Lots of work being done on the site data as I try to fix old errors and get new data placed. You may have noticed that all the TV stations now have a "info and history" page. All FM stations should now have "info and history" pages now, too, except for new station construction permits. Work in ongoing in getting the AM stations' data pages updated with the new links and info.
All these new data pages have new features. Each one will provide a link to the FCC record and links to Wikipedia and Radio-Locator. FM stations also link to RECnet, which has a lot of useful technical data. Each page for FM and TV will link to the protected contour maps that the FCC still have online, and FM, AM and TV have links to polar plots of directional antennas, (in PDF format for AM stations), on the FCC site.
The big change comes with maps. The government Tiger mapping service shut down, stranding not just this site but the FCC as well. This happened right around the time stations were getting new map links, so it threw the site into even more half-assed territory than usual. Well, that's being sorted out. All the links are going to be to Google Maps overviews. Many stations will feature a link to a street view of the tower site if one is available.
Street view isn't available everywhere, and many promising shots are ruined by sunlight, so it's a slow process to find the best angles, etc.
If you happen across a good street view shot of a tower site and want to see it added to the page, just send me the link and I'll take a gander at it.
Finally, since all the data is being off-loaded onto individual station pages, I've taken this opportunity to clean up the state TV and FM lists, removing direct links to antenna patterns. This has shaved off a considerable amount of size and should speed up page loading for the few of you still on dial-up. My goal has always been a plain and easy to use site, without any fancy bells and whistles (because that would mean buying and learning new HTML/CSS software, which I don't want to do!) Plus, there's something reassuring about having a website whose layout is a throwback to the early days of the internet. It hasn't evolved too much since its debut in 1998 and that's okay by me.
Anyway, I hope everyone likes all the new links. If you find any of them to be broken, or find any station website links that are dead, as always, drop me an e-mail and I'll take care of them.
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