Seen on HB Site: End80's Discussion about HAR/TIS'

Yes.. I came across that in a round about way, while trying to find what Part 15 transmitters were being manufactured in the early 1970s which had prompted the FCC to mess with the part 15 rules (the first and only time mind you in 80 years of Part 15 history that the FCC ever rewrote the rules to further limit it, and then shortly after almost eliminated the alternate rules completely from manufactured units).. This made me curious what the hell was going on in that year and a half span in 1974-1976 which all of the sudden concerned the FCC enough to do something about the part 15 rules..

I kept looking for manufactured units being marketed to the public under the 15.219 rule (then 15.113) but still haven't found any, but at some point I came to discover that the time frame of part 15 rules getting rewritten coincides exactly with the time of research and proposals to create a new set of rules exclusively for TIS stations who at that time actually had been operating under the alternate rules (ie: 15.219) of part 15.. I had never known this.

What all this reveals is the early TIS transmitters which were being manufactured are actually the very transmitters which the FCC had been concerned about and caused the inclusion of the ground lead into the 3 meter rule! I still haven't found out specifically what transmitter they had used in the early 1970s.. I can find no 1970s transmitters which certified under 15.113 (now .219), but they existed as it is confirmed the TIS stations had been using them..

"An Assessment of the Future of Travelers' Information Stations" by the Department of Commerce (I don't have the link on hand but you can search the title to download the PDF) it tells us:

"The current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Rules and Regulations (FCC, Part 90) covering the TIS were initiated by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and other interested Government agencies in the early 1970's. In 1971, the FHWA conducted a research effort on the Highway Advisory Radio (HAR), and a committee of the FCC/TRAC was formed to consider the requirements set forth by the FHWA, US Forest Service, and US Park Service. This resulted in the July 1975 FCC proposed rulemaking, Docket 20509, that would establish a TIS... ...In June 1977, the FCC adopted a revised version of Docket 20509. Prior to this rulemaking, HAR operated either within the limited power requirements of part 15, section 15.113 (monopole antennas) and section 15.111 (cable antennas),.."

Oh cool! I'll check it out.
For a second I thought you were referring to Nixon, as I think he was around at the time TIS was becoming it's own service!