Tag Archives: FM Radio Android

Activating mobile phone FM: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s remarks at NAB symposium

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Aaron Kuhn, who shares the following:

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s remarks at the North American Broadcasters Association’s Future of Radio and Audio Symposium from today have been posted at

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0216/DOC-343529A1.pdf

I found the most interesting info in the statement is only 44% of the top selling smartphones in the US have an FM Chip activated have them activated. This figure pales in comparison to Mexico, where 80% of the top selling smartphones have the FM Radio chip activated.

Chair Pai goes on to state:

“You could make a case for activating chips on public safety grounds alone. The former head of our Federal Emergency Management Administration has spoken out in support of this proposal.

[…]I’ll keep speaking out about the benefits of activating FM chips. Having said that, as a believer in free markets and the rule of law, I cannot support a government mandate requiring activation of these chips. I don’t believe the FCC has the power to issue a mandate like that, and more generally I believe it’s best to sort this issue out in the marketplace. For despite the low numbers, we are seeing progress; in the last two years, the percentage of top-selling smartphones in the United States that have activated FM chips has risen from less than 25% to 44%. “

Which leads me to this question for the SWLing Post community: would the benefits, emergency and otherwise, of mandated, activated FM Receiver Chips in new Smartphones sold outweigh the free market arguments?

Feel free to share your comments!

Please note: our SWLing Post comment moderators keep this site a safe haven from partisan politics–after all, we’re here to talk and play radio! Sometimes, however, local/international politics and radio intersect, but please leave partisan discussions or any animosity for specific politicians for a political site. 🙂

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SDR Touch: An Android-based software defined radio

SDRtouchThough not available for the shortwave bands, Google Play reviews are mostly positive for the new software defined radio application that will run on your Android phone or tablet: SDR Touch.

According to the Google Play page, SDR Touch covers 50 MHz to 2.2 GHz and demodulates WFM, AM, NFM, USB, LSB, DSB, CWU and CLW signals. It requires an inexpensive USB rtl-sdr compatible USB DVB-T tuner. Click here to search eBay for RTL-SDR receivers. You then connect to your Android device via a USB OTG cable and SDR Touch should control the receiver.

SDR Touch’s Google Play website has a list of supported receivers–make sure to check the model number from eBay against this list before purchasing. Additionally, you should install their free demo SDR app to make sure your Android device is compatible.

This video shows SDR Touch in action on the FM broadcast band:

SDR touch claims that crashes should be expected as this app is still considered somewhat experimental.

Would be great if SDR Touch could support the HF bands some day.

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