Am I crazy?

[OnkyoMan]

After not buying a tuner for 2 years (I have about a dozen now), I broke down and snapped up a Yamaha T-85 on a Buy it Now auction over at Ebay for $175. I already have a Yamaha T-80 which I love it, but I have been craving a T-85 for years now and couldn't resist.

24 hours have passed, and I have no regrets or buyer's remorse at all, but sometimes I wonder how many years I can get out of my FM tuners. How worried should we all be that most FM stations will go digital in the next decade and drop analog altogether? I'm hoping that 2 factors are going in our favor to prolong the analog period:

1. The radio industry in general is financially strapped right now, so I can't imagine station owners are salivating at the thought of having to purchase alot of new equipment to allow them to transmit digitally.

2. I am secretly hoping that there is going to be enough of a public hue and cry against the digital mandate that television is about to undergo that the feds will think twice about messing with good old analog FM.

What does everyone think is the life span of analog FM? Should we think twice before investing in another expensive analog tuner?


Fred

[KC5KBV]

After not buying a tuner for 2 years (I have about a dozen now), I broke down and snapped up a Yamaha T-85 on a Buy it Now auction over at Ebay for $175. I already have a Yamaha T-80 which I love it, but I have been craving a T-85 for years now and couldn't resist.

24 hours have passed, and I have no regrets or buyer's remorse at all, but sometimes I wonder how many years I can get out of my FM tuners. How worried should we all be that most FM stations will go digital in the next decade and drop analog altogether? I'm hoping that 2 factors are going in our favor to prolong the analog period:

1. The radio industry in general is financially strapped right now, so I can't imagine station owners are salivating at the thought of having to purchase alot of new equipment to allow them to transmit digitally.

2. I am secretly hoping that there is going to be enough of a public hue and cry against the digital mandate that television is about to undergo that the feds will think twice about messing with good old analog FM.

What does everyone think is the life span of analog FM? Should we think twice before investing in another expensive analog tuner?


Fred

Fred, your comparing apples and oranges when DTV and IBOC radio are compared. There will be isolated pockets of resistance to DTV, but I see it mainly in very rural areas or by a few Luddites clinging to their console TVs.

IBOC radio by its present hybrid design is crippled in coverage, pukes out a wide signal, and very few cars (even new ones) have IBOC receivers. The IBOC people have to win the car in order to get analog FM put out and I don't see that happening. Heck, the present day radio stations have trouble programming what stations are on the air, much less dealing with more subchannels (the *only* good thing about FM IBOC, IMHO).

I'd say you have at least 10 more years on that T-85 tuner. Analog FM is going to stay for a long time, until IBOC is standard on car radios and even by then the limited hybrid coverage is going to be the deal breaker.

[cd637299]

I would add, that it would also depend on where you live. I have a JVC RX302BK modified by Bruce Elving w/ 150 kHz filters in 1991. Still going strong, but since the debut of IBOC, my location is not the mecca it used to be. My 2nd adjacents are fine.....but any 1st adjacents with IBOC, it would have to be strong strong Tropo or Es to kill it.

Those who know me, know that much of my TV & FM DXing is now away from home. I have a couple of really cool spots to do it....however with FM I have to use a battery radio. I took to JVC (plus tape deck) to a motel in the Keys 2 years ago with good results, but boy what a load to haul.

cd