In the longer term, Mr. Pai said, the F.C.C. could mandate that all AM stations convert to digital transmission to reduce interference. Such a conversion, however, would cost consumers, who would have to replace the hundreds of millions of AM radios that do not capture digital transmissions.
I'm ecstatic he wants to save AM. But with his quest for digital, not only would it cost us, it would also cost the broadcasters, some of which could not afford the new transmitters. Some are lucky to keep their stick lit as it is.
What the FCC should focus on are all the electronic devices pumping out the RFI causing the problems. They admit the devices are causing problems, there is existing law on the books, so
enforce it!
Further, who says that the IBOC signal would be better? What happens at night? I have a Sony receiver with IBOC and have found its quite hit or miss. At least with analog, if there's a disruption, the station will come back right away. If the digital loses its lock, it will be a bunch of seconds of dead silence until it locks again (assuming it does). When it does lock on a local 50kW sta, it sounds like a low bit-rate Internet stream. No thanks.
Leave AM alone. If they want IBOC that bad, shove all IBOC in a new band, say 76-87 now that TV is mostly(not completely) gone. (87-88 for low power FM stations
)
A few things to make AM/MW better:
- Enforce Part 15 emissions on these devices. And I mean hardcore.
- Bring back C-QUAM! This will give wide bandwidth for good audio quality for stations that have it, and for talk stations, they don't need C-QUAM and can keep the narrower bandwidth. Radios can detect the C-QUAM signal and adjust their bandwidth accordingly (e.g. Sony SRF-42). Most importantly, make this optional, not required.
- Us listeners & the broadcasters need to encourage the radio manufacturers to make their radios with a decent AM section.
- Broadcasters need take a more active interest in AM as well. Don't relegate the craptastic programming to their AM outlets. Even recognize that their signal travels beyond their local listening area and could somehow leverage that, esp the high powered stations.
While that was easy to type, obviously putting any of that into practice is much harder.