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NAB Radio Board hears exhaustive list of options for AM

K

kenglish

Guest
There doesn't seem to be a thread already started on this....and, you all know how I feel about interference, so let's open it up for discussion. ;)

"At the just-concluded meetings, NAB Chief Technology Officer Kevin Gage presented a major engineering study about the policy options available to AM for dealing with issues such as increasing interference. The association is looking at everything, with the help of in-house NAB talent and outside consulting firm Hammett & Edison. Last year the NAB Radio Board authorized a special committee to study the problems of AM. Power lines, electrical devices and computers are all adding to the level of RF noise. The new NAB Labs operation will be focusing on AM, among other issues broadcasters care about. Some have proposed moving AM stations to recently-turned-in VHF spectrum, or expanding the FM band."
 
I favor getting TV Channel 5 and 6 refarmed for a new FM band. Daytimer stations and stations running less than 100 watts at night should go first. With this plan, AM would be on an even footing. Converters and add on tuners would be cheaply done.
 
Start with reducing the interference by having minimum standards ENFORCED by regulators on power supplies, etc. And stop the whole BPL thing.

The problem isn't AM, it's the devices that are crapping up the band with hash and noise everywhere. There's a stretch of road I travel on where all AM is useless for a mile due to hash coming off the poles.
 
I'm not sure that many power companies even try to fix interference problems any more, unless it's one individual (often a Ham) who makes himself a PITA to them.

I'd like the cable companies to add some ferrites to the cables on the TV and converter box on every installation, too. I think a lot of noise from Plasma and LCD TV's rides out on the shields of their lines...like a big transmit antenna leading right back to somebody's receive antenna.
 
WNTIRadio said:
Start with reducing the interference by having minimum standards ENFORCED by regulators on power supplies, etc.
Click to expand...

Take one horse. Shoot it. Beat it. ::)

There are so few people that are bothered by noise on the Ancient Modulation band - since there are comparitively few people listening to AM in the first place - that it just isn't worth enforcing, even if someone complains and the FCC had the staff to do something about it.

And stop the whole BPL thing.
Click to expand...

The market has pretty well made its decision on BPL. To quote Dr. McCoy, "It's dead, Jim." I think most or all of the BPL providers have given up the ghost.

The problem isn't AM, it's the devices that are crapping up the band with hash and noise everywhere. There's a stretch of road I travel on where all AM is useless for a mile due to hash coming off the poles.
Click to expand...

There have been noisemakers messing up the AM band for decades. Originally, they were called "televisions," "bad power lines," and "fluorescent lights." Now we can add "PCs," "light dimmers," and "microwave ovens" among many other things. And none of them are going away.
 
If the FCC is eventually going to re-pack the TV band then they will want to keep ch. 5 & 6 for TV. The commission seems determined to make DTV work properly on low VHF. Plus there are some full power stations on these channels that cannot move.

A more interesting proposal is putting AM stations on Mobile DTV. Portable receivers and dongles for iPad/iPhones are already hitting the shelves or soon will. ATSC M/H has shown that it can support up to 50 mobile radio services on one channel with up to 48 Kbit of HE-AAC encoded audio. No digital sideband hash, no interference. The signal works well both indoors and in a car (on UHF).

I believe that, in the end, radio and TV broadcasters are going to have to team up and work together anyway in order to survive. Helping AM stations in this way is a good beginning.
 
The same problems that plague the AM Broadcast Band are what prevents using the VHF bands from working for Digital TV (especially, indoor reception).

I'd like to see the NAB (and others) first start a Public Education campaign on what interference is, and how it is harmful.
Next, a campaign to get people to do what they can to prevent interference....like using the torroids that come with their new TV set, and adding a few on the other cables, not just the power cords. Maybe even encourage the "Big Box" stores to carry torroids and filters.

Also, we should push for some legislation that will bring back FCC Part-15 types of requirements on Incidental Radiator Devices.
And, we need to make the public aware that they can, and should, report interference issues from power lines, home devices, etc.

"The spectrum is a wonderful thing, but only if it's not abused....So, DON'T TRASH THE T'ROID!!"
 
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