The AM Stereo Thread

Interesting that they had Tandy in Australia. Tandy = Radio Shack with all the same brands like Realistic. I'm not sure why they changed the name, although most people in the U.K (where we also had Tandy) would associate "Shack" with a poor quality building.

 

I have no clue - in the Netherlands FM coverage was pretty good, compare to AM much better sound quality.

 

I'm the one who recorded those AM-stereo airchecks of WDGY that are on archive.org. Unfortunately, WDGY quit broadcasting in AM-stereo and resumed HD radio back in November of 202o, not long after the FCC announced that AM stations would be allowed to broadcast in all-digital MA3 mode IBOC HD radio. The owner (who sadly passed away not long after) was a proponent of all-digital AM, with 740 WDGY being a test station for MA3 back in 2014. WDGY ran HD (hybrid MA1) on their AM for a few years afterwards before dropping it supposedly due to issues with keeping HD locked on car radios throughout the metro. C-QUAM was possible through a setting on the Nautel IBOC exciter that was already installed. It was fun while it lasted.

You can still enjoy C-QUAM AM-stereo on 540 WXYG which makes it's way into the metro with a listenable signal during winter.

 

Sadly, CHQR, the last station in my area to broadcast in Stereo on Am is no longer. They are now an AM repeater to a new FM talk station and they must have decommissioned the cquam modulator as my stereo light no longer lights up.

All I have now is my Cquam modulator…but it’s just not the same when you’re programming it yourself from a few hundred feet away.

 

Yes, I once had an actual part-15 station with a full board, audio processing etc.
The tx/antenna was mounted high up on a pole outside and had a proper ground radial. Range was about 2-3km radius depending on the direction and conditions. Strong signal up to 1.5km always.
I would listen to my live feeds on a Carver TX-11a rather than the board most of the time while in the studio. The stereo signal was that good.


Today, I just have a small modulator with a wire antenna and usually my Sony SRF-A100 or one of my am stereo walkmans. Everything else is in storage atm.

 

AM radio is all but dead up here in Western Canada on the Coast. It has been years since there were any AM radio stations that played music at all. Last week 2 more AM stations went off air, same owner laying off 1300 across the country, 1040AM that was a 24 hours sports station and 1410AM that was just piped in US Bloomberg news.

Late night DX from the skipsignal, being doing that since 94', a lot of US stations, mostly boring junk and squabbling politics or crazy preachers screaming about this or that. I just can't find anything worth listening to.

As for FM, the dial is packed with junk, so I use my own micro transmitter with a 10 foot range, to put something worth listening to on the dial at 108 That way I can at least use an old radio or two.

What I am going to do it get one of those very low power AM transmitter kits from ebay. That way I can find something worth listening to on the dial. Because I transmitted it there

All these nice old radios but nothing to listen to. Really sad. Back in the 90's it seemed there were so many cool stations playing strange ambient electronica and sounds I never heard before. Never listened enough. Always put it off. Then the stations were all gone