Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Hey Out-of-Control radio insiders - HD radio just isn’t needed or wanted.

4 views
Skip to first unread message

Rfburns

unread,
Oct 22, 2009, 10:22:25 AM10/22/09
to
The problem with most digital radio proponents is that in their zeal
for hd radio they seem to willfully forget that radio is, and should
be, consumer driven. You can always tell the proponents with their
"screw you" attitude when challenged. Fact is, hd radio doesn’t
sell. Consumers have spoken this for 7 long years but that doesn’t
seem to deter the proponents. They come up with all kinds of excuses
- not enough power, not enough receivers, not enough stations
converted, consumers need to be "educated" and the list goes on and
on. Simple fact here - except for a few out-of-control radio insiders
HD radio just isn’t needed or wanted. Time to stop the excuses and
the force-feeding tactics and move on.

RHF

unread,
Oct 23, 2009, 5:55:58 AM10/23/09
to

IBOC : FM HD-Radio - The Trend-to-Watch :
Money Making HD-2 Channels
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.radio.broadcasting/msg/6008ec3b49d272f2
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.radio.broadcasting/msg/a1d9f44e693b9e17

FM HD-Radio will come-of-age around 2015
the American Public will have "Spoken" as to
whether Radio Listeners have Adapted to FM
HD-Radio and it's HD-2 Channels.
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.radio.broadcasting/msg/aa4c405119878ebc
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.radio.broadcasting/msg/dcf7675ed1d0728a
.

dave

unread,
Oct 23, 2009, 9:48:27 AM10/23/09
to
RHF wrote:

> FM HD-Radio will come-of-age around 2015
> the American Public will have "Spoken" as to
> whether Radio Listeners have Adapted to FM
> HD-Radio and it's HD-2 Channels.

Radio, as a for-profit entertainment medium, is rapidly dying.

Bill Baka

unread,
Oct 24, 2009, 7:24:46 PM10/24/09
to

This is a bad trend in my view. Nobody needs HD radio and the FM I get
now is just fine. I can't tell the difference between 1% distortion and
0.01% and my ears are fine. It's all bullshit to me.
HDTV is only 2M Pixels, so whoopee for that, too.
If they go to digital AM then we will have a real shortage of engineers
in about 15 years. I got hooked by building ever better crystal sets
starting at 8 years old.
Take that away and most kids will never start tinkering.
It may be too late anyway, since the last kid's stuff seems to be those
stupid Radio Shack '100 projects in one kit' sets.
Bill Baka
Watching the end of an era.

RHF

unread,
Oct 25, 2009, 12:45:58 AM10/25/09
to
On Oct 24, 4:24 pm, Bill Baka <bb...@comcast.net> wrote:
> dave wrote:
> > RHF wrote:
>
> >> FM HD-Radio will come-of-age around 2015
> >> the American Public will have "Spoken" as to
> >> whether Radio Listeners have Adapted to FM
> >> HD-Radio and it's HD-2 Channels.
>
> > Radio, as a for-profit entertainment medium, is rapidly dying.
>
> This is a bad trend in my view. Nobody needs HD radio and the FM I get
> now is just fine. I can't tell the difference between 1% distortion and
> 0.01% and my ears are fine. It's all bullshit to me.
> HDTV is only 2M Pixels, so whoopee for that, too.

=IF= You are not age 15 to 35 Years : Then 'your'
wants and needs are not the wants and needs of
the Trend-Setters who define the new and exciting
technological developments that are the latest
"Must-Have" things in a Demand Driven Consumer
Market Economy.

> If they go to digital AM then we will have a real shortage of engineers
> in about 15 years. I got hooked by building ever better crystal sets
> starting at 8 years old.
> Take that away and most kids will never start tinkering.
> It may be too late anyway, since the last kid's stuff seems to be those
> stupid Radio Shack '100 projects in one kit' sets.
> Bill Baka
> Watching the end of an era.

All Eras come to an end
-cause- after all they are 'eras' :

The Vacuum Tube Era . . .

The Transistor & Discrete Component Era . . .

The Integrated Circuit Era . . .

The AM & Shortwave Radio Era . . .

The FM & FM Stereo Radio Era . . .

The Black & White TV Era . . .

The Color TV Era . . .

The Web & UseNet & Dial-Up Era . . .

We are now in the AGE of High Speed Internet/WWW

We are now in the All Things Digital AGE

and when these Ages are over

they too will be called Eras

what's new is anew with each passing era ~ RHF
.
IBOC - FM HD-Radio Will Come-of-Age Around 2015
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/msg/1c70bdb32c6cf8bb
.
-the-question-is- What Will Replace It ?
! Bio-Empathic-Implants© -and- Tela-Pathic-Cyber-Net© !
.
until then . . . these are my thoughs to
your thoughs expressed in simple words
.

Bill Baka

unread,
Oct 25, 2009, 10:20:14 PM10/25/09
to
RHF wrote:
> On Oct 24, 4:24 pm, Bill Baka <bb...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> dave wrote:
>>> RHF wrote:
>>>> FM HD-Radio will come-of-age around 2015
>>>> the American Public will have "Spoken" as to
>>>> whether Radio Listeners have Adapted to FM
>>>> HD-Radio and it's HD-2 Channels.
>>> Radio, as a for-profit entertainment medium, is rapidly dying.
>> This is a bad trend in my view. Nobody needs HD radio and the FM I get
>> now is just fine. I can't tell the difference between 1% distortion and
>> 0.01% and my ears are fine. It's all bullshit to me.
>> HDTV is only 2M Pixels, so whoopee for that, too.
>
> =IF= You are not age 15 to 35 Years : Then 'your'
> wants and needs are not the wants and needs of
> the Trend-Setters who define the new and exciting
> technological developments that are the latest
> "Must-Have" things in a Demand Driven Consumer
> Market Economy.

I'm 61 and have seen it all, almost. The problem I have with all this is
not lack of understanding since I am an engineer. I got hooked on
electronics due to analog radio and the fact that I could build a
crystal set when I was 8 or 9 years old. When I wanted to improve it I
added some transistors, which my dad hated due to the cost of a single
2N107 or 2N170. At any rate I self educated myself and by ten years old
I was buying used console short wave sets and fixing them up and
probably could have gotten a job as a repair tech at 11 years old. That
motivated me all the way to college, at which point I found myself way
ahead of the rest of the classes. These days things are going needlessly
complex and tinkering is just about out. I can fix *ANYTHING* built
before 1980 since I can get down to the real component level, but the
new stuff is throw away.
Is anybody stupid enough to think that a *Play* station will make kids
want to go into electronics?
The more of this we buy the richer China gets and we fall further behind.
The Commies are just loving taking our money.

The Era of the USA being the top country are just about gone, too.
Prepare for the "Chinese" age.
Stupid Americans did it to themselves.

Bill Baka

dave

unread,
Oct 26, 2009, 9:44:58 AM10/26/09
to
Bill Baka wrote:
At any rate I self educated myself and by ten years old
> I was buying used console short wave sets and fixing them up and
> probably could have gotten a job as a repair tech at 11 years old. That
> motivated me all the way to college, at which point I found myself way
> ahead of the rest of the classes. These days things are going needlessly
> complex and tinkering is just about out. I can fix *ANYTHING* built
> before 1980 since I can get down to the real component level, but the
> new stuff is throw away.

I am 60 and I do component level repair on SMD boards. I can fix more
"anything" than you can.

RHF

unread,
Oct 26, 2009, 5:16:21 PM10/26/09
to
On Oct 26, 6:44 am, dave <d...@dave.dave> wrote:
> Bill Baka wrote:
>
> At any rate I self educated myself and by ten years old
>
> > I was buying used console short wave sets and fixing them up and
> > probably could have gotten a job as a repair tech at 11 years old. That
> > motivated me all the way to college, at which point I found myself way
> > ahead of the rest of the classes. These days things are going needlessly
> > complex and tinkering is just about out. I can fix *ANYTHING* built
> > before 1980 since I can get down to the real component level, but the
> > new stuff is throw away.

- I am 60 and I do component level repair on SMD boards.
- I can fix more "anything" than you can.

OK Dave 'Fix' this . . .
http://divyanovel.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/burnt-toast.jpg
.

Bill Baka

unread,
Oct 28, 2009, 9:42:51 PM10/28/09
to

Missed the point. I am an engineer and got that way from loving the
tinkering. Give a kid a box of 'dust' '05001' SMD parts and you will not
have a happy kid building things. I have two microscopes at home, both
lab grade, and some of the passive SMD is getting ridiculous. Concepts
look good in my head, schematic looks good, Spice simulation is OK,
final product is microscopic. Hard to tinker, and I don't know many kids
who will want to play SMD.

Bill Baka

dave

unread,
Oct 29, 2009, 8:04:48 AM10/29/09
to

The only way you become an engineer is by getting a degree ending in "E".

I am comfortable placing parts barely larger than a salt crystal. I
have $30 2X Mag Eyes and I can read the numbers on SMD.

Bill Baka

unread,
Oct 29, 2009, 9:47:15 PM10/29/09
to
dave wrote:
> Bill Baka wrote:
>> dave wrote:
>>> Bill Baka wrote:
>>> At any rate I self educated myself and by ten years old
>>>> I was buying used console short wave sets and fixing them up and
>>>> probably could have gotten a job as a repair tech at 11 years old.
>>>> That motivated me all the way to college, at which point I found
>>>> myself way ahead of the rest of the classes. These days things are
>>>> going needlessly complex and tinkering is just about out. I can fix
>>>> *ANYTHING* built before 1980 since I can get down to the real
>>>> component level, but the new stuff is throw away.
>>>
>>> I am 60 and I do component level repair on SMD boards. I can fix
>>> more "anything" than you can.
>>
>> Missed the point. I am an engineer and got that way from loving the
>> tinkering. Give a kid a box of 'dust' '05001' SMD parts and you will
>> not have a happy kid building things. I have two microscopes at home,
>> both lab grade, and some of the passive SMD is getting ridiculous.
>> Concepts look good in my head, schematic looks good, Spice simulation
>> is OK, final product is microscopic. Hard to tinker, and I don't know
>> many kids who will want to play SMD.
>>
>> Bill Baka
>
> The only way you become an engineer is by getting a degree ending in "E".

Really?
All my business cards (from work) say engineer, damn good one, too, but
no degree ending in "E". I will take smarts over paper anytime, since I
have had guys with Masters from Cal Poly that were useless. One guy, at
least, a recent graduate tried to tell me (His mentor to the company)
started out by telling me he was a 'real' engineer with his degree.
Then he walks into the test department (mine, too) and complains that a
data book is misprinted and shows 3 leads for a 2 lead device. He was
holding a T-03 power transistor and my guys in test almost fell off
their chairs laughing. I *had* to let him go after that one.


>
> I am comfortable placing parts barely larger than a salt crystal. I
> have $30 2X Mag Eyes and I can read the numbers on SMD.

On a 0.5mm by 1mm part???

How is a kid supposed to choose a college major if he doesn't even know
if he will like it? I wanted to go all the way to a post-grad
nuclear-physics and math in Chicago but moving to California kind of
derailed my college plans. So here I am having done electronics since
the 60's, no degree.

George W. Bush was *called* president but was he qualified???

Bill Baka

0 new messages