Always, always, always remember - Digital circuits are made from analog
parts!
"Judah Smith" wrote in message
om...
I stumbled across the DRM (Digital Radio Mungaloids -or something like
that)...website the other day....and started doing some net searches.
Then I discovered the DAB digital radio information. Is digital
shortwave going to replace the current analog technology? That would
suck. I just bought within the last year or so, a couple of great
shortwave recievers. I can't afford to upgrade! Does that mean all
my shortwave equipment will be a very expensive paper weight? I was
under the impression that perhaps the old analog receivers could still
receive the signal, and you could just plug a digital decoder into the
recording or headphone jack....then plug your headsphones into that to
hear the digital signal, while keeping your old equipment. Or do you
think most broadcasters with broadcast simul-casts of both digital and
analog? Is my old SW radio seeing its demise? After 80 some years
how can they just pull the pull on SW listeners. What about people in
3rd world countries that can't afford the upgrades? ....yikes....no
more DXing!

Am I just an analog listener in a digital world?

Don't worry, DRM won't replace AM on shortwave any time soon - if ever.
Whoever wants DRM to become the new standard will have to have a very
long breath, 20-30 years for sure. In many poorer regions of the world
it's likely to be even longer - I don't see how, say, someone in India
who can barely afford a used ICF-7600DS can be offered any half decent
DRM radio any time soon. (Actually I'd give WorldSpace greater chances
of succeeding.) For the really poor regions, there's another problem -
servicing. Simple analog radios are usually not hard to repair, but if
some once-hypermodern-and-now-out-of-production IC fails, good luck
finding a replacement [1]; soldering and unsoldering of SMD stuff isn't
easy either.

DAB, BTW, is more of an FM replacement. Still has plenty of startup
problems here, in spite of having been introduced years ago. Time will
tell whether it'll become the new standard for "local" listening.

Stephan

[1] That reminds me of a story I once read - someone goes into an
electronics store and buys some tubes for his 40 year old radio, which
baffles another customer who needs an IC for his rather recent TV - this
is out of production already.
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