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What If..... HD was the standrard and there was a local or national emergency?

R

RadioEngnr

I don't know if this topic was addressed before...Lets say there was a major hurricane/earthquake and electrical power is knocked out in a wide spread area I for one feel comfortable knowing that there is analog AM and FM if not for nothing else for receiving emergency information even if I what was receiving was static at least I could still here the message, I know that the Primary Entry Point Stations will still be on the air broadcasting in analog
 
Keep in mind the government has addressed this issue directly in the Homeland Security Act, and the revised EAS procedures. There should always be a way for local emergency officials to provide information, assuming they communicate that information to licensees and the system is working.
 
RadioEngnr said:
I don't know if this topic was addressed before...Lets say there was a major hurricane/earthquake and electrical power is knocked out in a wide spread area I for one feel comfortable knowing that there is analog AM and FM if not for nothing else for receiving emergency information even if I what was receiving was static at least I could still here the message, I know that the Primary Entry Point Stations will still be on the air broadcasting in analog
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I would say we would basically be screwed. HD radio may yet achieve a moderate penetration in the consumer market - if they just blanket the market with receivers (assuming consumers can learn to operate them), but that time is not now. AM radio is still probably the best avenue for distributing official government information.
 
I've always said this is one of the reasons HD needs to be eliminated on the AM band. Lightning discharges will take out the signal, it would be impossible to get important weather alerts during a storm with HD on AM. Sure analog AM would be noisy with lightning discharge static but at least you'd be able to make out the message.
 
I think you have to assume if the local stations were still broadcasting, they would be broadcasting the same information that WLW or WBBM would be broadcasting. And if the local stations are off, then the HD hash isn't a problem.
 
spunker88 said:
I've always said this is one of the reasons HD needs to be eliminated on the AM band. Lightning discharges will take out the signal, it would be impossible to get important weather alerts during a storm with HD on AM. Sure analog AM would be noisy with lightning discharge static but at least you'd be able to make out the message.
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AM HD is very prone to interference. Which includes power lines. Interference completely in audible on analog AM causes HD AM to drop. Completely away from power lines, I can get lock on an X bander 80 miles away. Remarkable because it is really weak. But anywhere near power lines and HD is gone.
 
Down here, AM radio won't be much of a factor in case of our most-expected type of emergency. The AM tower sites will be underwater, so it won't matter much whether they're analog or digital. Disappointing this doesn't get the attention it should. Sea level is not a good place to be in case of flooding and tsunamis.
 
RadioEngnr said:
I don't know if this topic was addressed before...Lets say there was a major hurricane/earthquake and electrical power is knocked out in a wide spread area I for one feel comfortable knowing that there is analog AM and FM if not for nothing else for receiving emergency information even if I what was receiving was static at least I could still here the message, I know that the Primary Entry Point Stations will still be on the air broadcasting in analog
Click to expand...

When it comes to digital, this would be a problem no matter what the standard was. How many rural areas would lose coverage if we were to adopt L-band digital? That is the same system that required five transmitters pods just to cover Toronto and still had dead areas in the city! Band II is above FM and would have similar problems in a land as vast as ours.

Of course, this problem isn't new. When Greensburg, KS got hit by a tornado in the middle of the night in '07, there were only two stations that put a citygrade signal over the town, and neither originated from Kiowa County, where Greensburg is. Outside of the tornado sirens and a handful of people with weather radios, no one got the information needed. So, I'm not sure much changes if HD were the standard.
 
I think some people here are missing the point especially considering how much worse the storms have been recently from global warming. If anything we should have an improvement in disaster communications not a degradation as HD radio surely is, would anyone here want to depend on an HD radio for disaster info... especially in for ex. tornados were imminent? Not me that is for sure.
 
KB1OKL said:
I think some people here are missing the point especially considering how much worse the storms have been recently from global warming. If anything we should have an improvement in disaster communications not a degradation as HD radio surely is, would anyone here want to depend on an HD radio for disaster info... especially in for ex. tornados were imminent? Not me that is for sure.
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Please don't link HD radio with junk science like global warming. Oh - wait a minute - HD radio is based on junk science! So I guess they are similar in that respect.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
Please don't link HD radio with junk science like global warming. Oh - wait a minute - HD radio is based on junk science! So I guess they are similar in that respect.
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97% of scientists agree that global warming is real -- and 97% of radio engineers agree that HD Radio does not belong on the AM band.

The other 3% are Exxon-Mobil and iBiquity shareholders, respectively.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
Fortunately, radio engineers are a smarter bunch than climate alarmists.
Click to expand...

In that case, I join the ranks of fellow "climate alarmists" like Chris Christie and Michael Bloomberg since Hurricane Sandy knocked down my antenna, took my station off the air, and caused $10,000+ of damage to my property.

It's grade school science: warmer atmosphere + higher sea levels = storms are stronger and more frequent. Here in NJ we've had three "100 year" storms in the past decade... and even an earthquake thrown in for fun!
 
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