But (and I can't believe this hasn't been argued before....but then I've been gone
for a while)....IBOC is the WRONG way to do this, on AM or FM.

Frankly, given the way the broadcast industry has handled audio processing and
programming, it really won't make a damn bit of difference whether it;s IBOC or in a
new service - it'll still sound like crap. I've said for a long time now that
current owners of any broadcast operation shouldn't be permitted to apply for, let
alone be granted, a new digital license. Of course, it may just be this concern that
U-S broadacasters have opted for IBOC in the first place, since they already "own"
the allocation. Less competition.

AM is dead, FM is dying, and they can have their IBOC in its dying days. In the end
the only broadcasting left will be the satellite-subscription services, and you'll
need to pay for that, just like everything else worth watching or listening to.
--
For direct replies, take out the contents between the hyphens. -Really!-



"Jake Brodsky" wrote in message
...
On 14 Aug 2003 14:20:24 GMT, (WBRW) wrote:

Digital does have its advantages... but not in AM audio quality!

Sigh. There are those who can show better performance using vinyl
records than a CD recording, and there are those who can show really
good performance with a tube amplifier.

--BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT.

Unless you're really close to this broadcast station and your AM
receiver is of unquestionable quality, you'll never know the
difference. The beauty of digital broadcasting is that it works
better overall in a wider variety of conditions and the radio doesn't
have to be outrageously large, heavy, expensive, or high maintenance.

Don't misunderstand me, this station probably is quite an achievement.
Unfortunately its an achievement that will hardly get noticed but for
maybe a handful of listeners. That's the unfortunate fact of life.

The halls of technological progress are littered with high performance
efforts like these...


Jake Brodsky

"Never mind the Turing Test, what about the Turing Graduates?"

On 18 Aug 2003 14:23:26 GMT, "Bob Haberkost"
wrote:

AM is dead, FM is dying, and they can have their IBOC in its dying days. In the end
the only broadcasting left will be the satellite-subscription services, and you'll
need to pay for that, just like everything else worth watching or listening to.

How will the satellite services find the space to serve every
community with the news and local information they need? Virtually
every community has a relatively local station. Whether they actually
provide service is another matter. Rural areas, I doubt, have
repeaters, so localization can't be done that way even if the FCC
allows it.

Then the repeater becomes a radio station (as cookie cutter as you
could ever imagine) at a diffferent frequency.

During the recent blackout I listened to WINS. Once WINS is gone, will
the satellite providers provide an identical service to me? I didn't
go to CNN (though WINS carries CNN among other networks). CNN or the
satellites can tell me what's happening across the country but
couldn't possibly support the cost of all the local news departments
(yes, they're dwindling) for every market. Who is going to tell me
which subway lines are running or where there might be food. Please
don't tell me wireless Internet because the cell site UPSs ran out of
power a couple of hours into the blackout. No cell service. My phone
switched to analog, then the dreaded "no service" message appeared.

Here the outage lasted 29 hours. Does every translator have a
generator capable of that fuel duty cycle and where will the fuel be
stored. Gas stations had fuel but no pumps working. As you can
imagine, New York has extrememly strict rules about fuel storage and
handling. I can't even bring a camp stove propane tank through a
tunnel. It's a felony if you're caught, according to the NYFD. If I'm
renting cell site space to Verizon I don't want a gas tank in the
building. Clearly, the weren't running on natural gas.

I believe all the news services on both satellite services are
pass-throughs.

I found it funny that TV stations stayed on the air with virtually no
operating receivers. They were talking to themselves.

Rich

Rich Wood writes:

Here the outage lasted 29 hours. Does every translator have a
generator capable of that fuel duty cycle and where will the fuel be
stored. Gas stations had fuel but no pumps working. As you can
imagine, New York has extrememly strict rules about fuel storage and
handling. I can't even bring a camp stove propane tank through a
tunnel. It's a felony if you're caught, according to the NYFD. If I'm
renting cell site space to Verizon I don't want a gas tank in the
building. Clearly, the weren't running on natural gas.

I visited a cell site recently where the back-up power was a
stack of gell cell batteries that, according to the AT&T guy, could
power the site for four days.


umar

On 20 Aug 2003 14:38:27 GMT, umarc wrote:

I visited a cell site recently where the back-up power was a
stack of gell cell batteries that, according to the AT&T guy, could
power the site for four days.

Then something went wrong because cell service faded away within a few
hours As soon as the electricity went back on , so did the cell
service.

I spent a lot of time walking through the city that night and my cell
phone had no signal indicator and that handset with the slash through
it. The display said "no service."

When my cell phone tells me I have no service I believe it. The bill
has been paid in full.

Rich