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In a subsequent reconsideration action the  x.Commission reaffirmed its decision to use a fixed database, reasoning that this approach would promote  x\administrative finality and basic fairness, and that it would not be feasible to use a changing database.  S- xLOrder I, 10 FCC Rcd at 12145. Finally, in Order I the Commission rejected as untimely reconsideration  xarguments directed to the alleged failure of the AM Expanded Band allocations process to take into  xaccount Section 307(b) requirements, concluding that the time to reconsider this issue has long since  xzpassed. 10 FCC Rcd at 12147. This same reasoning applies equally to Press's dilatory effort to seek  S- xfurther reconsideration of these same issues at a latter stage of the same proceeding. See 47 C.F.R.  x1.429(i) (permitting staff to dismiss as repetitious matters previously considered and rejected by the Commission).   x7. The Commission has recognized that Section 1.429(i) is permissive and that it may consider  S$ - xuntimely or repetitious arguments where the public interest would be better served thereby. E.g, MTS and  S - xWATS Market Structure, 99 FCC 2d 708, 712 (1984). However, the justification proffered by Press is  xunpersuasive. Each of the orders in this proceeding has been "directed to the implementation of the  xexpanded band migration." The Communications Act, our rules and the need for administrative  xorderliness require petitioners to raise issues in a timely manner. We emphatically reject Press's apparent contention that it may delay its participation in this rulemaking until actual licensing actions are imminent.   x8. Nevertheless, we are cognizant of our responsibility to reevaluate regulatory standards over  S- xtime and to modify policies in response to changes in the broadcast industry. E.g., Office of  S- xCommunication of the United Church of Christ v. FCC, 707 F.2d 1413, 1425 (1983). In this regard, it  xis clear that fullband radio receivers have become broadly available since our 1991 decision to grant  x/migrators a fiveyear transition period. In contrast, it remains difficult to forecast audience listening  xpatterns and preferences, and potential advertising revenues, particularly of standalone AM stations. We  xfind unpersuasive the fact that Press, in its 1996 Petition, has identified one station where one experienced  xbroadcaster believes that one standalone AM Expanded Band facility is economically viable in the  xnation's largest media market. In contrast, onefourth of the stations selected in the March 1997 allotment  x/plan chose not to file construction permit applications, a fact which we believe is substantially more  xprobative of the uncertainties that broadcasters continue to face and which substantially refutes Press's  xcontention that the fiveyear transition period constitutes a "lucrative windfall" for migrators. We  xconclude that any modification of the fiveyear transition period is unwarranted and deny reconsideration for this reason.  S-  x9. The Kovas Petition. Kovas was listed as receiving an Evanston, Illinois 1700 kHz assignment  xkin the second plan but did not appear on the third plan. It claims that the assignment of 1700 kHz to  xKKSO(AM), Des Moines "on its face precluded" the allotment of this channel to Kovas and seeks  SD- xreconsideration of the Des Moines assignment on several grounds. It specifically challenges the second  S - x=harmonic interference protection standard announced in Order III and the staff's apparent determination  x.that the proximity of WAIT(AM), Crystal Lake, Illinois, which operates on 850 kHz, precludes a 1700  S!-kHz allotment to Kovas.    Qx10. Stations operating on 810, 820, 830, 840, and 850 kHz have the potential to cause  xinterference to Expanded Band stations operating on 1620, 1640, 1660, 1680, and 1700 kHz. This so xzcalled second harmonic interference is caused by the generation of the (higher) second harmonic of the  xlower frequency within a radio receiver. This interference can impede or make impossible reception of  x.the higher frequency station, but has no impact on the reception of the lower frequency station. Second"&,N(N(ZZn("  xharmonic interference occurs most commonly in the immediate vicinity of the lower frequency station  xwhere its signal strength is high. Section 73.182 restricts the location of existing band AM stations,  xprohibiting the location of the transmission facilities of a lower frequency (540800 kHz) station within  S- xjthe service area of the harmonicallyrelated higher frequency station. In Order III we recognized that the  xCommission's technical rules use a twopart standard for determining where second harmonic interference  xmay occur, protecting the higher frequency AM station's primary service area on the basis of its 2.0 mV/m  S- x.contour in communities of at least 2,500 and its 0.5 mV/m contour elsewhere.*   yOz- xԍ AM signal reception varies with the extent of electromagnetic frequency "noise" in the AM band. Such noise  xcan be generated by a number of factors, including commercial and industrial activity. Thus, listenable signals may  xYgenerally be obtained at lower signal strengths in rural areas. As a result, Section 73.182 provides greater protection (to the larger area encompassed by the second harmonic station's weaker 0.5 mV/m contour) in low population areas.* We concluded, however,  xthat for purposes of compiling a national allotment plan for Expanded Band spectrum it is more  xappropriate to determine harmonic preclusions on the basis of a uniform 0.5 mV/m standard "regardless  x[of the population of the community in which the transmission facilities of the lower frequency station is  xlocated." 12 FCC Rcd at 3363 64. We explained that this standard is consistent with our objective to  xauthorize interferencefree AM service in the Expanded Band and the interference protection standards  S" -that we have applied generally in the AM service. Id.  S -  x11. Kovas's analysis of the second harmonic standard is erroneous.   {O$- xKX` hp x (#%'0*,.8135@8:computer program as designed and implemented . . . ." This position ignores, of course, the fact that  Sr- xOrder III rescinded the prior plan, granted reconsideration and made substantive revisions to the frequency  xpreclusion program the very same computer program which Kovas suggests the Commission was  xunwilling to modify and made other software modifications on its own motion. During this agency S- xjinitiated "exhaustive review" of the Expanded Band computer programs, Order III 12 FCC Rcd at 3369,  xthe staff identified an array initialization error in the frequency preclusion subprogram designed to protect  x\potential Mexican allotments. This coding error caused valid data to be overwritten or "stepped on,"  xresulting in erroneous preclusion tables for 51 of the 64 potential Expanded Band stations in the Mexican  xborder zone. The Mexican array error had spillover effects on other preclusion calculations including  xjsecond harmonic preclusions, resulting in the erroneous identification of 1700 kHz as a technically viable  S- xEvanston allotment.,   yOv- xKԍ Specifically, the computer routine which determined domestic allotment preclusions in the Mexican border  xxarea first identified all proposed Expanded Band stations in the border zone. The program provisionally declared  xall frequencies precluded for such border zone stations. However, it then made a series of calculations to determine  xwhether any of the frequency preclusions could be removed. This would be possible only where a proposed  xExpanded Band allotment was sufficiently close to a theoretical domestic border zone allotment previously approved  xin an agreement between the United States and Mexico. The first step in this calculation involved setting a "flag"  xwhich indicated the distance between the Expanded Band station and any border zone allotment. However, instead  xof correctly setting the flag (and corresponding computer memory location) to a proper initial value, the program  {O#- xerroneously set the flag by changing, i.e., overwriting, a previously calculated value at a certain memory location.  {O$- xIn addition, the memory location was situated outside the meaningful bounds, i.e., array size, of the flag. The  xZspecific location where overwritten data was placed could not be definitively established. Based on a comparison  xof the summary preclusion tables for each potential Expanded Band migrator made before and after this array  xwinitialization error was corrected, the staff determined that this Mexican preclusion subroutine error produced errors"&,N(N(]'" in the calculation of harmonic preclusions for a number of stations, including WONX.  Correcting this error, and not the Commission's decision to retain the second"X,N(N(ZZ "  xharmonic standard used in the second allotment plan, resulted in Kovas being dropped from the Third Allotment Plan.   x18. Kovas's attack on the Des Moines 1700 kHz assignment is in error. The computer program  xjwhich makes the actual allotments is designed so that a lower ranked station, such as KKSO, could never  xprevent a higher ranked station, such as WONX, from receiving an allotment. As explained above, the  xylocation of the WAIT transmission facilities precluded an Evanston 1700 kHz assignment. Correction of  xa programming error prior to the Third Allotment Plan computer run removed WONX from consideration  xyfor this frequency and created the opportunity to assign 1700 kHz to KKSO. Nonetheless, we note that  xMKovas's argument against the 1700 kHz allotment to Des Moines is without merit. It claims that the  x/allocation of 1700 kHz to KKSO would result in "substantial" prohibited daytime overlap with first  xadjacent channel (1690 kHz) station KILR(AM), Estherville, Iowa, and therefore, that the Des Moines  xyallotment must be rescinded. This analysis is incorrect. Co and adjacent channel interference protection  S - xMin the Expanded Band is based on distance separations, not signal strength contours. See 47 C.F.R.   x73.37(e) (explicitly exempting Expanded Band facilities from general contour protection requirements);  S - x[Report and Order, 6 FCC Rcd at 6314 (specifying, inter alia, a 200 kilometer separation requirement for  x?first adjacent channel Expanded Band stations). The distance between KILR and KKSO is 230.7 kilometers and therefore the two allotments meet the relevant channel separation requirement.  S -c ORDERING CLAUSE ă   x19. ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED, That the petitions for reconsideration filed by Press Broadcasting Company, Inc. and Kovas Communications, Inc. ARE DENIED. x` `  hhFEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION x` `  hhMagalie Roman Salas x` `  hhSecretary x