RE: stereo and mono signals

["Hakim Madjid" <HMadjid@mindspring.com>]

>Whenever WBUR is left in stereo inadvertantly at
>other times during news/talk programming (due
>to an occasional automated control glitch, etc...)
>people immediately start calling to complain
>about static, etc... and it's usually not people
>listening in the fringes, but people listening right
>in the metro area on poor quality receivers such
>as analog boomboxes, etc..

>I've tried to figure out the most polite way to say
>"you need a better radio"...

Inherent in the method of FM stereo broadcasting, you get around a 10db
reduction in signal to noise ratio at the receiver in stereo. This is
compounded by the fact that most people as you point out that the majority
of people listen on substandard receivers. Most boomboxes, $60
AM/FM/cassette walkman-type gear, or inexpensive portable radios have in
general just barely adequate FM tuners, IMHO. Even the FM tuner section in a
lot of the mass market home audio receivers from the big Japanese
manunfacturers exhibit middling performance, these days.

My own ideal dream FM setup (admittedly for those where money is no object)
would be to go out an get a McIntosh MR-78 FM tuner, when one shows up on
Ebay (about $800), then hook that up to a outdoor FM Yagi with a rotator.

73, de Hakim (N1ZFF)