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47 CFR § 74.536 - Directional antenna required.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t47/s74.536"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "47 CFR § 74.536 - Directional antenna required."
title_number: 47
title_name: "Telecommunication"
section_number: "74.536"
section_name: "Directional antenna required."
chapter_name: "FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION"
subchapter_number: "C"
subchapter_name: "BROADCAST RADIO SERVICES"
part_number: "74"
part_name: "EXPERIMENTAL RADIO, AUXILIARY, SPECIAL BROADCAST AND OTHER PROGRAM DISTRIBUTIONAL SERVICES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "47 U.S.C. 154, 302a, 303, 307, 309, 310, 325, 336 and 554."
cfr_part: "74"
---

# 74.536 Directional antenna required.

(a) Aural broadcast STL and ICR stations are required to use a directional antenna with the minimum beamwidth necessary, consistent with good engineering practice, to establish the link.

(b) An aural broadcast STL or intercity relay station operating in the 17.7-19.7 GHz band shall employ an antenna that meets the performance standards for Category A, except that in areas not subject to frequency congestion, antennas meeting standards for Category B may be employed. However, the Commission may require the replacement, at the licensee's expense, of any antenna or periscope antenna system of a permanent fixed station that does not meet performance Standard A, which is specified in the table in paragraph (c) of this section, upon a showing that said antenna causes or is likely to cause interference to (or receive interference from) any other authorized or proposed station; provided that an antenna meeting performance Standard A is unlikely to involve such interference.

(c) Licensees shall comply with the antenna standards table shown in this paragraph in the following manner:

(1) With either the maximum beamwidth to 3 dB points requirement or with the minimum antenna gain requirement; and

(2) With the minimum radiation suppression to angle requirement.

Antenna Standards

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 17.7 to 19.7 | AB | 2.22.2 | 3838 | 2520 | 2924 | 3328 | 3632 | 4235 | 5536 | 5536 |
| If a licensee chooses to show compliance using maximum beamwidth to 3 dB points, the beamwidth limit shall apply in both the azimuth and the elevation planes. |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

[48 FR 50333, Nov. 1, 1983, as amended at 49 FR 7130, Feb. 27, 1984; 50 FR 48599, Nov. 26, 1985; 51 FR 19840, June 3, 1986; 62 FR 4922, Feb. 3, 1997; 68 FR 12767, Mar. 17, 2003]