What is the transmision power of a TV station?

Answer 1

the range of licensed power for full sevice television station covers a wide range, from a kilowatt to megawatts in the UHF band. the power is licensed based on ERP, or effective radiated power. The standard of radiation is horizontal polarization (for TV broadcast) from a dipole antenna's maximum lobe. The antennas used for TV are usually an array of elements with multiple bays, so that the system offers considerable gain over a simple dipole and offers broader, even omnidirectional dispersion.

The actual power from the transmitter equipment is much less than the licensed ERP as it is adjusted for the antenna gain and transmission line loss. Also, power for television is defined as peak requirement for the video sync pulse. the rms power is dependent on picture content, darker pictures require more overall transmitter power. to prevent signal distortion, the visual amplifier must have linear characteristics and does not have a good efficiency in converting input DC voltage to output RF power.

the aural is usually licensed as a fraction of the video sync power, with 10 percent being common. in most stations the aural is a separate transmitter that is combined with the visual output prior to the antenna. in lower power stations the carriers are sometimes combined prior to the final amplifier, as maximized power effeciency is not a critical parameter.

Answer 2

it depends on their FCC license [ in the US]. can run from as little as 10,000 watts to 500,000+.