The Static Band

[dhoule]

They should call the AM Band the Static Band. I live in Arlington Center and can't even listen to 50,000 watt Lear channel WBZ without tons of interference. Why in this day and age, with all of the high audio quality solutions that we have out there, do we need to still keep the AM band?

 

[freebirdradioman]

I live about 40-45 mins outside Boston and I find wbz to have more static than I would expect. I really don't know why that would be the case. Maybe a certain time of the day or night?

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

I think the word "static" ought to be used in BOTH its definitions.....the one about so much signal interference these days certainly being one.

I'd like to throw in the other definition of "static"....as in....the band seems to be stuck where it is at the moment....not really moving in any real direction with regard to programming / formatting.

Sadly...the only direction I see the band moving in.....(s-l-o-w-l-y).....is toward irrelevance and obsolesence

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

They should call the AM Band the Static Band. I live in Arlington Center and can't even listen to 50,000 watt Lear channel WBZ without tons of interference. Why in this day and age, with all of the high audio quality solutions that we have out there, do we need to still keep the AM band?

1) Because the FCC refuses to enforce its own rules, particularly Part 15. The "tons of interference" you experience was mostly not present 30 or 40 years ago.
2) Because the digital solution that was invented sounds like crap and interferes with other stations.
3) Because there is no demand for "high audio quality." The medium of the moment is bit-rate-reduced, digitally compressed MP3's listened to with ear buds. That hardly qualifies as "high audio quality."

 

[iyiyi]

WBZ's HD sounds crystal clear and noise free in most of their intended area. Very few HD noise interruptions with WBZ!

-

 

[raccoonradio]

During the bombing coverage there was no static at all on
"WRKO-FM 93.7" and "WBZ Newsradio 98.5/ 100.7/ 103.3/ 104.1"...
OK it was temp. simulcasts on WEEI-FM, WBZ-FM, WZLX, WBMX and WODS really. Andyes if you're one of the dozens who have HD radio
you can get WBZ 1030 anytime on 98.5 HD3. Also
1200 is on 94.5 Hd2 etc..
and you can also get some of these AMs via streaming.

I go to a pizza place in N Beverly and it's tough to
hear RKO due to electrical interference..and my smartphone
has trouble holding the signal..

 

[iyiyi]

During the bombing coverage there was no static at all on
"WRKO-FM 93.7" and "WBZ Newsradio 98.5/ 100.7/ 103.3/ 104.1"...
OK it was temp. simulcasts on WEEI-FM, WBZ-FM, WZLX, WBMX and WODS really. Andyes if you're one of the dozens who have HD radio
you can get WBZ 1030 anytime on 98.5 HD3. Also
1200 is on 94.5 Hd2 etc..
and you can also get some of these AMs via streaming.

I go to a pizza place in N Beverly and it's tough to
hear RKO due to electrical interference..and my smartphone
has trouble holding the signal..

Right now on 1030 in the MW band here in Boston, WBZ is delivering a crystal clear, noise free HD signal. Sounds excellent! No FM HDs or internet streaming necessary.

-

 

[reelyreal]

I get WBZ noise free all day long down here in Connecticut. No special radio, no special antenna. I will say this, Volkswagen puts a great AM radio in their cars.

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

I go to a pizza place in N Beverly and it's tough to
hear RKO due to electrical interference..and my smartphone
has trouble holding the signal..

Heh, try scanning the dial from, say, 0.600-1.100, on Cabot St. from about the N. Beverly fire station down to the Balch Playground! :

 

[raccoonradio]

Ha...pizza place in question is Freeda's at the N Beverly Plaza (run by same family as Mario's
in N Reading). I don't know if being next to a Radio Shack has anything to do with it but I
have trouble connecting to "freedas-guest" wifi, etc and my Virgin Mobile seems frozen out...
I may try this to see what you mean!

Have trouble with RKO on 114 in Danvers-Middleton. High tension wires or something. Also
since I live in Beverly, east of the Burlington sticks, around sunset when they change to
North/South I get mixed stations and interference, esp. those early sunsets in fall/winter...

 

[DG02816]

WRKO's night signal is somewhat peanut-shaped with a null to the southwest; the main lobes appear to be on a northwest-southeast line.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

WRKO's night signal is somewhat peanut-shaped with a null to the southwest; the main lobes appear to be on a northwest-southeast line.

The augmented nighttime null toward KNBR is at 235 degrees true. The main lobes are at 5 and 145 degrees true.

http://transition.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/115322-2147.pdf