Topband: The Quest to save AM radio

[Herb Schoenbohm]

Driving through town and listening to a local 1620 10KW AM station 20 
miles away, the hash and birdies from government buildings completely 
destroy the reception so nothing is heard.  The noise from IT sources 
carries about a block or so.  Fortunately I live in the country or any 
reception on 160 meters would be toast.    These high noise locations 
are increasing with more and more routers and Cat 5 cable running all 
over the downtown buildings.  I doubt if it will get any better. The 
local power company was going to put in BPL here with Federal funds so 
they could read meters remotely while also going into the internet 
business with a 100 million dollar grant from NTIA designed for 
underserved rural areas.  Yet we have 5 active Wi-Max, DSL, and even 
direct fiber by private companies.  Isn't it just wonderful when the 
mother government trys to compete with private industry?


Herb, KV4FZ




On 9/10/2013 7:40 PM, Tom W8JI wrote:
>> But we should clear up a potential for misunderstanding here.  When 
>> we talk
>> about allowing the noise floor noise to rise, this suggests broadband 
>> noise
>> emissions limits would be raised.  Typical sources of this kind of noise
>> are switching power supplies, digital devices, and UWB communications
>> devices.  Last time I checked, Ultra-WideBand systems are required to be
>> bandwidth-limited (using simple filters), and they typically raise the
>> noise floor in the UHF and higher parts of the spectrum.  So power 
>> supplies
>> and digital devices (computers, routers, etc.) would be the main 
>> culprits,
>> but I don't understand how you could exempt ham receivers from a rule
>> concerning them.  Nothing can be exempted from noise that covers up
>> everything.
>
> The linked article does not make much sense to me in perspective of HF 
> down to the AM band and lower.
>
> The most common sources of noise, by far, are switching power supplies.
> A distant second are digital devices connected to long cables or large 
> wiring systems.
>
> Of all the devices that cannot bother 160 or HF, or especially AM BC, 
> smart phones and other digital handheld devices are near the very top. 
> They are so small and have such low power they would not likely be 
> noticed if hanging right on our antennas.
>
> I agree with other comments that the real issue, and it has been an 
> issue since the 1980's, is lack of enforcement. We wanted deregulation 
> and the Government out of our business, and certainly we got what we 
> wanted with the FCC. :-)
>
> 73 Tom
> _________________
> Topband Reflector