[BC] GE Superadio III vs. IBOC hash

[Kevin Tekel]

Robert Meuser wrote:
 > The problem with your statement is the the FCC or its predecessor set
 > up an unrealistic allocation system that has been further politically
 > corrupted over time.  Wideband radios do NOT work in today's practical
 > broadcast environment.  This is a sad but true fact, except that we CAN
 > employ some form of digital that will drastically improve the band and
 > move radio into a new dimension.

Maybe so, but in that case we are going in the totally wrong direction
with hybrid IBOC.  If the band is already too crowded for +/- 10 kHz
analog to be practical, then +/- 15 kHz digital will be a total disaster,
regardless if it "fits the mask" or not.

And FWIW, exlcuding IBOC hash, most of the complaints I hear about AM
reception these days aren't about adjacent-channel "monkey chatter";
they're about noise, static, and nighttime co-channel interference.
There are many AM stations out there whose signals get totally murdered at
night because they're unlucky enough to be on a "graveyard channel".  Even
on a so-called "regional" channel, nighttime reception can become sketchy
outside of a station's city-grade contour, and stations in the Expanded
Band often get hit with heavy co-channel skywave interference.

Restricting bandwidth -- at the transmitter and/or the receiver -- does
nothing to alleviate co-channel interference, and it is highly
questionable whether or not any kind of digital system (even DRM) would be
able to work under these conditions.  The only effective solution is to
either clean out the band, or to pass a Constitutional amendment
officially declaring skywave propagation to be obsolete and illegal.