Sorry I just got around to reading this for a reply. The prime cause of wierdness in programming and quality is that there is rarely anyone minding the store at Commercial stations, especially AM. The stations are being run by computers, Usually windows machines that are riddled with bugs. The engineers are like me, a contractor that isn't on staff and only called in ocassionally. Thing happen to the systems and you get dead air, multiple sources on the air,etc. I also think that political commentary doesn't belong on this or any other ham radio list. Considering that 90% of the AM talkers are of the right wing variety, comments about Air America should be best kept to one self. Not all of us think alike and that's a very good thing. If we did, we all would have only rice box rigs. Ken KC8QO
--- VJB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The FCC is allowing the quality of AM signals to > deteriorate, but it's been over a very long period > of > time. > > First there was the neglect of receiver standards > which could have forced car radio and home tuner > manufactuers to comply with minimum specs on > selectivity and audio fidelity. Many industry > observers feel this could have been established > during > the "AM Stereo" controversy. > > Then, after failing to do that, the FCC allowed the > industry to propose and implement a 9 kHz > transmitted > bandwidth standard, ostensibly to minimize adjacent > channel interference. > > In the time since digital decoding and encoding > became > a successor to the (sometimes) equalized metallic > pair > between studio and transmitter, there has not been > enough industry interest at making sure digital > artifacts are held to a minimum > > Lately, the industry jumped on the "digital" > bandwagon > that rolled through television then FM, to > voluntarily > try to implement In-Band, On-Channel digital service > on contemporary AM frequencies. > > The side effects of this system spread interference > well past 15 to 20 Kc from center frequency, as a > function of trying to match (not beat) the kind of > analog audio quality our parents remember when they > were tuned to AM on the old wooden floor console > that > served as the Home Entertainment Center in those > pre-TV days. > > Paul/VJB > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam > protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > ______________________________________________________________ > AMRadio mailing list > Home: > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html > Post: mailto:AMRadio@mailman.qth.net > AMfone Website: http://www.amfone.net > AM List Admin: Brian Sherrod/w5ami, Paul > Courson/wa3vjb >