Is there FTA radio for car like XM?

[Virgil Gomes]

Hi There,

Got a stupid question:

Is there such a thing as FTA radio for your car (like for example XM)?

There is a lot of FTA satellites that have radio. I was just wondering if there is equipment for your car to recieve it.

Thank you,

Virgil

 

[Mr Tony]

sadly no

 

[kstuart]

FTA satellite requires a dish at least 30 inches in diameter.
In order to get around that requirement, Satellite Radio companies have launched special very high power satellites that can be received with small car antennas. The companies charge $10-$13 per month in order to pay for these satellites.

 

[updatelee]

you could take a look at the farrag setups.

http://farragsat.33host.com/

he had an article in tele-satellite 0611, was quite interesting.

 

[jayelem]

Wait .... Hold on...

There is something called HD RADIO , and all you need is a HD Car deck or for home use a HD Radio Receiver.

In fact ...... there is a forum or Thread here at satellite guys..........
here is the link : http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php?f=117

It sounds real cool , and it's FREE
From what I know this is great for people who live near metropolitan areas, something about a 50 mile radius.

 

[1inabillion]

Great info time to upgrade 2 HD 1&2 Radio.:up

 

[kstuart]

HD Radio is simply the digital version of FM Radio, just like HD TV is simply the digital version of OTA TV.
None of it is "satellite" (but it can still be good anyway, of course).

 

[jayelem]

Might not be Satellite but still good- Check this out

HD Radio is simply the digital version of FM Radio, just like HD TV is simply the digital version of OTA TV.
None of it is "satellite" (but it can still be good anyway, of course).

You make it sound unspectacular.

But what I found to be real neat was that one station could transmit more than one audio channel on the same frequency.

Meaning , Yes the regular radio station in Digital but also a 2nd station commercial free music or talk radio.

The possibilities are endless. Here's a pic of Chicago Stations listing FREQ , look at the second station to the right.

I'm not jumping on the HD Radio Bandwagon as of yet , but I don't doubt that soon this will be standard on newer car radios.

 

[Mr Tony]

correct. But there are limitatations
-its right now in MAJOR metro areas. Like here in Minneapolis there is only 9 "subchannels" and two of them are an AM station they own.
-its limited by distance. Once you get 35 miles from the towers or so it dies out

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Eventually all FM and AM stations will have it - its just like HDTV - the bigger cities had it before the smaller cities - as they were able to pay to add the equipment.

I can already tell you there are cities in the 75-100 market rank with HD Radio, including Ft. Myers/Naples Florida and Tulsa for example.

Eventually, when they cut off the analog part (probably not for 10 or so years), you will be able to have 8 full channels on the single FM frequency - and AM sounds as good if not better than FM sounds now.

 

[Anole]

Considering that most of the popular Los Angeles rock stations sold out to foreign language over the last 10..20 years, I won't hold my breath.
However, this programming list does look encouraging.
I just wonder how long they'll dangle the carrot (to suck us into buying) before they smack us around with some new form of advertizing?

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Well, you can bet 100% that eventually there will be advertising on it - though probably not as much as the current stations use. It's either that or pay for $10+ a month to the Satellite Radio Companies.

On the other hand you can pay for a 3G wireless service (around $50 a month) and have internet access to get you some type of stream to your car without the monthly fee for the actual station - but clearly worse quality at this time - though it will get better.

The bigger question is how long do you intend to own your current car, keep a current cellphone or think your iPod will last before you replace that.

 

[N5XZS]

Don't forget the DRM radio on shortwave bands it's also in digital!!

Here's the information on DRM's website www.drm.org and have fun radio dxing! :

 

[jayelem]

Don't forget the DRM radio on shortwave bands it's also in digital!!

Here's the information on DRM's website www.drm.org and have fun radio dxing! :

WOW , thanks for the info.

It be nice if it did HD Radio also.

I killed my Grundig SW Radio years ago , I have a nice Radio Shack SW model with RDS , but haven't listened to it in over a year.

I didn't read any info on DRM , Do you know if it fades in and out like SW .
Ok better read on , sounds interesting.

 

[jegrant]

Dr. Farrag's quarter-sphere antenna (quite a ways down the above linked webpage) looked pretty promising for car usage. The current solution of the "helmet" shaped antenna, with integrated receiver and video sender, would attract too much attention - people would wonder which aliens I was talking to .

Also, there was a very short-lived attempt at an FTA version of satellite radio, but it didn't take off. Signal Radio US, apparently associated with long-time shortwave broadcaster Chuck Harder, leased a transponder on a Ku satellite and used a 1/2 FEC rate to make it easier to receive on a portable receiver. In any case, they then offered individual audio channels to broadcasters who were interested - and there was even a choice of mono or stereo (stereo costing about twice as much).

From what I can tell, the Signal Radio idea died due to lack of broadcaster interest combined with the lease deal on the satellite falling apart.

An archive of the website:
http://web.archive.org/web/20041229110339/http://www.signalradio.us/pages/1/index.htm

It says the system was designed to accommodate up to 500 (presumably mono) (or 250 stereo) channels.

I still think it would be a great idea. It just needs someone with more financial backing to get behind it. It would be interesting to see some of the big shortwave broadcasting stations and/or networks get behind this. It would give them a platform for the future, with better reception and coverage.

 

[Outernet]

Reviving an ancient post. Stay tuned to Outernet. We might just have something for you.

 

[KE4EST]

Hmm that is interesting.

 

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

Cool to hear!

Man, looking back HD Radio certainly was a bust.

 

[satgirl51]

Most of the young crowd just use pandora, slacker, spotify etc on their phone. With bluetooth it will automatically connect to your car stereo and its free with less commercials than FM, plus for a small fee, I pay $2.99 a month for slacker, you get no ads or commercials and unlimited song skipping. Audio quality is also much better than FM. Of course you must have a cell signal and a data plan but most do now days anyways.

 

[barleyguy]

Most of the young crowd just use pandora, slacker, spotify etc on their phone. With bluetooth it will automatically connect to your car stereo and its free with less commercials than FM, plus for a small fee, I pay $2.99 a month for slacker, you get no ads or commercials and unlimited song skipping. Audio quality is also much better than FM. Of course you must have a cell signal and a data plan but most do now days anyways.

I'm almost 100% Pandora. I tried Slacker; I love the features such as the sliders, but the sound quality was terrible last I checked (which was about two years ago). 128K with brittle highs. Pandora prime, OTOH, sounds excellent. It's audiophile quality, if you're not part of the high-res FLAC crowd.

HD Radio is almost all Clear Channel. And most of those channels are on their I Heart Radio app.

One thing I do miss about "the good old days" is having a local radio station that everybody listens to. When I was a teenager there was a local rock station with a 52% market share. It caused a cultural common ground. I do love having personalized music without commercials, but I don't think I listen to the same stuff as anybody else does.