[BC] IBUZ opinion from an outsider

[Phil Alexander]

See comments interlineated.

On 16 Oct 2005 at 12:24, Bob Young wrote:

> I thought some of you guys might want to hear the opinion of an outsider, 
> someone who just listens to the radio, I'm a DXer and avid AM listener. 

Comments like this are very important because they give us a window outside
our own, rather focused, perspective on what listeners perceive.

> I am 
> still startled every time I do a band scan and hear that terrible noise that 
> surrounds locals WBZ and WTAG, makes me want to jump out of my chair, what's 
> wrong with my radio??. 

Can't blame you. When I first head the WLW signal during the WLW/WOR tests
I thought I'd tuned in an old Russian jammer run amok.

> The other day my local WKOX 1200 dropped their 
> daytime to nighttime power at 6 pm, I then switched to WLIB 1190 (yes 
> Airamerica) and all I could hear for a solid hour was IBUZ from WHAM 1180 
> and this is not the DXer in me, I like Airamerica and listen a lot. I was 
> very annoyed that I could not listen to one of my favorite stations because 
> of this noise. 

As IBOC is widely deployed you will hear much more of this unless you
are an early adopter of digital radio reception. It is a clash of 
technologies, and analog does not tolerate digital very well. Still,
those who control the major groups, the NAB and the FCC have decided
(for a number of reasons, many of which I agree) that we must move to
digital broadcasting, and do it in the present bands.  

> I have read that the industry expects everyone to endure this 
> noise for 12 more years until all conventional radios become obsolete 
> doorstops as AM will be all IBUZ at that point, the millions and millions of 
> radios that have been manufactured for the past 80 years will have all 
> become obsolete including the Nice Nationals that have been mentioned here 
> previously. 

The time when all analog signals will cease is several years away. It could
be as little as 7 years, as much as 15, but at some point it appears we will
be told to cease analog emissions, and probably increase digital power ten
fold, if not more. Then, and only then, well we have a fully workable system
without interference. Analog and digital cannot coexist satisfactorily in 
the same space, but can do so in a limited way that those in control of the
industry believe is acceptable until enough digital sets are in the market
to justify a complete transition. All the problems are a function of the
hybrid transition, not of the ultimate full digital system which can be
superior in several ways, especially WRT the AM band.

Electronics changed forever with solid state. Radio will be the last of the
major conversions to digital. One by one nearly every sort of consumer
electronic equipment has "gone digital" and TV is now in the throes of its
final transition. Radio is about all that is left, and it comes next.

The life cycle of consumer electronics has shrunk tremendously. Good or bad?
I'm not sure, I know I don't like buying a new computer every 3 or 4 years,
but that's life. There is really no reason a car couldn't be built to last
1,000,000 miles today. We have the technology. It is a question of cost.
The same applies to electronics. It is easier to make them obsolete so they
can be replaced with current technology. That's the evolution of society 
during the post-WW-II era - use it up - throw it away - get newer (maybe)
better. I don't subscribe, but I do recognize the FACT.

> From all the stuff I have read pro and con I believe that IBUZ 
> if anything will be the end of AM radio as people are not going to buy these 
> radios unless they are forced to, especially with all the trouble free 
> alternatives. 

There will come a time when, defacto, they are forced because that is what
will be found in new cars. Since the drive time audience is the prime radio
audience, building IBOC into car receivers makes the automotive scrap rate
the barometer of the time when transition to full digital becomes practical.

> The noisier the AM band becomes because of IBUZ the more 
> people are going to turn it off permanently and I have not seen one written 
> word that convinces me that IBUZ is not an exercise in futility, a waste of 
> precious time and possible an end to a legitimate medium that has changed 
> yes but is still alive. 

This assumes new cars are not automatically equipped with IBOC receivers.

> At least AM stereo was a good idea and didn't 
> interfere with adjacent channels and generate a terrible noise, if that 
> didn't work and catch on why do some of the industry think IBUZ will, is it 
> because ¡¡¡DIGITAL!!! is a new buzz word and everyone is going to buy it 
> because of the cache of the word like some people buy ahem, 1000 watt 
> boomboxes? Please most of us are not that stupid. Or is it because with the 
> present atmosphere the FCC will mandate us to accept this noise and have to 
> buy new receivers? I don't think so, the FCC can mandate us to throw the 
> millions and millions of AM radios into the ocean but they can't mandate us 
> to buy new radios and especially can't mandate us to listen, and if the 
> industry thinks most people will just blindly follow a dictate like that 
> again I don't think so.

Consider that if you buy a new car in 2010 (or thereabouts) it WILL have 
an IBOC capable hybrid receiver. Remember that the "radio" has become an
integral part of the car's electronics system and it is not something you
can delete. Essentially, it is a part of the automotive computer system.

Like many on this list, I don't particularly like IBOC and I certainly don't
like the way Ibiquity has developed it. However, to prevent the same 
commercial failure we saw with AM stereo, IBOC has been ramrodded through
with no consideration for what I think, or what the average listeners 
thinks. This goes for BOTH AM and FM. 

> Most people listen to and accept AM the way it is 
> and like it and couldn't care less whether it is ¡¡¡DIGITAL!!! or not. OK 
> back to lurk mode, couldn't hold it in any longer,

Well, that's one of the problems. There are many areas where AM listening
is difficult or impossible because power line noise overwhelms any signal.
In the same way, there are some locales where FM multi-path destroys the
possibility for a quality analog signal. In the AM band, there is also the
fact of poor frequency allocation to satisfy the political climate for 
more and more frequencies during the '60's, '70's and '80's.  The real
culprits are the owners and the political influence they exerted over the
Commission during that period, and continue to exert today. These are
the ones who broke AM, and the only fix they seem to be able to agree upon
is IBOC as a transition to full digital broadcasting. All we, as broadcast
engineers, can do is try our best to make it play, and minimize the 
problems by controlling the interference potential during that transition.
The way the rules are set up, even if we do that, you won't be able to 
hear stations beyond their licensed markets - their primary coverage. That
is a trade the owners said (through filings by the NAB) they were willing
to accept to get through the transition to a full digital system.

BTW, I notice that some of the VHF guys are beginning to DX DTV and FM-IBOC.
I wonder if that may become part of the AM DX experience soon?


Phil Alexander, CSRE, AMD
Broadcast Engineering Services and Technology 
(a Div. of Advanced Parts Corporation) 
Ph. (317) 335-2065   FAX (317) 335-9037





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