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Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

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Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#11
post #2

On one hand, spectrum is a precious resource and no one would ever forfeit it without a mandate. OTOH don't you just love the simplicity of the FM radio? I can say that I've never found one that doesn't work. Sometimes I don't want to troubleshoot, I just want to listen to the radio on my way to work. ;) > 'We are simply not ready for this yet' Well, Norway, maybe if you were a big exporter or even importer of automo…

Yet FM still can't beat AM for simplicity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio

It's even easier to demodulate at high power :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHSuInSkHtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82s5Q3GIO9I

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blah, DAB is MP2 vs AAC for DAB+. I guess that's one advantage of Australia lagging so far behind the rest of the world in radio+TV - I'm pretty sure we went straight to DAB+.

Except that for some reason Australia picked MPEG-2 for our digital TV, and so HD was almost unwatchable. Though it seems we've moved to MPEG-4 now.

It wouldn't surprise me if we went to MPEG2 because the original subsidised set top boxes were cheaper than the ones that supported H.264.

There's some documents available under FOI (posted online) that have some further info on H.264 in digital broadcasts in Australia.

Frustratingly, my TV isn't compatible, but a much older set top box (purchased to avoid silly DRM) works fine.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#14

Over 60% against ... but "more channels". OK solely money driven then. I have somewhere around 12 FM radios, ranging in price from £10 to £lots and 40 years old or newer. They all still work and often give LW and SW too. In the UK at least DAB is mp2 and an excuse to put out thousands of channels at horrible bit rates. Like down to 64k streams. OK for a noisy car, terrble for at home or headphones. They all work and…

Consider getting an RTL-SDR for your 13th FM radio.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#15
The NPR One radio app costs me an extra $20 dollars a month due to high data usage. And NPR gets none of that cash. If my phone had user facing FM tuning I could probably contribute directly to content creators.

I wonder if shutting down FM and replacing it with much more expensive mobile data is a conspiracy by cellular carriers?

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#16

The NPR One radio app costs me an extra $20 dollars a month due to high data usage. And NPR gets none of that cash. If my phone had user facing FM tuning I could probably contribute directly to content creators. I wonder if shutting down FM and replacing it with much more expensive mobile data is a conspiracy by cellular carriers?

Are you sure your phone doesn't have an FM radio?

A lot of phones have it built-in (just need to have headphones plugged in for the antenna), but don't advertise it much.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#17

The NPR One radio app costs me an extra $20 dollars a month due to high data usage. And NPR gets none of that cash. If my phone had user facing FM tuning I could probably contribute directly to content creators. I wonder if shutting down FM and replacing it with much more expensive mobile data is a conspiracy by cellular carriers?

>The NPR One radio app costs me an extra $20 dollars a month due to high data usage. And NPR gets none of that cash.

Subscribe to the NPR shows you like via a podcasting app (which will pre-download via wifi), and donate the $20/month to NPR.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#18
post #16

The NPR One radio app costs me an extra $20 dollars a month due to high data usage. And NPR gets none of that cash. If my phone had user facing FM tuning I could probably contribute directly to content creators. I wonder if shutting down FM and replacing it with much more expensive mobile data is a conspiracy by cellular carriers?

Are you sure your phone doesn't have an FM radio? A lot of phones have it built-in (just need to have headphones plugged in for the antenna), but don't advertise it much.

But without a custom rom it isn't exposed. This is part of the conspiracy by my mobile carrier to make me buy their hella expensive data plan.
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