Somebody explain to me, are they going to switch off the FM bandwidth? I mean, is it technically possible? I know nothing about it, but I'm getting extremely worried about this idea, which may be a phantom. Is it that all legal and commercial stations will be taken off air, leaving the airwaves empty, but, um, useable? If FM no longer exists what happens to community and pirate radio? Stations with short-term licenses? Wouldn't that irrevocably damage the texture of London? Can such violence be allowed? Or am I just hopelessly confused about the whole thing? I would like to know what's going on, if anyone knows.
reeltoreel
Well-known member
I don't think it's technically feasible to jam most of the FM bandwidth. When you hear talk of 'FM switch-off', what is meant is that the station will be switched over to digital technology, rather than somehow eliminating the band from existence. You'll be technically able to broadcast on some part of the FM band for as long as people are able to build analog transmitters.
There's a wiki page which seems to be fairly comprehensive:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_radio_in_the_United_Kingdom
There's a wiki page which seems to be fairly comprehensive:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_radio_in_the_United_Kingdom
Just found this which I thought was interesting. Seems like the only thing stopping digital pirate radio stations is a lack of demand...
http://nick.piggott.name/blog/2007/04/21/pirate-radio-and-dab/
http://nick.piggott.name/blog/2007/04/21/pirate-radio-and-dab/
