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How to Find Your Geographic Coordinates and Elevation Above Sea Level It is possible to determine your exact geographic coordinates and elevation above sea level, which are required for the low power radio license application, using resources on-line. We have tested these sites out, and they appear to be reliable and very useful! The website www.geocode.com/scripts/eagle/ will give you much more accurate geographic coordinates than using the FCC site. Enter the street address of your proposed site and it will give you the coordinates in both decimal degrees and degrees/minutes/seconds, using the NAD-27 standard required by the FCC. These coordinates can then be entered in the FCC Channel Finder to determine if a frequency is available for this location. Once you have found a frequency, you need to know the elevation of your site ABOVE MEAN SEA LEVEL to complete Section V, the Engineering part of the application. This can be determined from a U.S.G.S. 7.5 minute topographical quadrangle map for your location. These are maps prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey with precise topographical features, including geographic coordinates and terrain elevations. The maps are available for all areas of the country, including cities. You can find them in many local libraries, at some map stores, and at many camping goods stores that cater to hikers and backpackers. You can also order them directly from the U.S.G.S. here for a few dollars.
At the top left of the map page are several scales - select 1:25,000, which will give you the most resolution. At the top right, there are three choices for size - select Large. What will then appear on your screen will be the section of the map with your exact location, in the largest magnification. The maps include major geographic features, such as mountains, lakes, rivers, hills, etc. and major man-made features such as airports, hospitals, cemeteries, parks, railroad lines, and significant buildings, streets and highways. At this scale, most of these features should be legible. Natural areas are green; developed areas are pink; water features are blue; and new buildings or constructions are generally shown in purple. If you look closely, you will also see a series of brown contour lines that snake across the maps in irregular but roughly parallel patterns. These lines follow the features of the terrain, and they indicate changes in elevation every 10 feet. Where the elevation rises steeply they will be close together, and where the ground is flatter, they will be spaced farther apart. If you follow any one of these lines, at some point you will see the line broken by a number that is a multiple of 10. This number indicates the ground elevation, or height above mean sea level, for that contour. With a good pair of eyes (or a large screen monitor) you should be able to find your address and match it up with the nearest contour line. This is the height of the ground above mean sea level. Add the height of your building to this figure, and then add the height of any pole, tower or other antenna support that will go on the roof. Add these figures together to get the Antenna Location Site Elevation Above Mean Sea Level in feet. Convert the feet into meters and the resulting figure is the correct entry for Question 5 in Section V. Congratulations! Back to the Low Power Main Page
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