|
Post by CAwasinNJ on May 4, 2023 7:08:19 GMT -6
I'm not sure where TechRadar is getting their numbers, but we could do far better than 50 audio "stations" in a single TV channel right now with ATSC 1 if we wanted to. KBYU-TV is using 200kbps each for the audio of BYU Radio and KBYU-FM and those are each 1% of the total bandwidth available.
Maintenance can definitely be a problem when you're talking about spurious emissions interfering with AM, but there are issues with design problems too. We've talked about that before. There are unquestionably more devices spewing RF all over the place than there were 50 or 60 years ago and the extent that some devices are allowed to get away with can be amazing. That's the FCC's fault. On the other hand, I used to hear complaints all the time about how listeners would constantly hear interference on AM while driving under streetlights and traffic signals and so forth. I virtually never heard any of that. I don't know why.
|
|
|
Post by kenglish on May 4, 2023 7:25:51 GMT -6
The noise from traffic lights and other (mostly LED) lights, doesn't wipe out high powered locals, but it makes listening to any other stations miserable. Try listening to local (1Kw), or even regional (5-10 Kw) stations from the next county. They get wiped out constantly. And, nighttime power can't compete with streetlights.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on May 4, 2023 7:45:29 GMT -6
I've done that Ken. Like I said, I haven't experienced problems. Maybe I've just been lucky and the cars I've driven deal with it better than most.
|
|
|
Post by oldiesfunhouse on May 4, 2023 11:28:06 GMT -6
AM sounded great when I was a kid in the 80s and early 90s. (My love of oldies came from being very close to my grandpa growing up.) I know when they put HD on AM it made the analog signal sound bad. If there was a station that simulcasted on FM, though, the FM was still my preference. I never got to experience AM stereo. I wish I had.
|
|
|
Post by David on May 4, 2023 16:17:11 GMT -6
IMO, this proposal will go nowhere fast. Moving AM stations to the portion of the FM band below 88 MHz or some of the unused VHF TV channels has been suggested many times in the past 20 years, and nothing has come of it. Any proposals to relocate AM stations to another frequency band have been ignored or denied by the FCC. Good grief, it took 20+ years for the FCC to finally allow FM as an approved transmission mode for CB radio! "Uncle Charlie" and the NAB are more likely to continue to beat the drum for AM broadcast as the preferred method of disseminating emergency information than to propose moving AM stations to another band of frequencies. Moreover, there have been several TV stations that have moved back to the VHF channels since the TV station repack has further reduced the number of available UHF channels. I wouldn't be surprised to see more TV stations moving back to VHF in the future, either. I'll probably die before AM radio becomes obsolete, and I'll be 60 years old in October. 🙄 Besides the expense of AM radio stations having to buy new transmission equipment if the band were to be relocated to the TV frequencies or below the current FM broadcast band, consumers would have to buy new radios to receive any stations that relocated to the new band(s). I just don't foresee that happening in this day & age. AM radio's biggest selling point is that it's easily accessible to the majority of the U.S. population, and it's an almost fail safe method of communication because of FEMA and other U.S. Government funding & regulations. I just don't foresee KSL, KNRS and other high power AM stations abandoning conventional broadcasting for a new, unproven technology.
|
|
|
Post by David on May 4, 2023 16:35:23 GMT -6
AM sounded great when I was a kid in the 80s and early 90s. (My love of oldies came from being very close to my grandpa growing up.) I know when they put HD on AM it made the analog signal sound bad. If there was a station that simulcasted on FM, though, the FM was still my preference. I never got to experience AM stereo. I wish I had. Â Â Â Â Â My only experience with AM stereo was renting a Chrysler K Car for a few days in 1985 while my car was in the shop for repairs, and I thought it sounded excellent . . . and I was in my 20's then! I lived in the Twin Cities at the time, and WCCO, KTCJ (690 AM, now KFXN) and I believe KSTP 1500 all broadcast in AM stereo in 1985. KTCJ had a jazz format in those days, and the music sounded great in stereo! Of course, AM radio was much more popular in the 1980's than it is now, and most radio stations had a full time engineer that actually cared about their AM stations sounding good.
|
|
|
Post by David on May 4, 2023 16:53:09 GMT -6
BTW....I grew up in the 60's, and I don't remember there being big noise problems on the AM band. I remember listening to distant stations on a radio, with built-in antenna, on the kitchen table, or in the basement. My grandfather's tube radio in his backyard barn had no issues, except when he ran a table saw. Down south, power lines were always fairly new, due to tornadoes, so the hardware was not a problem. The problem nowadays is just a lack of maintenance, and people not reporting problems as they occur. IMO, the main reason for the increase in noise and static on the AM band in the past 20 years is due to switching power supplies and the other Part 15 noisemakers that the FCC has allowed to flood the U.S. market. Congress mandated the use of switching power supplies several years ago in the name of energy conservation, and they're one of the biggest RFI generators I know of. The lack of RFI shielding in modern electronics is another culprit, as well as some poorly maintained radio stations, AC power lines, and deteriorating wooden power poles. I remember when one of my ham radio friends was having problems with RFI interference on the HF bands, and he traced it to a noisy power pole owned by Rocky Mountain Power. When my friend called RMP to send out their RFI troubleshooter, it took several days before the technician showed up to investigate. It was then that I learned Rocky Mountain Power had just one employee to investigate RFI complaints for all of Weber County! 🙄
|
|
|
Post by kenglish on May 4, 2023 18:06:17 GMT -6
I'm still waiting for someone to check the RFI problem in my neighborhood. I last got an update ("still waiting to get caught up") in March of last year. That's even though I do all the legwork. According to RMP, they have only two RFI investigators for all of Utah. Murray Power says they have none. And, RMP only has one set of test gear.
|
|