subcarriers are a sideband of a radio frequency carrier wave, which is modulated to send additional information. A subcarrier can be used for all sorts of different purposes, including paging, inventory distribution, bus dispatching, stock market reports, conveying horse race results, traffic control signal switching, point-to-point or multipoint messages, foreign language programming, radio reading services, radio broadcast data systems (RBDS), station control and meter reading, utility load management, and muzak. I've even seen it used for to trigger fireworks displays. 

I have never found a canonically complete list of US subcarrier radio stations. But I have found diligent amateurs maintaining their own local databases. Take for example this website for New York City. It lists the below stations:

New York SCA Subcarrier Radio Stations:

CALLS
FREQ
SUBCARRIER
FORMAT CITY
WSOU
89.5
67 kHz
 Reading for the Blind
Orange, NJ
WKCR 94.3
67 kHz
 Reading for the Blind  New York, NY
WXNY 98.7
67 kHz
Radio Omega (Haitian) New York, NY
WQHT 106.7
67 kHz
Hellas World Radio (Greek)
New York, NY
WQHT 106.7 92 kHz
Radio Jesus es Senor
New York, NY
WSKQ
97.9
67 kHz
Radio Soleil d'Haiti
New York, NY
WBAI 99.5
67 kHz
Radio Maria (Italian)
New York, NY
WBAI 99.5 92 kHz  Radio Maria (Spanish) New York, NY
WCBS 101.1
67 kHz
Radio Maria Hispana
New York, NY
WRXP 101.9 67 kHz
Radio PaHou (Haitian)
New York, NY
WRXP 101.9 92 kHz Radio L'Amour Int'l (Haitian) New York, NY
WAXQ
104.3
67 kHz
Korean Christian prog.
New York, NY
WWPR 105.1
67 kHz
Radio Verite (Haitian)
New York, NY
WBLS 107.5
67 kHz
Radio Shammah (Haitian)
New York, NY

It's worth noting that the original WPAT on 103.5 had two subcarriers. On 67 kHz was Chinese Radio NYC and on 92 kHz was ICN Radio. Today WPAT 93.1 is a HD station so I believe their subcarrier was repurposed for the bandwidth presently dedicated to the WGNK simulcast on HD2. 

So the information above is probably right, but also probably not complete. Many services are short-lived. Back in 1983 NAB printed up a sales sheet encouraging FM broadcasters to use their subcarriers to turn a quick buck. Simultaneously they encouraged the FCC not to over-regulate the service.  [LINK] the resulting landscape let to a rabbit warren of nominally regulated non-advertised subcarrier services. In 1983 the NAB had such clout that it was legal to sell the use of your subcarrier even while your primary signal was offline.

 Effectively there are two reasons that it's so difficult to get a good accounting of subcarrier stations.

1. The FCC does not keep records of which broadcast stations are using subcarriers. So there is no central database attached to licensing. 

2. The FCC requires no special authorization, notice, application, or license is from the licensee planning to transmit a subcarrier signal (see 47 CFR Section 73.127 for AM stations or 47 CFR Section 73.293 for FM stations).  The only exception to this is if the subcarrier is used for non-broadcast purposes. More here.

But then why are there comparatively so few subcarriers?  Similar to the above that boils down to two primary reasons: 

1.  Use of an FM subcarrier requires a reduction  in deviation of the main channel by as much  as 10%. That does not mean that the subcarrier reduces the coverage of the primary signal but an actual 0.92 dB reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio. It sounds scarier than it is.

2. The subcarrier can interfere with the primary signal. Any non -linearity in the transmission system - exciter, cable and antenna, or receiver - can mix the subcarrier  signal with the other signals present in the total FM signal and cause audible interference.  This was a very real problem. 

NAB tried to spin the above "One beneficial  side effect of using an FM subcarrier is to  force a station, if it proves necessary, to  clean up its transmitter." Perhaps it was over optimistic for a service which can only be sold to a few buyers, and only be heard by very few listeners. 

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