I’ve been using an iTrip radio antenna with my iPod while driving for a while now. Most of my driving is in the column between Washington, DC and New Haven, CT, and 87.9 is pretty clear the whole way. However, while driving out to Albany today it got very messy as I approached the city.
My q: Is there a list somewhere of open radio channels in various cities? I’d really like to know a good channel for the Albany area, but having access to a general list would be nice for the future.
That’s the fatal flaw of those things. Around Chicago I’m hard pressed to find any frequency not used by another station within range.
This is nice, but it claims there to be no stations below 88.3 in or around Albany, and I get interference on 87.9. What I’m looking for is a list of channels known to be clear, not known to be used.
Are you able to identify the interfering station? That might be the audio from TV channel 6, WRGB (channel 6’s 6MHz band, 82-88MHz, bumps up against the bottom of the FM band; the audio carrier should be at about 87.75), which would explain why it’s not shown in the list of radio broadcasters.
IOW, the list may be complete and accurate for a list of “radio” stations and only be missing the TV stations. (Channel 6 is the only one likely to interfere substantially You might try some of the other gaps in the list to see if the list is reasonably complete.
Here’s a list of TV stations in New York (other states’ links at bottom); you can find the other channels 6 to see where else interference is likely.
I haven’t had a chance to check this out yet (I’m teaching at a CTY summer program, which has been keeping me pretty busy), but that may very well be it. Silly me, I assumed that when the FCC partitioned the EM bands they’d keep radio and television from bumping into each other like that.
Griffin Technology, maker of the iTrip, has a station finder program here. Click on iTrip station finder 2.0, for either mac or windows.
I love this company. Just ordered an AirClick USB this morning (the one I have for my iPod is great).
Technically, they do, but as with so much technology, the FCC hasn’t kept up. Radios aren’t supposed to be able to receive below 88 FM, but with the popularity of RF connectivity for devices like CD players and iPods, there may have to be changes in frequency allocations if the FCC thinks there’s a problem.
Robin
Man, thanks. That’s exactly what I need. And from the guys who make the gadget I’m trying to use to boot.