Saving another low-end but important technology: AM Radio!

[KRonn]

AM radio in the Boston area has major news stations, sports and talk radio. All good stuff because they're local. I'd be bummed to lose those. There were a couple of FM talk stations but I think those are all now music stations.

[HVC]

What about Town Criers?  Can we save those to?

I hate all of you.

[CountDeMoney]

I only partially worked on p25 interoperability standards at the state before I left, but part of the problem is precisely because doesn't have civilian availability for emergency notification.

Civilian availability for AM only works if said civilians have an AM radio and actually listen to it.  If people need a radio covering a specific band for emergency purposes, we would be better off with the existing All Hazards radio system.  The frequency band those stations use has better range performance than AM, is taxpayer-funded, and already exists.

Poopies.

[derspiess]

While we're on the subject of radio, my grandpa also gave me my first short-wave radio, and told me how to find the "Russian Woodpecker" signal, which in the midst of the Cold War freaked me out a little because nobody knew what is was.  But it was fun to speculate on what the hell they were doing.

Do you mean UVB-76?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76

From a link at the bottom of the article you posted:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Woodpecker

Fascinating.

Yep, that's it.  My grandpa thought it was the Russians trying to either jam some of our transmissions or some of their own (not sure why the latter would be the case).  It was creepy yet fascinating to listen to it, and probably would have been even more so had we known it was a ginormous ABM radar bleeding into shortwave frequencies.

[lustindarkness]

While we're on the subject of radio, my grandpa also gave me my first short-wave radio, and told me how to find the "Russian Woodpecker" signal, which in the midst of the Cold War freaked me out a little because nobody knew what is was.  But it was fun to speculate on what the hell they were doing.

Do you mean UVB-76?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UVB-76

From a link at the bottom of the article you posted:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Woodpecker

Fascinating.

Interesting articles.

[Syt]

Here's an example of the relatively rare UVB-76 voice messages:

https://soundcloud.com/djoutcold/uvb-76-aug-23-2010-9-32ampst

Sounds post-apocalyptic. "This is Lawrence, Kansas."

[grumbler]

PSTN, Jargony McJargon. (for those who don't know, POTS = plain old telephone system, PSTN = public switched telephone network)

  I've never heard anyone outside the business use "PSTN," Garblely McJargon. 

Plain ol' telephone service = POTS and I have heard used many times.

[merithyn]

What about Town Criers?  Can we save those to?

I hate all of you.

I'm on your side.

NPR is on AM around here, and so is the only Mexican Music channel. I only get hip-hop, pop, and country on FM.

[derspiess]

NPR on AM?  Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!

[merithyn]

NPR on AM?  Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!

I like NPR.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I'm on your side.

NPR is on AM around here, and so is the only Mexican Music channel. I only get hip-hop, pop, and country on FM.

Here NPR and the CIty of Dallas station (the only two I listen to) are both FM.  I have not listened to the AM band in about 15 years.

[lustindarkness]

NPR on AM?  Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!

They do, in either AM or FM. I listen to it in my afternoon commute, to balance out the ultra conservative rednecks I listen to on my morning commute.

[derspiess]

NPR on AM?  Those whispery, pretentious voices must sound hollow and soulless!

I like NPR.

I'm just saying NPR would sound like shit on AM.


And I suppose also making a crack at how they speak


edit: Lusti gets it

[crazy canuck]

I can only get the Mike & Mike show on AM in the morning.  It is my only link to civilized sport in this sea of barbaric hockey culture.  Where do I need to sign to save AM radio!

[Grey Fox]

We find money to save trees all the time. We can find the money to save AM band.