DEBATE ABOUT Irish road safety rages on but I don't think a single-issue candidate will emerge which means the average politician won't lose re-election on the back of doing nothing about the roads. In fact, the top politician in Ireland can speed to and from engagements, be clocked above the limit, and emerging smiling from his Mercedes because his poll ratings increase. Nonetheless, I believe the tech community and the gearheads agree there are two standards worth mandating before new cars are certified as road-worthy in Ireland.
1. I believe all new cars sold in Ireland should be required to have an AUX input to the radio control head so you can jack your playlist directly into your car's sound sytem.
2. All new car radios and all after-market car radios sold in Ireland must be certified to receive signals on 87.7 and 87.9. They should, unless they originated in the US.
Doc points out something important about blank frequencies.
Every FM radio transmits a blank signal 10.7 MHz above and below the tuned frequency. So a radio tuned to 105.1 also transmits a blank signal at 109.8 and 95.4. You can sometimes hear these when you're sitting at a light in your car, hit SCAN, and the radio stops at a station broadcasting nothing. That's a blank signal being sent by a nearby car radio tuned to a station 10.6 or 10.8MHz above or below the signal you're hearing. Yes, in the U.S. stations are only on odd-numbered decimals (other parts of the world use the evens as well), but not every station is tuned in well; and the IF (intermediate frequency) stage of a radio's receiver may not be working on-frequency either. This is why the FCC has minimum spacings between stations 10.6 or 10.8MHz apart. It's also why flight attendants tell you not to listen to FM radios in airplanes. Aviation bands start right above the top end of the FM band.
Doc Searls -- "Hearing Things"
