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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio
Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors David Iurescia and Dennis Dura for the following tips:
Czech Radio testing new radio warning system for emergencies (Radio Prague International)
National public broadcaster Czech Radio is testing a new system designed to warn the public of emergencies through radio broadcasting. The technology will eventually allow listeners to be alerted quickly about events such as floods, fires or power outages with immediate advice regarding what to do.
Czech Radio carried out a nationwide test of the technology last week on both conventional radio receivers and a number of DAB+ digital radios.
The AM Radio Act Finally Gets Its Vote (NRB)
After more than three years of advocacy, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 979) is getting a vote on the House floor during the week of September 14.
I do not say that lightly. This is the moment NRB, our members, and our coalition partners have been working toward since several automakers began dropping AM receivers from new vehicles.
I want to be clear about something as we head into this vote: This is not just an AM story. It is a radio story and a broadcast media story with stakes that reach well beyond the dashboard. Congress is not simply deciding whether AM radio stays in cars; it is deciding whether free, local, over-the-air broadcasting will retain its place on the automobile dashboard or be quietly engineered out — one cost-cutting decision at a time.
I believe H.R. 979 will pass overwhelmingly. When it does, the bill will direct the Department of Transportation to require that new passenger vehicles include access to AM broadcasting at no additional cost to consumers and that AM remains easy to find on the automobile dashboard.
For NRB members, this is not an abstract issue. It is personal.
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AM broadcasting has been operating commercially for 106 years.
This law should specify that DRM also be included. Existing DRM receivers can receive all broadcast bands (Low Frequency, Medium Frequency (‘AM’), High Frequency (‘SW’), VHF covering the unused TV channels 2 – 6, 88 – 108, and 176 – 230 MHz.
Note: Low Frequency is not used in the Americas, they don’t use any HF broadcasting domestically, and 176 -230 MHz is used for TV.
One of the main reasons for maintaining AM is for the broadcasting of Emergency Warnings. DRM can do this down to a 7 x 7 km to the whole world. They can also transmit detailed indexed texts for multiple languages along with images. Messages can be sent to the vehicle navigation systems to keep people out of danger areas and lastly they can transmit controlled access messages to the emergency services. This is good in mountainous areas and large remote areas despite being in only one direction. Receivers can receive messages to all emergencies down to a single vehicle.
Lastly in the VHF bands a single FM transmitter can carry 6 adjacent channels which means upto 18 programs with 6 data programs.
Why should the US government mandate DRM receivers in cars if there are no DRM stations operating there, no plans of launching any single one and not a single model of a DRM-capable receiver available on the US market? What real purpose is it supposed to serve?