Matthew’s Workbench

I was saddened to learn that Radio Netherlands is ending shortwave transmissions to North America, effective October 26, 2008. Radio Netherlands was one of the first shortwave stations I ever heard and I have spent many enjoyable hours over the years listening to their programs.

I’m sure this makes sense as a business decision for Radio Netherlands, just as I’m sure it made sense for the BBC to drop shortwave broadcasts to North America. Obviously there is no station with a large enough budget to broadcast everywhere and it only makes sense to allocate limited resources to areas considered to be most important.

But it always bothers me when such a decision is presented as being best for the listeners. For instance, the Radio Netherlands site states:

Many believe that online radio is the successor to all radio, not just AM and FM but also shortwave. I personally find that hard to believe unless broadband access becomes more common than it is now. But just about everyone agrees that the royalty rates for online radio in the United States are set too high for most stations to survive. It would therefore seem obvious to me that the rates need to be lowered. For once, that may be happening.

Back when there was debate about the Sirius and XM satellite radio merger, various groups suggested potential conditions that might be made part of the deal. Some were discarded but others were agreed upon. For example, both companies made an open device pledge that will allow manufacturers to add features to their receivers.

One frequently suggested condition was a requirement that all new satellite radios be capable of receiving terrestrial HD Radio stations. The FCC didn’t make that part of the deal, although they are still requesting public comments on the idea. Now Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has introduced the “Radio All Digital Channel Receiver Act”, which would make the FCC implement that HD Radio requirement.

A group known as the Broadcast Maximization Committee, or BMC, made an interesting proposal to the FCC last month.  They want to expand the FM radio band to encompass television channels 5 and 6 (the ordinary FM band is positioned between television channels 6 and 7). The goal for this would be to reduce interference. [...]

It is only a press release, but still an important milestone: HD Radio Receivers Bust the $100 Barrier. The release lists four home radios and three car radios for under $100. For good measure, they also list four home radios and two car radios for under $200. Of those, I had only heard of the [...]

Every shortwave radio that I have ever used has had four bands: FM, AM (or mediumwave), shortwave, and longwave. Longwave has always been a disappointment to me because I have never had much luck with longwave DXing. The only longwave signals I have ever heard consistently are beacons which endlessly repeat the same two or [...]