[BC] IBOC in trouble?

[Dan Dickey]

I truly believe that this technology is already well understood.  The DSS 
companies (e.g. Echostar & DirecTV) are doing it all the time and have been 
for years.  There will come a day when a software defined portable radio is 
the norm.  It's just too hard to predict what day that will be but I am 
convinced it will happen.

SDR is inevitable if radio is ever going to catch up to the speed of 
innovation in the digital world.  There are already examples of digital 
broadcast systems that are not enjoying world wide adoption.  I believe it 
is easily argued that if these systems were software defined they would be 
adopted at a much faster rate because the uncertainty factor would not be an 
issue.  There is so much concern about the rate of technology change that 
many are afraid of adopting something that is obsolete almost before initial 
deployment.  The ability to adapt the radio in the field without the 
listener's active participation would make just about any system viable no 
matter how bad it is from day one.

Best regards,
Dan Dickey

>>The bad-flashing scenario would probably be the greater concern... 
>>suddenly,
>>a number of radios HD sections "drop dead" when bad code is mistakenly fed
>>from the station? Hmmm, probably not too likely.