Using ArcMap to Split shapefile into multple shapefiles by attribute category?

Question

I have a shapefile feature class that represents an area with signal strength per section of area. It has signal strength from multiple radio sources but I would like to make separate file for each radio source. For example if I start with the attribute table like this.

ALL SITES_SIGNAL LEVEL
| FID |  Shape  | Site_1 level | Site_2 level | Site_3 level | 
|  0  | polygon |  -120        |   -140       |   -87        |
|  1  | polygon |  -142        |   -130       |   -77        |
|  3  | polygon |  -156        |   -111       |   -89        |
|  4  | polygon |  -60         |   -113       |   -112       |
|  5  | polygon |  -54         |   -87        |   -134       |
|  6  | polygon |  -90         |   -50        |   -117       |

I want three feature classes with attribute tables like this:

SITE_1 SIGNAL LEVEL
| FID |  Shape  | Site_1 level | 
|  0  | polygon |  -120        | 
|  1  | polygon |  -142        | 
|  3  | polygon |  -156        |   
|  4  | polygon |  -60         |  
|  5  | polygon |  -54         |  
|  6  | polygon |  -90         |   

SITE_2 SIGNAL LEVEL
| FID |  Shape  | Site_1 level | 
|  0  | polygon |  -140        | 
|  1  | polygon |  -130        | 
|  3  | polygon |  -111        |   
|  4  | polygon |  -60         |  
|  5  | polygon |  -54         |  
|  6  | polygon |  -90         |

SITE_3 SIGNAL LEVEL
| FID |  Shape  | Site_3 level | 
|  0  | polygon |  -87         | 
|  1  | polygon |  -77         | 
|  3  | polygon |  -89         |   
|  4  | polygon |  -112        |  
|  5  | polygon |  -134        |  
|  6  | polygon |  -117        |

I've looked at split by attribute, but that doesn't do what I wasn't, in this example that gives me 7 tables. I know I could make 3 copies of the table and delete two columns, but this doesn't seem efficient.

Answer 1

To do this I would:

1. Make two copies of your original shapefile using the Copy tool.
2. On each of the three shapefiles drop two fields using the Delete Fields tool.
3. Use the Geoprocessing | Results window and Copy As Python Snippet to start writing a modest Python Script tool using ArcPy