WEAK-AM

Part 15’ers– You may think this is off-topic, but it isn’t. If you are an avid AM radio listener, the time to act is NOW. If you are Part 15 AM operator, you MUST get involved in this issue!

Part 15’ers– You may think this is off-topic, but it isn’t. If you are an avid AM radio listener, the time to act is NOW. If you are Part 15 AM operator, you MUST get involved in this issue!

IBOC is a menace to AM radio! It is being forced on the American listening public by large broadcasting monopolies like Clear Channel. The NAB, the FCC and other key industry players have also been drinking the Ibiquity kool-aid.

An IBOC station occupies at least 3 AM channels, and if it’s local it will hog up to 5 or even 7 channels! And according to the FCC, this is “legal”! You will not be able to listen to the DX stations you enjoy at night, but in many cases even daytime listening in your own market will suffer. In my city, there are plenty of stations that are only spaced two channels apart. It is very fatiguing to listen to the shrill hiss, whine, and screech of IBOC sidebands, if you haven’t noticed. Not only that, but IBOC stations sound bad in their own right– they have their audio rolled off to less than 5 kHz, and you can never completely get rid of the hiss in the background!

Many frequencies at the high end of the band that are currently usable for Part 15 operation will disappear as high powered stations that are hundreds– or even thousands– of miles away pollute them, until they are just a sea of noise.

Please visit www.stopiboc.com to find out how you can help. One way is to write letters to IBOC stations and complain about interference to the stations you want to listen to. Or, just tell them that they sound bad! I just wrote a lengthy letter to the CE of a major market station. Most don’t care one bit about their listeners’ objections to IBOC. But don’t let that stop you from complaining! The more complaints, the better!

You can also complain to the FCC, though I don’t know that they will pay any attention. Other organizations to contact could include the NAB, New America Foundation, and Free Press (just do a Google search for these). With these latter organizations, you will want to explain the connection between large owners that are blocking reception of other stations through the use of their IBOC “jammers”.

Maybe you are thinking that perhaps in the future, Part 15 stations could go digital and use IBOC. Forget about it! First, it will be years before any equipment becomes available that you could afford, if ever. Second, you will not be able to pay Ibiquity the required royalties for the use of their patented CODEC. Can you believe that they have convinced the FCC to allow them to be the sole source of the technology that will eventually be used on every single radio station in this country. Isn’t that a sweet deal?! Yes, a few radio industry people are upset about that, but not enough to make a difference. And they are mostly small market stations that are not going to be able to afford to switch to IBOC, even if they would be happy with the 10 miles of coverage they MIGHT get.

So don’t just sit there! Get busy! Visit www.stopiboc.com now and learn how you can become involved. They also have some excellent audio files that you can listen to, if you’re not convinced yet!