Random thoughts about anything that interests me
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 Sony XDRF1HD
When the FCC granted satellite radio licenses to Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, one of their specific requirements was that the two license holders not be allowed to merge. Fast forward six years and now it looks as if the FCC will soon approve their merger. As part of FCC deliberations, many people and organizations are jumping in to try to add conditions to the merger.
With all of the attention given to the switch from analog to digital television in the United States, some people have been confused when they hear the term “HD Radio”. Despite some confusing terminology, it is important to remember that there is no connection at all between HD Radio and HDTV.
HD Radio is the name for a digital radio format developed by Ibiquity. Unlike HDTV, which requires new televisions or converter boxes, HD Radio is completely compatible with existing radios. When an AM or FM station switches to using HD Radio, it still broadcasts an analog signal. To a listener with an ordinary radio, everything sounds exactly the same. But the HD Radio station is also piggybacking extra digital information onto the analog signal. Some stations have chosen to use this to provide superior audio quality (near CD-quality on FM) and some have chosen to provide additional channels. Only a listener with a HD-compatible radio can hear the improved sound or the extra channels.
Recently, there was a great piece of news from the world of old time radio. An episode from the radio series Suspense that was long thought to be lost has been rediscovered. The episode, originally broadcast on September 30, 1943, was an adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle story The Lost Special. It starred Orson Welles, one of nine appearances he made on Suspense. With this discovery, all of the Suspense episodes in which he appeared are now known to exist. You can read the story behind the find and listen to the episode at rand’s esoteric otr.
Courtesy Media Network, I saw this article about a proposed experiment with DRM broadcasting in Alaska. If approved by the FCC, this will test whether government surplus transmitters could be used to transmit a DRM signal to cover the entire state of Alaska and what transmitter power would be necessary. If it worked, this could be used to establish a statewide local radio service for Alaska.
A few days ago, Kim Andrew Elliot mentioned the 30th anniversary of the journey of Vladimír Remek into space. Remek made history in 1978 as the first person to travel into space who wasn’t from the United States or the Soviet Union (he was born in Czechoslovakia). According to the story, he listened to shortwave broadcasts from all over the world while in space and heard his name mentioned in many languages.