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| Sunday, October 29, 2006 |
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More on modulators 
| | I can¹t comment on the technical merits of NPR's case, but I do know that it has become common for the NPR station on my car radio to be drowned out for a second or two by a completely different broadcast as another car passes by in the opposing lane. If that's an errant modulator, more power to NPR. |
| | The chance that he's hearing an errant modulator is nil. First, people tune their little FM transmitters ("modulators") to empty channels. Even the strongest of these modulators can't compete with a local station already on a given channel. Given the fact that WUNC/91.5 (the main NPR station in Bill's area) is 100,000 watts and has a huge signal radiating from almost 1400 feet above the surrounding terrian, even a modulator operating within a couple feet of the receiver won't be able to compete with it. Meaning nobody is listening to Sirius or their iPod in the Triangle area on 91.5. On the other hand, there's an excellent chance that one of two other things are happening. |
| | One is ordinary radios in other cars. Every FM radio transmits a blank signal 10.7 MHz above and below the tuned frequency. So a radio tuned to 105.1 also transmits a blank signal at 109.8 and 95.4. You can sometimes hear these when you're sitting at a light in your car, hit SCAN, and the radio stops at a station broadcasting nothing. That's a blank signal being sent by a nearby car radio tuned to a station 10.6 or 10.8MHz above or below the signal you're hearing. Yes, in the U.S. stations are only on odd-numbered decimals (other parts of the world use the evens as well), but not every station is tuned in well; and the IF (intermediate frequency) stage of a radio's receiver may not be working on-frequency either. This is why the FCC has minimum spacings between stations 10.6 or 10.8MHz apart. It's also why flight attendants tell you not to listen to FM radios in airplanes. Aviation bands start right above the top end of the FM band. |
| | A more likely culprit is the nearby transmitter of an ordinary FM station. Bill lives in the Triangle area. (He lists WUNC, WNCU and WSHA as three of the noncommercial stations he likes to hear.) As it happens, that area is thick with super-powered FM signals. Many stations radiate with 100,000 watts from high towers, and those that don't often have transmitters right in town. Strong local signals can cause "front end overload" or "blanketing" that causes those signals to appear at multiple frequencies other than the licensed one, or to otherwise obliterate legitimate signals of other stations. Even the best radios succumb to blanketing when they get within a few blocks — or even a few miles — of a high-powered transmitter. (If Bill lives or drives around the west side of Chapel Hill or the east side of Raleigh, th is is very likely the case.) |
| | NPR would do better to lobby the FCC for higher standards in respect to blanketing in radios. For what it's worth, car radios generally do pretty well in this regard. Portable and home radios, including the ones in high-end audio gear, are notoriously bad at dealing with strong local signals. |
iTunes help wanted
| | I normally don't look for help around lock-in software here, but this involves my kid and the MacBook he uses. The question is, Can you undelete a deleted playlist in iTunes? Command-z doesn't do it. Can anything? |
| | One of my many goals in life is to move him (and the world) out of the iTunes silo. (Which I believe would not hurt Apple's sales one bit, for what that's worth; but I doubt Steve would agree.) And I have faith that this will happen eventually in any case. But in the meantime, I'd rather not see the work the kid put into his playlist lost. So, help is welcome. |
Earth to NPR: Satellite Radio is Good For You
| | For decades J.C. Whitney, Radio Shack and other "electronic" vendors have sold FM modulators. Now all of a sudden when satellite radio is starting to pull listeners away from terrestrial broadcasting, does anyone, let alone National Public Radio, actually care about it?!? |
| | Terrestrial broadcasting is doomed to become the AM radio of this generation. It only took them ten years to organize their beg-a-thons to run at the same time, so that listeners could not switch from one public radio station to another to avoid the pleading. If they had not abused my address and other contact info after a contribution, I might want to help them. |
| | So the funding from Joan B. Kroc, is going to try and smite the FM modulators and satellite radio, instead of expanding a news department or two. |
| | Where can I file a lawsuit saying that the NPR broadcasters are interfering with my Sirius Xact Stream/Jockey radio? |
| | Two ironies: 1) NPR has channels on Sirius, which is one big reason why many public radio listeners (including yours truly) are Sirius subscribers; and 2) for many public radio listeners, satellite radio is complementary rather than competitive with public radio listening. In other words, satellite radio is chemo for commercial terrestrial radio. It kills off listening to commercial terrestrial radio, while leaving noncommercial terrestrial radio listening intact. |
Network Saving Time
| | After reading through it, I can see a few things I'd change; though remarkably few, considering the years of Internet Time that have passed, while Carrier Duopoly Time has stood almost still. (See how you're doing.) |
| | So I just decided I'll run a first aniversary follow-up on the piece, over at Linux Journal. But first I'd like to hear from the rest of ya'll. Tag your posts savingthenet and I'll find them. |
Prediction
| | What happens when search is replaced by find? |
News-Press suicide watch
| | The News-Press diaspora continues to expand. I heard last night from another of the paper's former reporters that Melinda Burns had been fired from the paper. Melinda is a 21-year veteran at the paper, a winner of many awards for her work and the most familiar byline in the paper. She also led unionization efforts there, so it's not hard to add 1 and 1. Still, Craig Smith does the math. In the same post, Craig reports that Business reporter Frank Nelson has also resigned. |
| | This comes on the heels of news that Ampersand Publishing, owner of the News-Press, has filed a complaint against the Independent, which also posts the Business Wire item, which I won't call a story because that would make it seem like an genuine editor had written it. Business Wire is essentially a conduit for press releases. This one came from Agnes Huff, Ph.D., the paper's mouthpiece. (Why does it need one? The lame insularity of these people continues to amaze me.) |
| | Here's Nick Welch on the lawsuit. In it he details a few of the ways Wendy McCaw and crew began shooting the paper in the feet, back in July. Looks like they'll keep shooting until all that's left is the head. |
Leading age
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