Ruling Delayed at FCC Meeting today....though probably not for long

[HDTVFanAtic]

All things critical to HD Radio were on the agenda to be approved today, including nightime IBOC on AM etc.

From www.insideradio.com

The FCC - ensnared in the thicket of the Adelphia cable transfer - abruptly pulled the "digital radio" item off the agenda for this morning's monthly meeting. The Commission also pushed the meeting time back two hours, to 11:30am.

Signs continue that the rulemaking on digital will go forward quickly - possibly "on circulation" among the five FCC Commissioners. The issues are critical - involving rules for HD2 multicasting and nighttime AM digital.

Also see the frontpage headline on Adelphia @ satelliteguys.us

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

IBOC is killing DXing for us DXers. I hope they don't allow for IBOC at night.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

IBOC is killing DXing for us DXers. I hope they don't allow for IBOC at night.

Its a done deal.

You'll have to settle for streaming on the net.

 

[vurbano]

IS there a code book for this thread?

 

[tvdxer]

AM "HD" radio would be a disaster, plain and simple. It would almost destroy a legitimate, enjoyable, and worthy hobby, all so Ibiquity can collect royalties and stations can broadcast to a small audience with improved audio (really not that important). FM HD 24/7 has been enough of a problem; nighttime AM IBAC would be a tragedy.

Not only would DXing be hurt, but AM IBAC at night has the possibility threatening adjacent-channel stations with obnoxious interference. The Canadian government has been concerned about it for this reason, I believe.

I don't think IBAC is a viable technology with satellite radio as a competitor. For $12.95 / month, one can get far more channels than HD Radio will ever likely offer with ational coverage, rather than limited terrestrial reception. In fact, most of the "HD2" channels seem to be little more than imitations of Sirius or XM.

What terrestrial radio broadcasters need to work on is not spending huge sums of money on digital equipment and additional antennas or modifications and special Ibiquity licenses, but on improving their playlists and on-air talent.

 

[pdxsam]

Not having AM DX'ed in about 20 yrs... can you really DX anything anymore? There's so much man made noise now I would think it's almost impossible. Add to that there's not really "clear channel" as it used to be anymore. What's there to catch?

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

AM "HD" radio would be a disaster, plain and simple. It would almost destroy a legitimate, enjoyable, and worthy hobby, all so Ibiquity can collect royalties and stations can broadcast to a small audience with improved audio (really not that important). FM HD 24/7 has been enough of a problem; nighttime AM IBAC would be a tragedy.

Not only would DXing be hurt, but AM IBAC at night has the possibility threatening adjacent-channel stations with obnoxious interference. The Canadian government has been concerned about it for this reason, I believe.

I don't think IBAC is a viable technology with satellite radio as a competitor. For $12.95 / month, one can get far more channels than HD Radio will ever likely offer with ational coverage, rather than limited terrestrial reception. In fact, most of the "HD2" channels seem to be little more than imitations of Sirius or XM.

What terrestrial radio broadcasters need to work on is not spending huge sums of money on digital equipment and additional antennas or modifications and special Ibiquity licenses, but on improving their playlists and on-air talent.

Well, first they aren't planning to use it in stadiums, so not sure where you got that. There is a built in buffer of 5-7 seconds so its worthless in a stadium for listening to during a game.

It's IBOC, btw.

The FCC is concerned about local - not dxing. In 10-15 years when analog goes away, each FM station will be able to have at minimum 8 channels per frequency at 48kbps - which sounds better than what XM and Sirius are putting out - and at $0 to the consumer instead of what will be probably be $40 a month for XM and Sirius by that point as they continue to try and break even.

 

[tvdxer]

Not having AM DX'ed in about 20 yrs... can you really DX anything anymore? There's so much man made noise now I would think it's almost impossible. Add to that there's not really "clear channel" as it used to be anymore. What's there to catch?

It depends where you are - in a high-rise apartment building you may certainly experience severe noise, but manmade noise at my rural location is very low. This also holds true for my aunt's house in a small town. It all varies.

As for clear channels, many have been undermined by having lower-powered stations scattered across the country sharing them, but here in Duluth at least, one can hear WLS-890, KOA-850, WJR-760, KFAB-1110, WTAM-1100, among others, with relatively little interference and a strong, listenable signal. In fact, back when I was an Art Bell listener, I'd opt to hear it earlier on (I think) WTAM, and when WTAM or KFAB stopped playing it 30 minutes earlier than my local WEBC, I would still sometimes tune to 1100 or 1110 because a French-speaking station would interfere with 560.

As for "what's there to catch", there are hundreds upon hundreds of stations just waiting to be catched. I don't see how AM DXing's gotten worse, aside from manmade noise in some areas - certainly the programming on many stations leaves a lot to be desired, but your main purpose as a DX'er is too see what you can hear and hopefully log new stations. It's like sport fishing.

 

[tvdxer]

Well, first they aren't planning to use it in stadiums, so not sure where you got that. There is a built in buffer of 5-7 seconds so its worthless in a stadium for listening to during a game.

It's IBOC, btw.

The FCC is concerned about local - not dxing. In 10-15 years when analog goes away, each FM station will be able to have at minimum 8 channels per frequency at 48kbps - which sounds better than what XM and Sirius are putting out - and at $0 to the consumer instead of what will be probably be $40 a month for XM and Sirius by that point as they continue to try and break even.

DXing is still a valuable hobby. Plus, putting IBAC (I call it that because destroying adjacent channels doesn't count as "on-channel" to me) on AM stations at night can potentially cause inteference problems for local listeners. Remember what I said about the Canadian government formally complaining about nighttime operation? Also, the limited experience we have had with HD Radio on AM via skywave has shown that it does not propogate well this way - why waste an important propagation characteristic of an entire band?

Yes, maybe with compression techniques in 10 - 15 years - but certainly not now. Analog FM is noticeably better than 48 kbps in any format I've ever heard.

 

[koolaide4321]

am hd - not worth it

where i live there are no am channels in hd. Since the point of hd is to provide quality music and additional programming, wouldn't it make sense to confine hd to the fm scale. this would satisfy the f.m. audiophiles and the am dx'ers. p.s. i have a hd radio, and am yet to be impressed with audio quality, programming, and most importantly signal strength.

 

[Carnivore]

As a former DXing enthusiast I have to say the appeal is pretty much gone for me. Most of what you hear on AM radio at night these days is brokered infomercials, pay-to-pray religion and syndicated talk programming. For distant listening, Internet radio provides a far more interesting variety of unique programming without the fading and noise.