[opendtv] Re: FCC on revitalizing the AM band

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 07:28:11 -0400

On Oct 25, 2015, at 8:33 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


Why not turn off analog AM, replace it with HD Radio in that band, and retain
all the clear channel stations with HD Radio. Then you can do your DXing in
digital, and listen without the 10 KHz squeals, the abysmal sound quality,
and all the rest. Longwire antennas would work for HD Radio too.

Who would listen to this "upgraded" service?

It is unclear if existing HD radio receivers would work if you fundamentally
change the design and use all f the spectrum assigned to a station for digital
service. Even if they did work, the number of HD radios in service is still
small.

What would you broadcast on these digital stations that would be unique enough
to get consumers to run out and buy a new HD radio?

In Europe the uptake of DAB has peen poor, with most people listening to legacy
analog services, if they listen to radio at all.

Here in the U.S. the FM band seems to be meeting people's needs quite well,
with satellite for those who desire a mostly seamless national service.

And with WiFi and cellular data now nearly ubiquitous, the same advantages you
ascribe to Over The Top TV ALSO apply to audio services. Why do you want TV
broadcasters to move to the Internet, yet suggest that we come up with a new
service in the AM band for which there is no clear use case?

Time? I stopped wearing a watch when I started carrying a cell phone.

Emergency broadcasts - I don't need to listen to a station in Chicago, New
Orleans or Atlanta to get that stuff.

There are a bunch of highway traffic information services in the AM band. I
guess we could still use AM for that.

Disney used to have a Walt Disney World AM info service on I-75, but killed in
in the '90's, and more recently shut down almost all of its Disney Radio
stations around the country, stating that most people now use the Internet to
access the service.

AM is just too primitive, Cliff. It's time to either make effective use of
that frequency band for radio, or assign it to something totally different,
like time signals. And hobbyists can always use low power HD Radio to AM
converter boxes, which would most likely appear on the market for them?

Analog watches are primitive too, yet the Swiss seem to sell a large number of
very expensive watches.

I guess we could just turn AM into another hobbyist band. Cliff would like
that...


Regards
Craig

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