taylorengineer said:
Al-
Is the audio soooo bad that you refuse to listen??
If you do have a radio( ex.-GE Super Radio)which can actually reproduce frequencies above 3,000 cycles then you would notice the cutoff. The audio would indeed sound "dull." But the audio is no more distorted or compressed than other AM stations in town. The research conducted by CBS back in the 60's revealed that noise is the main "turnoff" factor....not frequency response, clipping(in moderation)or compression.
On my radios, WGST sounds fine. It's a news/talk station....it is not set up for fidelity - it's set to be an audio blowtorch which, on AM, is essential to maximize coverage.
The 5Khz cutoff is ClearChannel corperate policy....it is not a local decision. It is being done to make way for digital AM service.
Yeah- I agree that the WGST audio is, and should be optimized for maximum modulation and coverage. And yes - audio compression works wonders to make a signal sound "good".
But these days, even "cheap" radios are orders of magnitude better than the "cheap" radios of yesteryear. So I think that your judgment of what sounds good on a cheap radio is about as effective, and realistic as most other means. In fact, that was the exact methodology used for early MIL-STD radio testing for the US Army Air Force.
One thing that hasn't changed, and often eludes the casual listener (none of us!) is that AM radio receiver antennas are very directional, and AM has poor noise immunity from local RFI. Siignal-to-Noise is what rules the day. So for any casual listener who thinks a station sounds bad, try the following:
Take the radio outside, away from your DSL modem, light dimmers, CFL bulbs, PC’s and CRT monitors, and all other sources of RFI.
The ferrite-rod antenna inside your radio is what picks up the AM signals, not the whip antenna. So you’ll need to rotate the radio to maximize the signal strength. If the station sounds good, then you can go back inside and start isolating the source of the RFI that was making the station sound “bad”.
If the station still doesn’t sound good, then you’re not getting a strong signal. There’s not much you can do about that, except to move closer to the stick, or get a SELECT-A-TENNA.
