[BC] Mono Expands on the FM Band

[R J Carpenter]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <nakayle at gmail.com>


>  A old time engineer told me that the FCC made a major mistake in 
> choosing
> the GE/Zenith FM stereo system over the Murray Crosby system.   The 
> Murray
> Crosby system worked better and had much less hiss at low signal 
> levels but
> it was opposed by broadcasters because it interfered with 67-Khz SCA 
> music
> services which was a major revenue source for FM broadcasters at the 
> time.
> A short-sighted decision I think in retrospect.

I disagree.  I characterized the present stereo system as the "best 
mono stereo system" back when it was introduced.  It sacrificed less 
mono coverage than other proposals - and receivers now fade to mono 
when the going gets rough to take advantage of this fact.

I built the first stereo station in the DC area, 102.3.  We had very 
serious coverage problems, partly because of the stereo.  But today 
102.3 is frequently #1 in ratings.  How can this be?  First off, they 
moved to a far better transmitter location that we counld not afford. 
Second, the FCC had increased the power of Class A stations six-fold 
from when we went on the air - and no one had circular polarization 
back then so the result is really a 12-fold power increase.

So I feel that choosing the present stereo system was among the FCC's 
better decisions.

bob carpenter

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