Is AM radio really under threat?

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#3046941 7-Mar-2023 18:58

I have a little AM/FM pocket radio that I keep in my backpack so that it's with me if I need it at home, at work, or while travelling. It has no batteries in it, but I always keep a fresh packet of batteries with it. I bought it several years ago purely for emergency purposes and I don't think I've ever actually used it so maybe I should test it!

Dreamerz

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#3047157 8-Mar-2023 05:36

As someone who was completely cut off aside from driving to a locals house to get starlink for 20 mins a day with the cyclone, AM was the only way to get information would be a pity if it was cut off.

RustyViewer

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#3047158 8-Mar-2023 06:03

rscole86: It would be helpful if you posted a quick POV or TLDR of the article, rather than link dropping with zero context.

eracode:

OPs like this should be against the FUG.

Lazy much?

quickymart

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#3047207 8-Mar-2023 07:24

I listen to AM quite frequently. The local radio station I grew up with was AM only for a number of years before converting to FM.

As someone who works in radio sometimes I'll be the first to admit that AM isn't the powerhouse in NZ that it used to be, but it still definitely has a use. I have an AM-FM radio inside, FM radio on my phone and an AM-FM radio in the car.

I'll listen to National Radio and Gold on AM if the FM signal is a bit weak - AM goes everywhere!

In the 90s I picked up the signal from the National transmitter at Titahi Bay in Wellington while I was in Dunedin, just using a Walkman - same thing in Auckland too. No idea how strong it would be now though as they've replaced the transmitter.

freitasm

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#3047210 8-Mar-2023 08:01

@RustyViewer:
rscole86: It would be helpful if you posted a quick POV or TLDR of the article, rather than link dropping with zero context.

eracode:

OPs like this should be against the FUG.

Lazy much?

I think the OP will benefit from a couple of weeks vacation to understand our rules.

Groucho

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#3047275 8-Mar-2023 10:49

alasta:

I have a little AM/FM pocket radio that I keep in my backpack so that it's with me if I need it at home, at work, or while travelling. It has no batteries in it, but I always keep a fresh packet of batteries with it. I bought it several years ago purely for emergency purposes and I don't think I've ever actually used it so maybe I should test it!

Yes you should absolutely test it. I had a cheap, compact dedicated radio that lived in the household emergency kit safely stored away. When I turned over the long life food in the kit I found the batteries had leaked which wouldn't have been much good if it was really needed.

Tinkerisk

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#3047560 8-Mar-2023 18:26

Which AM?

AM radio stations were switched off here in 2015,

FM radio stations are to be switched off here in 2024.

Both have been replaced by DAB+ as a terrestrial broadcast medium.

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richms

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#3047613 8-Mar-2023 19:05

Yuck, DAB is awful, Mind you with how much they compress the streams going to other cities over satellite bandwidth for the FM transmissions I can see why some people think that it sounds better than FM.

Richard rich.ms

Tinkerisk

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#3047617 8-Mar-2023 19:19

Well, not DAB, it‘s DAB+ as standard and uses MPEG-4 (end of this year licence free worldwide) as audio codec - not too bad.

richms

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#3047619 8-Mar-2023 19:31

The trial one they ran here before determining it was a dismal failure had ones as low as 32kbps, the mux was full and all but one sounded like complete crap.

What ever came out of the HD radio trial that happened ages back?

Richard rich.ms

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#3047629 8-Mar-2023 19:55

Yeah, the old encoding for DAB with 32 Kbit/s is going to be pretty rubbish even for mono talk radio.

With DAB+ and MPEG 4 compression you can do fairly low bandwidth streams and still have good quality. Better than FM.

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boosacnoodle

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#3047695 8-Mar-2023 21:14

I think in the past AM made sense from am emergency comms perspective when you had a local station, with a local transmitter, that had local reporters on the ground speaking with local officials. Nowadays everything comes from Auckland. I've heard from several people when the events of late were happening in Napier / Gisborne they were all simply talking about how bad it was - nothing about who needed to evacuate, where to go if you did, how to find food, etc. A dedicated emergency frequency broadcast nationwide would go someway to solving this.

quickymart

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#3047697 8-Mar-2023 21:19

To be fair, a lot of the local stations in Hawkes Bay and Gisborne did have local presenters in the studio while the disaster was happening, giving people advice on what to do and where to go.

https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/02/21/gisborne-radio-legend-keeping-locals-connected-amid-the-storms/

I even heard that The Breeze in Hawkes Bay was transferred to an AM signal there so locals could pick it up as their usual FM transmitter was out of action - but the AM one (with a local show) was still functioning.

fe31nz

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#3047770 9-Mar-2023 00:34

jarledb:

Yeah, the old encoding for DAB with 32 Kbit/s is going to be pretty rubbish even for mono talk radio.

With DAB+ and MPEG 4 compression you can do fairly low bandwidth streams and still have good quality. Better than FM.

Not better than FM I would think - but likely better than how FM is done on commercial radio stations, where it is deliberately made louder so that when you are scanning you will stop on their station. Doing that compresses the music and distorts it. But on Concert FM and our local Gramaphone Room low power stations, they broadcast music done properly over FM and anything that does digital compression is not likely to be better. FM done properly is very good. You do need a good FM tuner to really appreciate how good it is though - I bought myself a Kenwood L-1000T tuner for around $3000 in the late 90s I think. That really made a difference in the quality, even compared to a fairly decent Marantz ST-26 that I used to use before that. And a proper external aerial is also needed for good FM reception. Listening to a good FM station on a crappy small radio will always sound crappy, so you will not notice a difference when you hear DAB+ on the same level of crappy equipment.

MurrayM

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#3047898 9-Mar-2023 09:38

Groucho:

Yes you should absolutely test it. I had a cheap, compact dedicated radio that lived in the household emergency kit safely stored away. When I turned over the long life food in the kit I found the batteries had leaked which wouldn't have been much good if it was really needed.

The radio and torch I have in my emergency kit are both wind-up so I don't have to worry about batteries for them.

It's always good to get your emergency kit out once a year and just check that everything is ok and nothing needs replacing.

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