I have to admit that I'm rethinking my over-the-air activities with Artisan Radio.
I listen to the station mostly around the house. I can receive it for a little distance in my car (the range dependent on the obstructions in the direction I'm travelling) but the quality quickly deteriorates (even with the greater field strength afforded to BETS in Canada).
While travelling back and forth to the hospital this past month (multiple times each day), I found myself listening to Artisan Radio via Bluetooth, streaming through my cellphone to the car radio. There were hardly any dropouts, the quality was excellent, and with the way the meta data is set up, I was able to view all sorts of song info on the car dashboard.
I found myself listening to the stream even when I could have listened to the over-the-air signal. The quality was just better.
It's gotten me to wonder why I both with over-the-air. Is it worth the hassle of potential complaints, Industry Canada visits, etc.?
I haven't made any decisions, just thinking right now.
I don't see how anyone would complain. How do you affect anyone else? Unless someone who doesn't know better says you can't do that and calls the CRTC as that's what they'd think of first, not ISED. But if you aren't affecting anything or anyone else why would someone report you just for no reason?
Hope you don't abandon the over the air. I mean, this is hobby radio. Streaming is contributing to the death of terrestrial radio. Me personally I don't need to have it everywhere with me and I am home the majority of the time.
What I would say, Artisan, is that over-the-air radio at our low power levels requires stationary listening and is not conducive to mobile reception. Low power hobby radio is best for listeners indoors or outdoors that are within a given space.
Also, I gather from what you write that you are judging based on FM results, and as we often acknowledge, AM is better for range, but then you have noted the better audio fidelity comparison...
Whatever the case, I go with Mark in advocating for keeping your legacy transmissions because it's the right thing to do.
I don't know how serious I am. I have been doing this since 2006, after all. It's just that sometimes the lack of range, at least mobile, gets frustrating. You just start to drive and you're out of the listening zone.
AM isn't all that much better here in Canada than FM. Yes, it has better overall range, but the static free listening zone is actually less than BETS FM. Plus, if you live in a concrete jungle, AM is much less than optimal. Even FM range is negatively affected.
I do listen at home the most, but it would be just as easy to stream bluetooth from a computer to either speakers or headphones than listen to a radio. Streaming via the Internet is necessary if you're going to stream through your phone. That can be done either via a public server, or privately (i.e., hiding your IP address).
As an aside, I don't believe that streaming is killing radio. Radio is killing radio with its lack of local and interesting programming. You can listen to what you want to all by your little self.
If radio gave people what other services couldn't, it might survive. Instead, it keeps following the same path it started upon in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Endlessly repeating playlists, no matter what the genre. Inane talk. Very little if any local content.
Bring back intelligent DJ's, creative programming and local interest. Otherwise radio as we now know it is doomed.
I find myself using my stream more as well. I wear hearing aids so mostly I just bluetooth my phone to them and listen that way. No disturbing other people in the house. In my car I can use the radio around Raglan with no dropouts (because we have more txt power here and can cover the whole town), but as soon as Im out of range I use the bluetooth back to my hearing aids. When Im in my bedroom resting its bluetoothing again to a bluetooth receiver hooked up to a good pair of speakers which have better sound then my hearing aids (more bass). I have smart tv's in the house and I use them as well to listen to the radio. If I had to use the same power that you guys are stuck with, yes I most likely wouldnt bother with a transmitter and just do streaming. I dont listen to any of the other stations here in Raglan so if I want something else its other streaming stations.
I don't agree that radio stations playing a playlist that repeats is actually the problem for radio.
Artisan examples the 50s and 60s but the hit parade and rock and roll and great DJs actually saved radio from TV. All us Boomers grew up with a radio listening to our favorite station. Yes it was top 40 or 50 but each week some new songs came and some went. I for one when I heard that new song I loved I wanted to hear it again and again! You don't want to hear something and never hear it again. Why do we buy records? Or now download? Because you want to hear your favorites over again and have them for your own.
Talk about repetition, I am still, and it will never change, listening to what I grew up with and that's what my station plays. I listen to the same stuff I listened to 65 years ago. Now, I have a huge playlist but still it has boundaries. It has to begin and end at some point. It can't be endless. No playlist can be endless to never have repeats. As for local yes radio stations used to have local owners and program directors and DJs and that is not as it is now but I don't think that's the big reason for radio's demise, just a bit of it. I don't know what local and interesting programming really is. As for streaming, you are just going to play the same thing you are doing over the air via internet. Not local now. The difference,
just radio in a different medium. I live in the past and what I grew up with. I am local to my neighbourhood. If I were to stream I wouldn't be local anymore. And isn't it something we "part 15" hobbyists should be reviving...local radio?