FM Broadcast Band in China - 76-108 MHz

I noticed in looking at the latest World FM logs at www.fmlist.org that it would appear that at least 20 stations in China are now listed on frequencies between 78 and 87.5 MHz. Noting that China never used the old Soviet Bloc OIRT band, has that country began expanding the FM band below 87.5?

I ask this as it is speculated that an expansion of the American FM band to 76 MHz (or lower) after the DTV transition is complete would help relieve overcrowding on the FM band. Most Japanese radios tune the entire 76-108 spectrum, and if the PRC (where most consumer electronics are made anyway) expands their own FM band, it might make an American FM expansion a more feasible reality.

I don't see why not. Expanding the FM band down to 76 MHz worldwide just makes more sense overall for everybody........

I believe Japan also uses the lower part of the FM band as well.

elchupacabras said:

I believe Japan also uses the lower part of the FM band as well.

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That's right Mr. Chupacabra. And here's a fresh young, extra juicy and super tasty goat for ya!....

Their FM band runs from 76-90 MHz. They go to 108 MHz for listening to FM stations abroad. Their analog VHF TV band took up 90-108 MHz so it was also pretty convenient. But I don't think ANY TV in Japan is broadcast in analog anymore.

China and other Asian countries go across the 76-108 FM spectrum, most usually stay within 88-108 though. There are even stations in Australia that dip WELL BELOW 88 MHz now...

Like I said, FM needs to start taking over these frequencies ASAP in this hemisphere to transplant AMs and lighten up the congestion (especially in Puget Sound! It's getting ridiculous here.....)

Wanna hear a cool Japanese FM station online?:

Shonan Beach FM 78.9:

http://www.simulradio.jp/asx/shonanbeachfm.asx (complete with live outdoor webcam feed)

http://www.beachfm.co.jp/index_e.html

More cool online Japanese FM stations here:

http://www.simulradio.jp

Bongwater said:

elchupacabras said:

I believe Japan also uses the lower part of the FM band as well.

Click to expand...

China and other Asian countries go across the 76-108 FM spectrum, most usually stay within 88-108 though. There are even stations in Australia that dip WELL BELOW 88 MHz now...

Like I said, FM needs to start taking over these frequencies ASAP in this hemisphere to transplant AMs and lighten up the congestion (especially in Puget Sound! It's getting ridiculous here.....)

Click to expand...

I had never noticed any stations below 87.5 in the PRC before, but fmlist.org shows stations as low as 78.3 MHz. I hadn't heard of any expansion of the BCB in China, so perhaps it was done quietly or as part of their DTV transition.

As for Australia, how low of a freq are you referring to? The lowest that fmlist.org shows is 87.6. Do you have any links to stations that are broadcasting below that?

Bongwater said:

elchupacabras said:

I believe Japan also uses the lower part of the FM band as well.

Click to expand...

More cool online Japanese FM stations here:

http://www.simulradio.jp

Click to expand...

do you know of any pages in english?? or how can i translate with safari 4?

Bongwater said:

That's right Mr. Chupacabra. And here's a fresh young, extra juicy and super tasty goat for ya!....

Click to expand...

Thanks! It was delicious!

TV in Japan is still in the lower band in analog, I'm playing with a few Japanese webtuners and the one in Tokyo is getting NHK 1 and 2 audio at 95.75 and 107.75 MHz (Not sure which is which)

The tuner in Nagano has one of the NHK stations at 101.75 though I can't get an audio stream working there.

When Japan turns off Analog in 2011

Would the Japanese FM band move to 88-108 or stay at 76-90??

Since most Japanese-spec FM receivers tune continuously from 76-108, the FM band may expand, but I don't see it relocating.

I had originally wondered if a precedent had been set with a country expanding their FM band.

Is there any cheap Radio's in the US that has the 76-108 FM Band??

If you are able to get hold of an Archos Jukebox FM device and load Rockbox onto it, the FM tuner function in Rockbox can be set to use the American, Japanese and Chinese VHF bands, thus facilitating tuning 76-108 in 50 kHz increments.....

But from my experience, it does work but is quite unstable.

Most iRiver mp3 player products also can tune the Japanese bad through a setting. It can be done with the default software or with the excellent Rockbox overlay that Mario mentioned.

Chad-Stevens said:

I had originally wondered if a precedent had been set with a country expanding their FM band.

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Here in the UK the FM band I believe started as 88.1 - 97.6 and gradually expanded to the full internationally agreed 87.6-107.9, first with 102.0-104.9 being added (early 1980s), then 97.7-99.7 (mid 1980s), then 99.8-101.9 (late 1980s) and finally 105.0-107.9 (mid 1990s). I'm not sure when 87.6-88.0 was officially added. It was certainly by the early 1990s.

This was because the band was used by public services for communications (mainly the railways and police - in the clear!). Pirates operated in these bands with impunity throughout the 1980s and early 90s, though. I suspect they were effectively clear of public service comms in 99% of the country a very long time before they were cleared for FM use.

I think it's fair to say that the government was pretty reluctant to expand FM: until about 1990ish they weren't at all keen on competition in commercial radio (the left wing governments of the 1970s disliked commercial media intensely, and the 1980s right wing goverments were the reverse - very friendly with radio station owners who liked their monopolies). The FM band being too small provided a useful excuse.

Further expansion, though, is highly unlikely - here in the UK the 76-80 area will continue to be used by the fire service at least until full digital switchover, and 80-87.4 is used fairly heavily by private mobile radio (taxis and the like). These could be cleared, but there's no real interest in doing that. If they did want an extra VHF broadcast band here in the UK, for FM or digital use, 55-68MHz would be much more likely (it's almost totally empty).

@ smorris - I had heard that UK radio was scheduled to go all digital in a different band negating any need for expanding the current band

@ all - Cowon iAudio MP3 players with built-in FM receivers can be set to tune 76-90, 88-108, or 76-108.

A friend once gave me a Britt radio which went up to 104 on FM.

I also have a UK multiband radio that also goes up to 104 MHz. Made by Hacker

Bongwater said:

FM needs to start taking over these frequencies ASAP in this hemisphere to transplant AMs and lighten up the congestion (especially in Puget Sound! It's getting ridiculous here.....)

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Won't ever happen. Look at how great HD is doing. Maybe 10 people in the Puget Sound area have them?

boombox said:

Bongwater said:

FM needs to start taking over these frequencies ASAP in this hemisphere to transplant AMs and lighten up the congestion (especially in Puget Sound! It's getting ridiculous here.....)

Click to expand...

Won't ever happen. Look at how great HD is doing. Maybe 10 people in the Puget Sound area have them?

Click to expand...

What was ridiculous in 2009 (when I wrote that) is utterly insane now......And they're going to pack even MORE stations up here. Roughly as many as 40 (LPFMs, a few Class A's in NW WA ......)

Woops, I wasn't paying close attention to the date of your thread entry....

Yeah, FM is crowded, one reason I don't attempt to DX it -- I never know whether I'm hearing an image of a local station or a translator. On some frequencies there are more than one translator competing with each other.