http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic...70112-1353&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

Could this possibly lead to a reduction in the number of FM transmitter projects? :-(

 

Or a rise in the number of such projects?
I have built, ready for any such change here (UK), an FM transmitter which would receive its input audio from the one digital receiver that I have and transmit it so that I can still use all the FM receivers that I use every day.

 

The closing started in the north. All the way up there. My region is due to close in November. I've had a DAB radio for some time now, both in my kitchen and in my company car.

When I first got the radio in the kitchen, the antenna had to point at a certain direction, in a certain angle. Not too impressed. Later it seems to work better.

In my job I spend a lot of time in the car. And living in a country with lots of hills and mountains, we have tunnells. Many tunnells. The DAB coverage is not ready for all the tunnells. I have a few "blank" spots.

On a side note: appx 3000 people have been without landlinde, cellphone or radio for two-three days in the north region. A fiberoptics cable have broken down. The repair is delayed due to bad weather. So much for DAB.

 

I wish the US would dump AM. I like to listen to radio at work. I basically work in a steel box . AM won't penetrate. The stations I like are both AM. Fortunately the one has a FM HD radio station.

 

I wish the US would dump AM. I like to listen to radio at work. I basically work in a steel box . AM won't penetrate. The stations I like are both AM. Fortunately the one has a FM HD radio station.

View attachment 118517

Gee, that building looks like it could be an advertisement for USSteel

 

Gee, that building looks like it could be an advertisement for USSteel

USX now.

 

I know this will sound stupid, but do any other forum members hate the idea of removing FM radio stations (or analog transmission in general)? While there are so many benefits for going digital, I feel like that it destroys a piece of history. Secondly, digital radios are much more expensive than analog radios which some may not be able to afford. Thirdly, what about the educational aspect of radio? People can build their own radio receivers and listen to the latest pop music but now, sorry mate, gotta have some complicated IC in an unfriendly surface mount device.

 

I read about it and now I want to learn more about it. Once all digital systems die, what is next?

I live in an area where network cable is exposed to the elements and has been regularly threatened by forest fires. If it is damaged, all our services (internet, phones) will go down and the person with a satellite phone will be king/queen...

 

Read about that on Stormfront the other day.

 

It's only national networks so analog FM is still active in Norway. Local stations have five years to make the switch. All you need is a RTL dongle to receive and decode DAB. The digital transition has reduced the educational aspect of radio to receive simple signals OTA but the fundamentals of radio haven't changed, only the modulation methods and these can be easily explained using IQ modulation theory with simple geometry.
http://www.michaelcarden.net/?p=48

 

I wish the US would dump AM.

You can take my AM radio when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

 

I lost signal 26 times today. Driving on the newest, and biggest highway through the county...

 

Personally I hate the new over the air TV digital crap. Back in the good old analog days even if the signal was weak I got a tolerable image and sound or at least sound to work with but now if it isn't perfect it get either nothing or scrambled both.

Around here the digital switchover was super for boosting the sales of netflix and other internet based viewing. It's all I use being the OTA digital signals aren't worth crap here and I am literally 10 - 12 miles away from the transmitters that with analog receivers were easily picked up at 60 - 80 miles before. I tried but even with an equivalent antenna as to what most people who lived 60 - 80 miles away once used for analog even at 10 - 12 miles it's still not reliable enough to be worth trying to watch anything OTA.

I don't recall the exact numbers but when the local Tv stations went to all digital one was reporting a ~5000% jump in their online streaming traffic which pretty much said every person who was on the fringe of their analog signal who thusly got the full on middle finger from their digital service went online to continue their service with that local station.

As for going full digital on FM I don't really care now and carry my on USB or CD based MP3 files . The over the air music they have now is largely crap and the few good or new decent songs they play get talked over for the first 10 - 20 seconds by DJ's who can't STFU and play the GD music to save their life.
If I wanted to hear some blathering idiot drone on and on over stupid crap that's what AM is still around for.

 

Personally I hate the new over the air TV digital crap. Back in the good old analog days even if the signal was weak I got a tolerable image and sound or at least sound to work with but now if it isn't perfect it get either nothing or scrambled both.

Around here the digital switchover was super for boosting the sales of netflix and other internet based viewing. It's all I use being the OTA digital signals aren't worth crap here and I am litter 10 - 12 miles away from the transmitter that with analog receivers were easily picked up at 60 - 80 miles before. I tried but even with an equivalent antenna as to what most people who lived 60 - 80 miles away once used for analog even at 10 - 12 miles it's still not reliable enough to be worth trying to watch anything OTA.

I don't recall the exact numbers but when the local Tv stations went to all digital one was reporting a ~5000% jump in their online streaming traffic which pretty much said every person who was on the fringe of their analog signal who thusly go the full on middle finger from digital service went online to continue their service with that local station.

As for going full digital on FM I don't really care now and carry my on USB or CD based MP3 files . The overl the airmusic they have is largely crap and the few good or new decent songs they play get talked over for the first 10 - 20 seconds by DJ's who can't STFU and play the GD music to save their life. If I wanted to hear some blathering idiot drone on and on over stupid crap that's what AM is still around for.

Precisely.

 

Or a rise in the number of such projects?
I have built, ready for any such change here (UK), an FM transmitter which would receive its input audio from the one digital receiver that I have and transmit it so that I can still use all the FM receivers that I use every day.

That sounds like the box on top of my old CRT TV.
I live in a metropolitan area of over 3 million people. No excuse for weak signals, but now that it's all digital, I get missing blocks, scrambled pictures, or complete drop-outs if there is fog or rain, at night. I need to climb on the roof to re-aim my antennas. Several good channels transmitted from southeast but my old settings are for due east and north. When I turn the pole to aim the large antenna southeast, the north yagi off by 45 degrees. Gotta climb up there and spread the aiming points from 90 degrees to 135 degrees.

I suppose it could be worse. I could have lost 5 or 6 channels when the digital improvement happened.

 

Stable DTV is mainly in the antenna. The major factor for most people is not signal strength, it's multi-path causing signal synchronization loss. The FCC (The European DTV system (DVB-T) does not rely on an equalizer in the receiver to reject multi-path) screwed up the ATSC RF transmission method that was designed to maximize signal coverage at a given power level making it unstable with the slightest amount of signal phase changes and the only way to really solve ATSC multi-path issues is using the most directional antenna you can find. Digital signal processing (equalization) helps but it only makes the entire signal chain more sensitive to steep reductions in signal quality not a gentle degradation of video and sound. Analog FM signals are usually unaffected by multi-path because the FM demodulator locks on to the strongest signal in its capture range. The USA FM HD digital radio modulation method is OFDM (like European DVB-T) so multi-path is not a issue. Try viewing a ATSC signal in a moving car, it's impossible to get a stable signal so they created a new service (that is a waste of valuable bandwidth usually) on top of ATSC called ATSC-M/H to counter the effects of doppler shift while driving that only works by using an insane amount of error correction that reduces the picture bandwidth to something less than an old VHS recorder.

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=atscmph

 

This sounds like "why they change Freons every 20 years". Quality isn't part of the equation. Putting old products in the landfill and churning new money out of the consumers is.

 

Personally I hate the new over the air TV digital crap.

My experience is very different. I get plenty of signals and most have outstanding HD quality. My antenna is amplified, but it's just one of those floppy rectangular antennas, maybe 10" by 12", that you can get for $20-30. The little amplifier is critical. Without it powered on, I get maybe only 2-3 channels. With the amp on, I get the full range of everything within ~50 miles of me (Rockford, IL and Madison, WI). Those two cities are in opposite directions from my house, so I do sometimes have to fiddle with the antenna to get the channel I want. In the right weather, I get them all very well with no fiddling.

I love messing with the cable company when they call to sell me cable TV service. (I have cable internet, and makes them crazy that I don't also have TV service.) Their scripts often start with how much money they can save me on my current service. They go silent and don't know what to do when I tell them I have just an antenna. I've met plenty of people that are completely unaware that you can watch TV with nothing more than an antenna.

 

Well, I must be a lucky one. My aerial(antenna) consists of an old extendable (about 1.5 ft) stuck on a bit of wood sitting behind my TV. I get a full complement of channels(about 40 or so) at full strength. Very rarely lose any signal, mainly if Tx loses power or there is a severe storm in between aerial and Tx.
I must admit I am situated sort of higher up than the peasants on my hill and Tx is almost line of sight.
Only real problem is that MOST of the channels(free to air) are absolute rubbish programs and years old repeats of crappy American stuff. I tend to only watch the news and docos.
Thank goodness for DVDs!.

 

I tend to only watch the news and docos.

You should probably lay off that public broadcast, "news".