[BC] ethernet & the future of radio

[Clive Warner]

>Good old fashioned AM is one method of transmission that allows for the
very
>simplest of receivers. Whether it's EMP, or some super-virulent piece of
>malware, a mega-network could be brought crashing-down in mere seconds. A
"network"
>of analog AM stations could/would still be operating, getting crucial
>information out to the masses.

- Unfortunately, by that time, 'the masses' will no longer have radios
capable of receiving AM. Everything will be digital; digital radios won't
have AM detector circuits. I somehow don't think that owners will be happy
to maintain those high power AMs on the air 'just in case', do you?
AM bandwidth is about 10KHz whereas Band II has 200KHz, twenty times as
much.
If I adopted your logic, then the US should be populated with LONG WAVE
stations since they have a much bigger reach then MW! It's never going to
happen.
IBOC or IBAC or whatever is merely a transition stage, it won't last long.
It will be replaced by ethernet traffic. Radio stations will become merely
longer-distance versions of 802.3 used for casting PODs or whatever.
Digital, of course. Future wireless cards and devices for laptops and PDAs
will have Band II reception added in.
Really, it is 'back to the future'! You know, I am almost certain, where
'ethernet' came from, don't you? There are reasons why it was called
ethernet . . . transmission of data between Pacific islands via AM radio!
And so the wheel turns full circle.
Clive