[BC] The solution to the IBOC dilemma: "XFM"!

[Kevin Tekel]

Even the most die-hard IBOC supporters here can admit that the "hybrid"
AM version of IBOC has some serious flaws, and may not be workable in the
long run.  So what's the solution to that dilemma, aside from the choice
of doing nothing and leaving today's analog AM (in Stereo, where
available) as-is?

The answer is so simple, even a child could figure it out.  Take any
technically-inclined 10-year-old, and hand him or her a Japanese-market
radio which tunes from 76 to 108 MHz on FM.  Sooner or later, this child
will ask, "Why are there no stations below 88 on the dial?"

The response is, of course, that here in North America, we use 76-82 MHz
for VHF TV Channel 5 and 82-88 MHz for Channel 6.  But since the big
Japanese electronics manufacturers have already been making home-market
radios which tune 76-108 MHz on FM, why not make use of this extra
spectrum for traditional analog FM broadcasting (with or without IBOC or
FMxtra)
once the DTV transition is complete, at which point the VHF-Low TV band
(Channels 2-6) can be easily vacated?

*That's* the answer to the AM radio dilemma, courtesy of a 10-year-old's
curiosity.  Get the radio manufacturers to start equipping U.S.-model
receivers with 76-108 MHz FM coverage, and migrate the most suffering AM
stations to the new 76-88 MHz FM spectrum.  At first, I'd migrate all or
most of the Class C "graveyard channel" and Class D (ex-)daytimers to FM,
and leave the Class A and B stations on AM, where they will have room to
move to the vacated frequencies, increase their power, and relax or
eliminate their directional patterns, to provide the best possible
traditional AM radio coverage and quality.

The only problem with this plan is that it wouldn't be a cash cow for a
company like iBiquity, and it wouldn't have any slick consumer marketing
campaigns, except maybe if they call the Expanded FM band "XFM Terrestrial
Radio" to take a page out of "XM Satellite Radio"'s book.

*Nevertheless*, such a plan WOULD work, because the receivers would be
dirt-cheap -- there would be NO price increase as compared to today's
analog AM/FM radios, so there would be no reasons for consumers NOT to buy
these new AM/XFM radios.  It would be just as seamless as the introduction
and proliferation of radios with the AM Expanded Band was a decade ago.
In fact, there could be the same 5-year simulcast period for the AM
stations migrating to XFM, just as there was (and still is) for regular
AM stations migrating to the Expanded Band.

Also, as part of the introduction of this theoretical eXpanded 76-108 MHz
FM band in North America, I would also propose changing our FM
pre-emphasis
curve from 75 to 50 microseconds -- both to ensure complete compatibility
with "world-band" FM radios designed for the Japanese market, and to help
restore a bit of extra "sparkle" to today's heavily-squashed analog FM
processing wars.

p.s. There's also the gap between Channel 4 and Channel 5, covering 72 to
76 MHz, which could also be potentially used for "XFM" radio broadcasting.




		
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