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Does your tower need FAA notice?
Enter the site and the structure's overall height. We run the two federal tests, the 200-foot rule and the runway slope surfaces around nearby airports and heliports, and show you exactly which one decides it.
Or fill in the details yourself below.
Enter the overall height of the structure above ground, including any building it sits on and the antenna on top.
Building or moving a tower?
FAA notice is one step. RF Navigator runs this check inside every FM, LPFM, translator, AM and TV study, next to the contours, spacing and interference work, and Nexus Broadcast can handle the engineering and the filings for you.
How this check works
- 200 ft test: anything more than 200 feet (60.96 m) above ground at its site needs FAA notice (47 CFR 17.7(a), 14 CFR 77.9(a)). Use the overall height: the building, the tower and everything on top.
- Slope test: imaginary surfaces rise from the nearest point of the nearest runway: 100:1 for 20,000 feet around an airport whose longest runway is more than 3,200 feet, 50:1 for 10,000 feet around smaller airports, and 25:1 for 5,000 feet around a heliport (17.7(b)). The surface starts at the airport's own elevation, so the test compares heights above sea level.
- Airports and heliports come from the FCC's own list for this rule (the "Airport Facilities - 47 CFR Part 17" files). A private airport with an FAA-approved instrument approach also counts (17.7(d)(4)); that list doesn't mark them, so check with the FAA if one is nearby.
- Not evaluated: shielding by nearby structures or terrain (17.7(e)(1)), and an FAA request for a study inside an instrument approach area (17.7(c)).
- A structure that needs FAA notice also needs FCC antenna structure registration (17.4(a)).
Confirm with the official tools before you file: the FCC's TOWAIR and the FAA's Notice Criteria Tool.
A screening check for planning. Not a product of the FCC or the FAA.