[BC] Re: HD Receiver returns

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 02/16/2007 11:11:10 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
thebeaver32 at gmail.com writes:

> I've read on another list that, in an interview, Ibiquity CEO Bob Stubel has
>  said that full-blown IBOC will probably not happen, stating that the
>  Government has no incentive to end analog broadcasting. If true, the only
>  advantage IBOC will give stations is the ability to broadcast more than one
>  audio channel, for however long IBOC lasts.

About as long as this cement-filled bathtub can stay airborne, I would guess. 
With multiple hours of severely faulted "programming" going out over these 
"stations between the stations" in major markets on both coasts... I wonder 
what's happening everywhere else. It has to be more common than we realize... and 
that is truly sad.

Yes, even coming from me, an IBUZ doubter since the thing first launched... I 
find it sad because so much capital has been invested in this thing, yet it 
is being neglected to the N'th degree. It is unfathomable to me to spend so 
much and care so little.

As we (mostly all) know, the AM version of this technology is fatally flawed. 
It was DOA the day it first powered-up and filled adjacent frequencies with 
white noise. The FM shows *some* promise, if for nothing else than a "Digital 
SCA"... but as Rich and others have insisted, without *compelling* (and I will 
add *reliable*) programming on those channels, *nobody* in the general public 
is going to care. Radios will either continue to sit on shelves, or they will 
keep being returned as has been the norm thus far. The future looks mighty 
bleak, and getting darker by the day.

The "Fat Lady" is warming up to start singing, folks. I'm going to be looking 
at the Surplus market for IBUZ gear... it should start showing-up there in a 
few years, at most. Once enough bigwigs realize that this is a PR disaster... 
I'm guessing there will be a *lot* of deductions showing up on corporate tax 
forms, as they start decommissioning the gear and writing it all off.

The "revolution" may yet come... but it will be the Hams and tinkerers buying 
this stuff up for pennies on the kilobuck.

Either that, or it is repurposed specifically as a digital SCA service. Of 
course, if FMeXTRA ever gets off the ground, that system will give it a serious 
run for it's money, then... based just on money, alone!

We do live in interesting times. Stay tuned.

Willie...