Norway to Become First Country to Switch Off FM Radio in 2017

[W2PFY]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/norway-first-country-end-fm-790131

Guess its a matter of time before it happens here?

On another note: We have a lot of talk of two meter digital repeaters here in the New York Capital District. Some say it really expensive and that there are many repeaters already on in the area. I wonder what it will do for weak signals? Its been a real blessing for fringe area digital TV, so maybe it will work well?

[Steve - K4HX]

I switched off FM radio a long time ago.

[W6TOM]

 I also stopped listening to FM radio a long time ago, the sandwich shop I go to several times a week has the FM on, same crummy stale music that was that way 40 years ago. So now we go digital, same crummy stale music but digital.

[kb3ouk]

From what I understand, only the national and regional stations that are owned/run by the government will be shut down and moved to DAB, the local stations will stay on FM.

[WBear2GCR]

Digital TV has been zero "boon" in this fringe area at all.

Before digital I could watch TV out of NYC and get 3-4+ stations out of Albany.
Since digital, one station out of Albany and zero from NYC.

Otoh, in the interest of full disclosure I have not yet put up a kickass UHF yagi, that may change my opinion.

But digital does suck in the downtown (such as it is here) all sorts of stations do not come in depending on
where you are - with an indoor antenna, whereas they did before, no problemo.

The FCC killed AM and FM when they permitted "aggregation" by the "big players" beyond what the traditional big
radio networks had done in the past. All the small players and small program originators got wiped out.

                     _-_-

[W1ITT]

The "kids", those people under thirty-five or forty years old,  speak of FM in the same breath as
DialUp internet service. Music comes out of a memory device now and we don't have to listen to the inane happy-talk from the DJs.  A very large fraction of video is not watched via the broadcast spectrum either. Many of us recall when there was mostly white noise from 88 to 108 mhz.  I have spent many years working with AM, FM, TV and shortwave broadcast antennas and, if I eat my oatmeal every day, I will probably live to see most of the big red and white towers dismantled.
Come to think of it, my summer job in high school and the first couple years of college was as a home-delivery milkman, bringing milk in glass bottles in a truck with no refrigeration except for the chipped ice that I shoveled in over the wooden milk cases when I left the dairy each morning.  I seem to have a real skill at killing off viable businesses.  Don't stand too close....

[K6JEK]

The article features a picture of members of Aha!  How lame. Instead of Aha, how about Edwin H Armstrong

[Opcom]

even so digital broadcasting, requiring very high technology to make and decode, has no benefits for distance users and is the first step to media control and forced extraction of funds from listeners. Assuming there are any left.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

The article features a picture of members of Aha!  How lame. Instead of Aha, how about Edwin H Armstrong

Great 80's band and their name has probably been uttered many times by techies trouble shooting some piece of equipment at the work bench.

[n1exi]

a'ha take on me one of my favorite songs and vid - here only listen to am radio a news channel from nyc - and of course the ham bands - highly rated in my opinion - as im trying to type three more coasties just flew by - a single one for search and rescue - that i can see - is there something i am missing on tv?
greg - n1exi

[WD8BIL]

is there something i am missing on tv?

Not a thing, Greg!

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I also stopped listening to FM radio a long time ago, the sandwich shop I go to several times a week has the FM on, same crummy stale music that was that way 40 years ago. So now we go digital, same crummy stale music but digital.

There are a number of HD FM stations in the NY/Philly metro area but generally when I'm in the office, I'm tuned into WAXQ-FM listening to Classic ROCK in HD. ROCK is never stale no matter how many times you listen to it and it's even more vibrant in HD. Play some Rock Anthems and you have my interest: http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-anthem.html

[Pete, WA2CWA]

- is there something i am missing on tv?
greg - n1exi

Lots of great stuff if you have the right tools. You can be educated or entertained and lots in between. Even 4K-3D sets are coming down in price. TV's can even interface with the internet to bring in even more content.

Even the X-Files is returning to TV with new shows: http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/24/the-x-files-revival-officially-ordered-for-six-episode-season

[flintstone mop]

- is there something i am missing on tv?
greg - n1exi

Lots of great stuff if you have the right tools. You can be educated or entertained and lots in between. Even 4K-3D sets are coming down in price. TV's can even interface with the internet to bring in even more content.

Even the X-Files is returning to TV with new shows: http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/24/the-x-files-revival-officially-ordered-for-six-episode-season

There is some 4K content available?? The DEMO mode of these 4K screens is unbelievable!!! Extremely sharp and clear. Better than the present 1080P!!!What do these 4K TV's look like when showing 1080P?
Fred

[flintstone mop]

The US of A should move the AM band below the FM band and go to DAB or DRM. And give US the AM BC band.
IBOC on AM is great sounding, but hell in the analog world and nighttime interference.

Fred

[W1RKW]

I've been "horsing" around with DTV for the last year so. Started off with rabbit ears to see what I could receive and was intrigued.  Reminded me of when my old man was constantly tweaking the TV and antenna to get the best signals in the old analog days.   Eventually migrated to a homebrew 8 bay UHF bowtie ant on rotator that works wonders in the little valley I'm in. Coupled that with a fixed VHF yagi to the SW to get a channel on VHF. With the ants in the attic I'm receiving over 40 channels (including sub channels) of free OTA programming. Some of the programming is useless but there was enough entertainment value for me to cut back on the satellite dish programming.