Wednesday, August 26, 2020

That Doesn't Sound Too Good to Me

 I have mentioned problems with radio reception multiple times on this blog.  In fact, it was the subject of one of my earliest posts.  Well, things are still the same, if not worse.  Firstly, there is the store radio.  For some reason, I cannot receive a clear signal, or even a halfway decent one, most of the time on my store radio.  At least when it comes to my favorite station.  There are so many factors to consider, I am not sure where to start.  Moving the antenna sometimes works, as does adjusting the dial, but neither one can totally improve reception.  Turning of some of the store lights can help, but it also leaves the store fairly dark.  I can only do it when it also cools the store down, and when it is not too dark out.  Otherwise, I just turn off some lights when I think I hear a weather alert coming on.  The strangest help is by moving any vehicles in front of the store.  Obviously, I cannot ask others to move their cars, but I can at least make sure my car is not the one causing interference.  When all of these measures fail, I am forced to listen to either staticky songs or the bleeding in of a country music station, the one that seems to dominate the area, of some all news station, one whose signal is otherwise so weak, I cannot even tune it in many days on my car radio.  Speaking of my car radio, things have not been so well there either.  I got a new car last fall.  The radio system on it is different from the old one.  I can receive signals in some places that I couldn't get them in before.  Even the satellite radio has shorter dead spots, even when I do not have s free trial going on.  However, something unusual has occurred in the last few months.  Some stations, many of which are owned by the same company, have been getting very bad static at certain times and locations on my daily commute.  Some days, the static is so bad, I cannot even tell what station I am listening to.  Other days, the static is barely in the background, annoying but I can still tell what is on.  It occurs usually on the same stretch of road, with curves and hills causing the occasional improvement.  However, there is no way of knowing if going by later or earlier will cause any changes.  Some days, it does make a difference, maybe.  This also happens on a few other stretches of road, but since I do not travel them that often, I am not sure if the interference is connected.  This happens to a few other stations, but not as frequently.  Strangely enough, it never happens to that country station that regularly overtakes my favorite at the store, and the two stations are not even close in their frequencies.  Speaking of my favorite, I sometimes have another problem with it.  Just yesterday, the transmission started to fade.  It was like the signal was coming from a radio playing into their microphone, as opposed to being transmitted directly.  It corrected itself this morning, while an introduction to a morning show segment started.  Suddenly, the signal improved, but the conversation jumped to the middle of the first news item in the segment.  This station has a habit of having signal jumping, such as songs running too long and cutting off when it is past time to go back to a show or when it is time for a commercial.  I cannot be sure, but I think some of the problems started when the station joined a new service a few years ago, a national one.  I could be wrong, but it would explain the usual mx of older and old songs being played with newer ones, that just so happen to not necessarily be the ones that are on the top of the charts.  Especially the ones with a heavy rap presence, not that I always mind that.  But still.

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