[opendtv] Re: FCC on revitalizing the AM band

  • From: Albert Manfredi <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2015 19:31:18 -0400

Craig wrote:


Apparently you did not read the whole Report and Order. It does nothing to
de-emphasize the primary AM license,

I didn't say anything about "license." I'm talking technical realities here,
not the usual make-believe. Everything in that report downgrades the usefulness
of the actual AM signal. It makes the quality of AM reception worse than it is,
it encourages more interference at night, it wants to allow use of less
efficient AM antennas, for less coverage, and overall it makes up for the loss
in AM usefulness by promoting more use of FM translators. So it's another
example of FCC pretense, along the same lines as the way we all pretend that
OTA broadcast stations own the high value conglom content. Let's pretend this
predominantly FM broadcaster is actually an AM broadcaster, and let's devalue
the AM signal even more than it already is.

The greater reality is that FM licenses are still being offered, and many AM
stations are now simulcasting on AM and FM.

Assuming that's true, which I don't think it is, all the more reason to ditch
AM and start over.

There are many trends in the broadcast radio industry, but support for
"digital
radio" is not one of them. In fact, there is significant confusion among
consumers and manufacturers as to whether this means HD radio broadcasting or
the ability to stream content from the Internet.

All due to FCC inaction. You can't expect a broadcast standard to become used
universally unless the FCC (or similar body like Ofcom) establishes the
standard. HD Radio works very well, and would work even better if not in hybrid
mode. But as a result of FCC indifference, it's slow at becoming the norm. Like
you say, it is making inroads in cars, but not all cars yet.

As of now, at home, I have no HD Radio anymore, and also no AM radio (well,
except in my alarm radio, and even those few seconds needed to wake me up are
exclusively set to FM). I don't miss AM at all, and frankly, I don't use FM
either very much except while driving. I use Internet radio almost exclusively
at home. But I did used to own an HD Radio tuner for home, and it is a big
improvement on both FM and AM bands.

In the FM band, it gives many useful additional channels. For instance, when I
still had HD Radio, you got BBC from our WETA FM station, on one of the
subchannels. And when you listen to the AM band, the audio quality is
astonishingly better that the muffled sound of typical AM. Except, as long as
hybrid mode I used, HD Radio in the AM band is off at night, and during the
day, it has to operate at ridiculously reduced power levels, compared with the
analog.

Bert

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