There are already questions over who is "really" in control of WBCQ. Is it the U.S. citizen Allan Weiner (which would be fine) or is it the foreign-owned World's Last Chance, who have funded all the developments at the station over the past few years (and would likely have been the cash behind any purchase of WHRI)? If World's Last Chance call the shots, isn't that a violation of FCC rules around foreign control of a domestic radio station?
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AM Band - 50kW - HD only (MA3) stations?
- Thread starter kfbkfb
- Start date
A synchronous detector should solve the distortion problem from selective fading , but I don't know if it would work properly with piggybacked digital modulation.
I have one in my closet ( I haven't used it in at least 15 years) ...I recently fired it up and discovered it doesn't work anymore. I'm surprised that a Sangean product wouldn't last longer. So I put it back in the closet...
I think they only have to demonstrate that the signal can be received beyond the U.S. and the minimum power must still be at least 50 kW. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I think the program targeting rule only really applied to the VOA.
They only have to indicate ITU zones outside of the CONUS, even if it is just Canada or Mexico.
DRM is a solution to a non-existent problem. It sounds cool (I've seen examples of it on YT vids), but really, anyone who is listening to SW in the third world is listening on an older radio, probably.
DRM is sort of like HD radio here in the US -- cool tech, but how many actually listen to HD2s and HD3s? Maybe the same number that DX FM and AM? Are there really enough listeners to really support the technology?
HD radios are affordable. I got mine for around $75 or so. It's cool, but who's going to buy one that isn't already a radio aficionado? The time for HD Radios to flood the market was 2006, not 2022. But they were too expensive back then for your average listener to fork out the money, especially when the HD couldn't be picked up inside the store.
Now in cars, maybe it was a different story.
As for the OPs question, give it another 15-20 years. There may be a couple 50KW stations that go HD to try to survive. I doubt it will save them, though, because by then 5G will make OTA radio mostly redundant.
DRM is sort of like HD radio here in the US -- cool tech, but how many actually listen to HD2s and HD3s? Maybe the same number that DX FM and AM? Are there really enough listeners to really support the technology?
HD radios are affordable. I got mine for around $75 or so. It's cool, but who's going to buy one that isn't already a radio aficionado? The time for HD Radios to flood the market was 2006, not 2022. But they were too expensive back then for your average listener to fork out the money, especially when the HD couldn't be picked up inside the store.
Now in cars, maybe it was a different story.
As for the OPs question, give it another 15-20 years. There may be a couple 50KW stations that go HD to try to survive. I doubt it will save them, though, because by then 5G will make OTA radio mostly redundant.
You are generally right on all points...but remember radio is free...the internet requires a sub.
Not many people listen to the HD2/HD3/HD4 stations. But I feel like it is more of a bad implementation problem than a lack of interest in those channels. People don't know they exist and they are not easy to get to. If HD Radio had been implemented as more of a directory interface, where all HD stations (including AM) were listed in a channel listing like XM or DAB, I think things would have turned out differently. They could have even done it like Digital TV, where you scan for stations and build a list, which can self-update over time. There should be minimal interaction required from the listener.
Maybe some HD radios do function like this, but I have never seen one. And having to flip through the analog dial, wait to have it pick up HD 1, then switch to HD2/3/4 is tedious. Sure you can have presets, but is not as fluid as it could be.
It DOES work well with Cquam
Trust me streaming is not all that it's cracked up to be. I try streaming occasionally in the car and switching from tower to tower or switching from one MSA to another MSA causes issues. My work phone which is on First Net, often will quit when it switches off to LTE provider. A royal PITA do have to restart the stream while driving.
My experience doesn't match yours. I use T-Mobile, and their service rarely drops a stream, even when I'm way out of town.
H
Harvey_Dogg
Guest
I haven't had any problems listening to a stream in the car with T-Mobile. $60 a month, 2 cellphones and unlimited everything.
I haven't had any issues with cellular reception for streaming in the car. But my car has very poor integration with smartphones and I have found some apps crash frequently. A couple weeks ago I finally got fed up with fighting with my phone in the car and subscribed to SiriusXM (got the 5 year for $150 promotion). The price is worth having less distractions to worry about while driving.
I have a Sangean HDR-16, and on the FM band, you tune to the 'analog' FM station, and if they're running HD, it switches to HD fairly quickly, and you can hear the difference within a second or two. Then you tune upwards through the HD2 / HD3 etc.
Seems clunky perhaps, but it's more intuitive than trying to eliminate a "Tik Tok is waiting for you!" dialog box plastered on the front screen of your Android phone that won't go away, and takes a heck of a lot more scrolling, button pressing etc. to deal with than tuning into an HD2.
While it isn't difficult, it still requires more effort than it should. Especially when people don't know there are sub-channels they can tune to. And people are not really in the habit of flipping through stations anymore. I don't know why it has never been improved after all these years. All I can figure is that Ibiquity just doesn't care at all anymore. They are just collecting their fees until all the car manufactures stop including HD Radios.
I think you have malware or a rogue app serving ads on your phone.
Nah, it's a droid message, been on there since I got the phone. Trying to push another app down my throat. More of that sort of crap showed up during the last OS "update".
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