{"id":8789,"date":"2014-02-14T08:46:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T12:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=8789"},"modified":"2014-02-14T08:49:16","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T12:49:16","slug":"listening-to-shortwave-radio-in-stereo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/listening-to-shortwave-radio-in-stereo\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening to shortwave radio, in stereo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The JRC NRD-545 (Photo: Universal Radio)<\/p><\/div>\n

Recently, my buddy Dave Zantow (N9EWO)<\/a> told me that his Japan Radio Company\u00a0JRC NRD-545 could natively decode\u00a0Motorola C-Quam AM stereo (the “AMS” function). \u00a0To be honest, I wasn’t aware that AM stereo had ever<\/em> been an option on a tabletop receiver.<\/p>\n

Of course, \u00a0C-Quam (Compatible\u2014Quadrature Amplitude Modulation)\u00a0\u00a0was intended to be used on the AM broadcast (medium wave) band. It was one of several techniques AM broadcasters championed in the mid to late 1980’s to transmit and receive AM stereo.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, AM stereo never really caught on. Much like DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale), AM stereo was being transmitted by broadcasters, but there were very few stand alone receivers on the market that could decode the signal. To make matters worse, there were at least five different AM stereo formats being promoted simultaneously and they weren’t compatible. In the end, C-Quam was the most widely adopted.<\/p>\n

Of course, C-Quam can be used on the shortwave bands as well, providing there’s enough signal to make a stereo lock.\u00a0On December 1st, 2013, Dave recorded the shortwave radio pirate XFM<\/em><\/a> who routinely broadcasts in C-Quam stereo. Note that\u00a0XFM<\/em>‘s signal was marginal, thus you’ll hear the stereo lock slip several times. Still, pretty amazing to hear<\/a>:<\/p>\n