Tag Archives: AM Radio

CHML: The latest mainstay AM radio station to close

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Richard Cuff and Markku Koskinen who share the following (sad) news:

900 CHML closes, ending nearly a century of local radio in Hamilton (Toronto Star)

Station pointed to financial losses as major reason behind closure

A mainstay of Hamilton’s airwaves for almost a century has gone off the air.

900 CHML announced on social media on Wednesday that the radio station would be closing after many years of providing the city and surrounding area with local talk-radio programming.

“This decision, though incredibly difficult, has been made after careful consideration and is necessary following years of financial loss,” read the post.

“The shift of advertising revenues to unregulated foreign platforms, combined with the difficult regulatory and competitive landscape, has forced us to make the difficult decision to close,” added the post. [Continue read at the Star…]

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XHDATA D-220 Portable

The XHDATA D-220 Discount Code is Here!

Hi Folks!

The promised exclusive XHDATA 40% off code is here!

The Radio is available to pre-order at Amazon today, and is supposed to be in stock at Amazon.com on the 1st of August.

The discount code is : 40D220NEW

While the detail page shows a 15% coupon, ignore that and place the desired radio from the links below in the cart and during checkout type in the discount code and apply. The results should look like what is listed below. You can review the price with discount before placing the order.

XHDATA D-220 (Orange)

XHDATA D-220 (Green)

XHDATA D-220 (Black)

I have checked and the Code does indeed work:

Order Summary

Items: $15.98
Shipping & handling: $0.00
40D220NEW: -$6.39
Total before tax: $9.59
Estimated tax to be collected: $0.58
Order total: $10.17

A big “thank you” to the folks at XHDATA for giving us a special discount price! (I went wild and ordered the Orange one!)

Cheers! Robert K4PKM

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“Medium wave’s sunset in Europe”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Alan, who shares the following article from Red Tech:

Medium wave’s sunset in Europe (Red Tech)

GENEVA — European medium-wave transmitters are going silent. On April 1, the BBC shut down the nine transmitters that had previously brought BBC Radio 4 in AM to the whole country. Since January 2018, the British public broadcaster has started to switch off the AM transmitters for its local stations. Looking ahead, it plans to abandon the band totally by 2027 at the latest.

This trend goes beyond the BBC. In the last years, British commercial broadcasters have also switched off AM transmitters. In the case of Bauer Media, not a single AM transmitter remains operational.

The United Kingdom is the last fortress of AM transmission in Europe. Over the last 15 years, many other countries disconnected their last AM transmitters — Austria (in 2008), Switzerland (2010), Ireland (2012), Germany (2015), Belarus (2016), Albania (2017) and Belgium (2018), to name a few. More than 20 European countries have ceased AM transmission. Across the continent, less than 100 AM services remain active.

Notwithstanding, AM still resists against all odds in markets such as Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain, among others. However, many big broadcasters still relying on this technology have often reduced their transmission power without receiving complaints from the audience. This is a strong signal about how the future may look like. [Continue reading…]

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Radio Waves: Switzerland to End Analog Radio, AM For Every Vehicle Act, AM v Safety, and Electromechanical Radio Transmitters

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 Paul and Dennis Dura for the following tips:


Switzerland to end 2024 with an analog FM broadcast-killing bang (The Register)

Time to upgrade that receiver if you’re one of the few Swiss that still don’t have one able to receive DAB+ signals

Swiss radio listeners will soon have to toss out their old sets, as the country plans to end analog FM broadcasting on December 31, 2024, in favor of a total conversion to digital.

The move has been a long time coming in Switzerland, which has largely already transitioned to Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB+, an evolution of standard DAB that was designed to address early issues). More than 99 percent of the country have access to a DAB+-compatible receiver and fewer than 10 percent of radio signals in the country still being broadcasted in analog FM, according to the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. [Continue reading…]

AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act to Receive Minor Technical Update (Radio World)

There will be no substantive changes to the legislation

A bill in the House of Representatives that would mandate AM capability in new vehicles is about to be revised, according to a person familiar with the developments.

New information indicates that one of the original co-sponsors of the bill, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), plans to introduce an amendment to the bill (H.R. 8449). Changes would only include minor technical updates.

The planned amendment to the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act comes on the heels of last week’s last-minute cancellation of a planned vote by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which could have advanced the legislation to the full House for a vote. [Continue reading…]

Would AM Mandate Force Carmakers to Scrap Safety Features?

Opponents play up the possibility that carmakers would have to choose

If Congress requires AM radio in new cars, vehicle manufacturers might have to drop safety features instead.

That’s the message from opponents of the proposed law in Congress. A guest commentary published by Automotive News restates the key points that opponents have been making since the legislation was introduced; but their blunt emphasis on a possible tradeoff with important safety features seems notable.

“To accommodate analog AM radio as a primary design requirement, certain carmakers may need to scrap advanced safety features, with engineers having to prioritize outdated technology over current or future safety innovations,” they wrote. [Continue reading…]

Did you know that 100 years ago there were electromechanical radio transmitters?

Many thanks to Paul who shared a link to this Mastodon thread discussing the technology behind the SAQ/Grimeton broadcast station: https://mastodon.social/@tubetime/110970146022678448

Here’s is a video (we’ve posted in the past) that gives even more detail about the design and operation:


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Japan: Some broadcasters running trial suspension of AM radio

(Source: Japan Today)

Is Japan witnessing the death of AM radio?

Since February, some commercial radio broadcasters have begun a trial suspension of AM radio, with a real possibility the pause will extend to a permanent discontinuation across the country as broadcasters look to cut costs.

Thirteen of the 47 commercial operators in Japan have shut off their transmitters to see what effect the temporary end of AM broadcasts will have. AM was launched in 1925, bringing Japan into the radio broadcast age, but may not last long enough to see its 100th anniversary next year.

“Radio was at the center of the home, a medium enjoyed by the entire family,” said Tadanobu Okabe, curator of the Japan Radio Museum in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. [Continue reading…]

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Why AM Radio in EVs Could Cost Billions

Photo by Patrick Langwallner.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dennis Dura, who shares the following video via the Geerling Engineering YouTube channel:

Description:

The Center for Automotive Research says it would cost the industry $3.8 billion dollars to solve interference problems in EVs to put AM radio in new cars.

It’s a wonder any EVs on the road today have AM radio tuners, then! But they don’t seem to happy with new legislation, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. We dive into this spat between the radio industry, automotive manufacturers, and the US government.

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