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Does Lack of FM Support On Phones Increase Your Chances of Dying In a Disaster?
theodp writes "You may not know it," reports NPR's Emma Bowman, "but most of today's smartphones have FM radios inside of them. But the FM chip is not activated on two-thirds of devices. That's because mobile makers have the FM capability switched off. The National Association of Broadcasters has been asking mobile makers to change this. But the mobile industry, which profits from selling data to smartphone users, says that with the consumer's move toward mobile streaming apps, the demand for radio simply isn't there." But FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate says radio-enabled smartphones could sure come in handy during times of emergency. So, is it irresponsible not to activate the FM chips? And should it's-the-app-way-or-the-highway Apple follow Microsoft's lead and make no-static-at-all FM available on iPhones?
No.
Subversive topic to say the m$ has a static-less fm product?
So I would say, no, if FM is nearing end of life in general.
I'd take a built in HAM radio.
In a post about half a page down from this article, Norway is going to kill off FM in favor of digital (DAB) as the only broadcast method.
So there you are.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
Yesterday it was some country switching off FM radio because reasons, today it's this nonsense. It's as if the millenials running Slashdot unplugged their Nomads and suddenly discovered this thing called radio.
Is so much better than not having a thing. FM radio reception on my cellular would be better, and would help fill the local information gap that the greater Internet doesn't care about.
Which is sort of the *opposite* of open anything (;-))
davecb@spamcop.net
I think the article is either miswritten or FEMA/NAB misdirecting their blame. I highly doubt the manufacturers of the phones (LG, Samsung, etc) are the ones pushing for the disabling of the FM chip but requirements from the mobile service providers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc) who as the article noted are far more inclined to rake in profits if customers use data services instead of over the air reception and have a long history of locking down phone features for their own enrichment. FYI I tried to load the app National Association of Broadcasters is noting in this article (NextRadio) and I couldn't, apparently even though FM is enabled on my phone their app is only supported on a a select set of phones.
Personally, I'm tired of paying excessive prices for lack-lustre products while suits make an undeserved fortune. White collar corruption.
Am i the only one still listening FM radio on my smartphone? Batteries last literally for ever. Quality is totally acceptable especially with good reception and -personal taste- it's much better than any 128kbps MP3 stream. I'm too cheap for 24/24 streaming and my SD card only holds that much music. Yet i like to listen to radio stations, especially when walking.
Just look at previous desasters and see who was saved by having a cellphone with FM and who dies because they did not have FM on their cellphones.
You should also take into account who dies becase of FM and who lived because they did NOT have when no disaster was going on.
And how often do emergencies happen? In all my life I have NEVER been in a situation where my life depended om having an FM radio.
And those people who are worried about some major collaps (people who burried themselves in 2000, you can come out now.) will have HAM radio licences and what not.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
"Norway will switch off FM in 2017" ...other places will probably follow.
At least I'm honest about it. :P
Seriously though, lack of FM is not a safety risk. That's absurd. if they're really concerned, then have them blast out a text message if there is an issue. I'm sure the telecos would be happy to do that because txtmsgs take up just about zero bandwidth.
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As a blackberry user, I do enjoy listening to FM radio from time to time. We here in Canada are "fortunate" that our wireless providers do not choose to disable these functions.
http://docs.blackberry.com/en/smartphone_users/deliverables/61598/lsy1385304237085.jsp
Give us some funked up music! (NT)
My phone has an FM radio. I even wanted to use it one day, mostly to see if a particular local station has changed format.
I couldn't. Because the FM radio only works when a wired headset is plugged in, and I sure as hell never have a wired headset with me.
So even if the FM radio chip WAS enabled in all phones, how much good would it actually do? I checked around with a few friends, and all their phones that have FM will only act as an FM radio with a wired headset plugged in.
I don't know how much good it will do to listen to a 'local' radio station since most of the time its just a recording anyway.
What you need to listen to is the NOAA weather radio - around here its 162.500 megahertz, and the voice was recorded by Stephen Hawking
That's one of my purchase criteria. Samsung used to have it, now Huawei does. I use it several times a week, and a lot when on trips w/spotty data.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
While I don't think the lack is a safety risk - and I do think the headline is just the usual sort of attention-whoring we expect from the media these days - having an FM radio is very useful if there is a regional emergency. And since most people are usually carrying a phone anyway, locking out that ability does them a disservice.
Personal anecdote time: back in the big blackout of 2003 that shutdown the Northeastern US, nobody's phones were working because the networks were jammed by millions of people suddenly calling each other, everyone trying to figure out what was going on. Nobody knew anything except that the lights were off and there was an increasingly nervous tension; as this was only a couple years after 9/11, the word "terrorists" was on everybody's lips. I happened to have an MP3 player with FM functionality on me, and that made me very popular, because I could relay news to everyone around me. The temper changed from twitchy nervousness to reassured cooperation, from a fearful me-first attitude to one where informed people worked together to get through the disaster.
I don't think having that radio made me any safer, but it made me - and those around me - happier because we were not cut off from the rest of the world. I still carry that little MP3 player with me, solely for its radio functions even though my phone is one of the rare devices that does have FM functionality (the phone needs a charge every day, but the mp3 player, which is only the size of a thumb-drive, runs seemingly forever on an easily-replaced AA battery).
At least I'm honest about it. :P
Seriously though, lack of FM is not a safety risk. That's absurd. if they're really concerned, then have them blast out a text message if there is an issue. I'm sure the telecos would be happy to do that because txtmsgs take up just about zero bandwidth.
The point is that you might not be able to "blast out a text message".
The assertion is that the emergency broadcast system available over FM is useful. The headline introduces "increased risk". To argue against the utility of FM radio on your phone is to argue against the utility of the Emergency Broadcast System. The cellphone corps mean they can't make any money from disabling their lockout of FM when they claim no demand. There are emergency radios that are sold so clearly there is a demand. It is just who makes money. I can't imagine any honest person not tied somehow to telephone companies arguing against this additional functionality for cellphones. The only argument against is that the cellphone companies will provide something that we now have to pay for data to get.
I'm sorry, is it just me? What kind of information are you going to put out over FM to cell-phones, in an emergency, that will be life-saving? How many cell-phones are still going to be running on day two of whatever disaster either because people have turned them off because they "don't work" because the local cell is down or because the batteries are flat? How many of those that aren't would be captured by an initial text message anyway? How many people are going to crowd around the only working phone in the area and turn on the radio to tune in and then hear something that might save their lives?
And what are you going to tell people that they don't know already (but should) and which will directly contribute to saving their lives better than, say, common sense?
Maybe it's just because I live in a country where emergencies don't really happen on this scale (no seismic activity, little flooding, no drought, no tornados or extremes of weather, no civil unrest, etc.) , but I'm one of those people who reads up on anything risky before I do it, and I'm still struggling to fathom what could be sent that would make that much difference?
Shelter locations, possibly? Surely the best is word-of-mouth and going and finding those people in need of shouting at with a big shouty-device? Like the first thing we do in any such disaster, send the police round and the helicopters over to give out such information? And anyone in a dangerous area, in need of shelter, will move away from the danger and can then be corralled and treated once they are in a safe area, any safe area? And, again, a simple text message serves the same purpose and probably uses the same power given the "always on" nature of cell connections on modern phones.
What's a real scenario where one-way FM radio on a cell-phone would be a real life-line for anyone but the completely ignorant and inexperienced?
Real FM radio, not streamed internet radio.
If I have a cell phone without an FM radio, it's exactly the same as having no cell phone at all, for the purposes of the question being asked. Not having a built-in taser increases my chances of being mugged, too.
--Jim (me)
As a matter of fact, this is the reason both my wife and I got an HTC One was because of the FM radio. It does need headphones plugged in though to use as an antenna. When she was in the hospital for a month, she did not get a good signal to listen to internet streamed music, but she could listen to the FM radio built-in her phone.
Most people carry around a smartphone, might as well make a feature available when cell or internet or wifi is not available.
However, not having FM support on my cell phone does significantly decrease my chances of hearing lite rock and smooth jazz.
You are welcome on my lawn.
The radio in my car, nor the clock radio next to my bed, does not receive txt messages.
Sure, because texting always works all the time, and in a timely fashion too. In somebody's dream world.
The number of people who have no idea how anything works and think that anything they don't personally use is useless is scary, and a great testament to the narcissistic culture of the Facebook crowd.
What would be the resultant everyday additional drain on everyone's smartphone batteries? I don't think that it would be worth it for something that would be useful for a day at the most in a disaster situation if there was no power for recharging.
Really, at the moment I have voice-only on a smartphone, through a third-party provider. I use wifi for data, but would welcome FM for such purposes.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
So let me get this straight... text messages aren't reliable, but someone with their cellphone tuned to the emergency broadcast channel on their cell phone is something you'd rather rely upon?
Allow me to roll my eyes at you dramatically.
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so you want to mandate that all cellphones have a built in FM radio?
There has to be a way to accomplish the same thing with the existing antenna that handles phone calls and text messages. You want a different protocol on the same frequency just for emergency broadcasts? Fine. Sounds stupid but its less obnoxious then requiring every phone have an antiquated communications protocol imposed on it simply because no has bothered to think of a robust communications protocol that could go over the existing antenna.
I would sooner opt for every phone to have a satilite antenna rather than an FM antenna.
And what is more, there is no way the FM antenna is going to do ANYTHING unless someone turns on the FM tuner. The text message would get someone whether they were listening for a disaster report or not. Your FM idea would only help people that were actively listening.
What is the alternative? Keep the FM tuner on constantly? Battery life on these smartphones is already shit without forcing the FM tuner to be on all the time.
This is a bad idea.
Make your alert system work on the existing 2G antenna or - "no". Just no.
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http://megatokyo.com/strip/0009
It's just another bad slashdot summary. The missing piece of information is that, despite what movies might tell you, the FM EM spectrum works just fine to put away zombies. So, if you care about your brains, do yourself a favor and take their advice.
"I decided I could write something better than everything out there in two weeks. And I was right." - Linus Torvalds
.. because we had a very heavy thunderstorm down here in South Tx and the power went out, net and cable tv were down, even the cell towers were off. No service .. all around. Its not a big deal for us here - we're used to dangerous weather conditions (hurricanes, tornadoes) so we keep emergency stuff handy. But 10 hours without pretty much everything helps to think about that question. Radio can be a life line (and yes, we were able to listen to FM stations on our battery powered radio) and in emergency situations its pretty much the only reliable way to get information out to the general population. I also know from first hand experience, that cell towers are easily overwhelmed when people are trying to call or to access the net in emergency situations. I am sure we all have experience with situations where we really needed the (mobile) net and it just didn't work. I wouldn't rely on anything digital when the shit hits the fan. A radio, a flashlight and plenty of batteries - everybody should have a little emergency box stuffed into a closet.
Having the ability to communicate in a P2P mesh network of cell phones would be much better. It is definitely doable on the software side of probably all existing cell phones. This is what would help people. A two-way communication system that works in a disaster without having to be a HAM operator or at least someone that knows how to use a two-way radio. TXT's could easily traverse a mesh of phones and make it to the outside or disaster struck areas.
I know some projects exist to make this happen but it isn't about the technology. The technology is there, it just needs to be installed/activated on devices. The problem of course is the cell phone network companies not wanting this "feature" since it will cut into the profits. However this is the technology that should be required on all devices. Overall an FM radio is useless, but two-way communication can be life saving!
Quote the bit where I said they shouldn't make emergency broadcasts over FM radio. Do so now please or admit that you just tried to straw man me.
What I am saying is that if you have a cell phone... it doesn't have to have an FM radio built into it by law just for your fucking emergency broadcasts.
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Remember when the FM radio saved Homer Simpsons life?
The on-chip FM radio requires a WIRED headset. Not bluetooth, not using the phone speaker or earpiece. The headset lead is used as an antenna. Without it, the radio doesn't work. Generally won't even turn on, just gives a warning.
So it won't work for most users. And was probably costing too much in support calls about why it wasn't working.
I am a ham radio operator, I have a significantly higher chance of survival than the rest.
If people really cared about safety they would take the time to learn CPR, basic First Aid, and things like ham radio or gain knowlege in how to increase their odds.
Dancing with the stars and Americas got Talent are far more important to the general population.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
to radio?
is why it is turned off
if the question were "why should a phone add all this expensive hardware for negligible benefit" then the answer should obviously screw FM radio
but if the functionality is already there, why isn't anyone angry that you are being denied something for free simply so your phone carrier can squeeze more cash out of you?
i look at the other posts here and their priorities and their rationale, and i can't understand why this thought doesn't rank higher
and while we're at it, get us a tv tuner too, like in japan:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Androi...
why aren't television and fm radio industries banding together to demand inclusion on smartphones? nevermind as a safety feature, you can make arguments for that, but even if you think that's a contrived concern, do it simply because it's a fucking industry of content, that you can get FOR FREE
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The summary reads like an NAB astroturf campaign. Their "free radio on my phone" ad campaign is a beautiful example of fear mongering. One of their radio spots even invokes 9/11 and insinuates that the aftermath would have been much better if only there had been some way to broadcast information to the masses. The amount of FUD they push is appalling.
The unfortunate part is that they're probably right, that having everyone already carrying an FM receiver probably would be at least marginally beneficial in a disaster situation. But that's not really the reason they're doing it. They're just self-serving assholes using fear to prop up their faltering business model as people abandon broadcast FM for streaming. This isn't about public safety, this is about the loss of revenue and using FUD and conspiracy propaganda to get it back.
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
You remember that super derecho that came through here a few years ago? We - and the cell towers - were without power for some time. Several days, in some parts of town. But my little Sansa MP3 player does pick up FM, so I was able to listen to local news in spite of the power outage. (Though not 100% sure why the radio station had power and the cell towers didn't ...)
Would not hearing the news cost my life after a disaster? Probably not, but allowing people to hear the news does make life easier for your local emergency management officials.
>Make your alert system work on the existing 2G antenna or - "no". Just no.
Problem is 2G is being abandoned. People on 3G/4G will not see those warning being broadcast on the 2g network (Cell Broadcasts). There are a lot of phones out there (previous generation smartphones) that don't support CB at all.
>And what is more, there is no way the FM antenna is going to do ANYTHING unless someone turns on the FM tuner.
Over here the gov is stopping funding to the nation wide emergency towers, which only produce an "air raid alarm sound" which indicates that people should tune in to the local TV/radio channels to see what is going on. If anything saving those couple of million EURs in costs might actually cost lives.
That's fine. I'm not saying FM radios are stupid and anyone that uses them is an asshole... am I?
No. I'm saying that the government shouldn't require cell phone makers or carriers to have FM radios built into the phones.
Now that said, one thing that does annoy me is when the FM radio feature is disabled by the carrier for no fucking reason. Often to make people want to buy their streaming music service more or something equally pathetic. THAT is fucked up. And I'd pass a law against that any day.
But don't force people to put an FM radio in the phones. Get real.
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As to 2G, it isn't for phone calls and text messages.
And even if it were, that would again mean that you should run your signal over whatever the prevailing protocol is at the time.
one fellow was saying "but what if everyone tries to make calls at the same time and it overwhelms the system"... a text message won't overwhelming anything. In fact, during emergencies if they restricted communication to text messages the system would never get congested. Ten million people could all send texts at the same time over and over again and the system would hold.
No, we should go back to carrier pidgeons because what happens if your towers lose power?
or I don't know, we could have a guy taken around on the back of a donkey screaming the news to people.
The FM system is retrograde. If some people still like it, fine... keep it active for them. But don't impose that shit on everyone else. There are a million ways to make the existing cell network perform the relevant function without forcing them to put in an FM antenna.
Unless you want an FM antenna for music and you're pissed that the carriers keep disabling them even if they are in the machine. Then I understand your point.
But on a health and safety stand point? Laughable.
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There recently was an ice storm which was very damaging in parts of Tenessee, with power lines down and some roads blocked due to downed trees. With the power out some people were without heat and, if using a well, without water. Some of the local radio stations were broadcasting information about the situation, locations of shelters, etc. While the radio does not need to be built into a cell phone, everybody should have a radio and spare batteries as part of their emergency supplies.
I think the psychological reassurance of just knowing what's going on during a disaster is probably the most helpful part.
Even if you can't DO anything about it, it's still better than cowering in fear because you are in the dark both literally and figuratively.
It's not about ANNOUNCING the disaster, that's what sirens are for.
AFTER the sirens have gone off, and AFTER everyone is hiding in fear, wouldn't it be nice if they knew WHY they were hiding?
They can't call or text anyone to find out, since the towers will be overloaded.
Now, they could use the FM radio that is ALREADY BUILT INTO their phone, unfortunately the US carrier they bought it from specifically demanded that the FM radio be disabled.
A specific example of where this would save lives: A tornado pops up, the sirens go off, and everyone heads to the basement. Meanwhile the high winds have knocked down power lines everywhere, and started fires everywhere. The town is quickly burning to the ground (with people still in their basements), and nobody knows because they can't hear the local radio station talking about the fires.
My teachers in highschool call me a non conformist. I just consider myself semi prepared for an emergency.
I am one of those ham radio operators that carry a multi-mode and multi-band radio with me. No, amateur radio is not dead. No, not all of use use vacuum tube radios with Morse code keys. Not all operators have a degree in electrical engineering and are retired. Some operators use solid-state equipment with digital displays. Some operators use digital modes too with modems built into the radios. Please don't sterotype us.
The wide range receiver that covers AM/FM/Single side band. The frequency range of the radio is 500 Khz to 1.3 GHz. The radio operates using lithium-ion batteries and has a jack for external DC power. I can also connect a long SMA whip antenna to it. With an adapter, I can connect the portable radio to a base antenna. Too bad TV doesn't transmit analog audio on WFM any more. I remember listening to WUSA TV 9 during a power outage with an older radio. No, I didn't have a portable TV. The battery in a radio lasts longer than a portable TV anyways.
I actually find FM radio (88-108 MHz) to provide up to the minute news about emergency situations like the recent blackout in Washington, District of Columbia and southern Maryland. FM radio also provides updates to mass transit, water main breaks, school closings and road closures due to serious accidents.
My NOAA weather radios with SAME alert provides immediate notification of severe weather watches and warnings. More importantly, it provides special marine warnings for the Potomac river, something that is lacking in weather apps for Android. No offense to the coast guard in Baltimore sector, but they issue marine warnings on 30 minutes or more after NOAA weather radio. I have two weather radios at home: one upstairs and one downstairs, each tuned to a different transmitter. I take a portable NOAA weather radio with me in addition to the receiver that I mentioned above. Weather apps deliver warnings 45 minutes late. That is too long for a flood, severe thunderstorm or tornado warning. I definitely would not rely on my Android smartphone if I was in the midwest, plain states or Florida.
Cell phone 3G and 4G connections may fail during disasters. During the earthquake in Virginia, T-Mobile service in my neighborhood went down. I couldn't call out. During the June 2012 derecho cell phone service went out. Also, NOAA phone lines between the weather office and NOAA weather radio transmitters went down. I listened to WTOP news radio on FM for the latest updates to news, traffic and weather. I remember hearing about Verizon landline service going down in Arlington, VA too. Also, at least with my carrier, reception of 4G is lousy in the rural areas. 3G service can be spotty in the midwest and plain states (Western half of Texas, Oklahoma, Western Nebraska, western Kansas, Wyoming, most of Oregon and Washington State). There are places where there is no reception: Montana, Alaska, Southwest U.S. You can tell that I am using a CDMA phone right?? lol.
My point of the last paragraph is that I am able to listen to FM radio, NOAA weather radio, Amateur radio weather service (hurricane information nets, severe weather nets) in rural areas where I have no cell phone data coverage. The only place where I won't have FM or NOAA weather radio coverage is in a remote part of the U.S. like a secluded National Park away from a 100 miles major city.
Now I need to buy a flashlight, non-perishable food, a blanket, waterproof matches, a can opener and a few gallons of water.
I have a phone with an FM receiver active (it uses the headphone cord as an antenna) and this thread got me wondering about things like emergency radio, "scanners", etc. I ended up finding some old threads in other forums with people who found that this phone model's FM rx is in a chip that also has tx capability. But Broadcom doesn't want to share the pin outs and it looks like the threads all died. HTC EVO 4G if anybody's interested. This is along the lines of transmitting for a number of meters, of course, not for communication at a distance.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most cell phones don't have the power supply to transmit FM broadcast band several miles away, let alone the antenna. And if you can't reach across several miles then what is the emergency purpose of the FM rx/tx capability? Anybody nearby is probably going to be similarly affected by said disaster. If you're worried about being separated from loved ones during a tumult, then you're probably going to want to be able to scan for them over a large area.
I'm just not sure what the argument is for having a bunch of underpowered FM rx/tx going on in the middle of a disaster.
Now, if you really want this to go through, what you have to do is find a disaster where all of the following can be clearly shown to be true:
a) numerous people died
b) there was an internet or mobile outage or lack of signal
c) it can be shown that the lack of internet or mobile outage of lack of signal contributed to the untimely deaths
d) it can be shown that a little FM rx/tx would have saved their lives
Just one such occurrence could actually get you want you want. No company likes to be the actual literal bad guy, and these dormant rx and tx capabilities would start showing up a lot more often.
Still I don't think it will get any better than walkie-talkie across a few dozen meters.
Let's say there's a rescue team after you and you need to transmit your location details. If they're that close, you can yell. If you're under a bunch of debris, you're not transmitting very well any way. If you're thinking triangulation and mapping a bunch of blips of potential victims, well they already have GPS operating.
I'm just not seeing the point.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
The FCC is in no hurry to replace analog FM in the USA because you do not gain any spectrum from digital radio. Unlike analog TV via NTSC which was very wasteful in how much bandwidth it used. Digital tv like ATSC replaced NTSC because a lot of spectrum could be freed up and the FCC could auction this spectrum off. Anybody trying to push this in the USA have commercial interests in selling their new hight cost digital radios.
There are also companies in the USA trying to do the same to the AM broadcast band too, but their reasons are for eliminating their competition and getting people to buy their new digital radios. There are some AM radio broadcasters who would like for there to be less AM radio stations so as to get rid of their competition for advertisement revenue - going digital would be a way to do this. Again, the FCC is in no hurry to convert the AM broadcast band to digital either - no incentive for them.
In most cases, phones without an FM radio app do not have the FM capability "switched off" as the article suggests. There may in fact be an FM capable chip inside of the device, but the manufacturer may have not intended to use it. Many chips that include your basic bluetooth and wifi also include FM radio capabilities and since mass produced multi-function chips are cheaper, they may be included in a device. The FM radio is simply not connected to the board as it would require extra testing, development of software, powering that portion of the chip, and extra hardware to be used as an antenna. Whatever lobbying people are doing will not make carriers release an "unlock" for an FM radio on every phone since most phones don't even have the hardware connected.
A text message blasted out by the phone company would do the trick.
Most cell towers have battery back ups so they'll continue to operate even when the power drops. Cell networks do tend to work even in brown outs. Just like your FM transmitters. For the same reason. Battery backups. I think the FM towers also have onsite generators.
As to carriers disabling the FM transmitters... how many flying fucking times do I have to specifically say that I specifically think that is specifically fucked up?
I can't be any clearer. It is literally impossible for me to be any clearer. You're killing me.
Again, I'd sooner put a satellite receiver in the phone then I would an FM receiver. The sat receiver is at least useful for more than getting shitty progressive rock. I might be able to get a clean digital signal from space.
Here is one thing they could do that would improve my impression of FM, do the same thing to FM that they did to over the air TV. Make it go digital. Absent that... no.
And again... YES, they shouldn't turn your FM radio off if it is already in the fucking phone. 100 percent with you. You want to line the carrier executives against a wall and shoot them in the face for that? Signed. I'll go for that. Shoot them in the eyes. I won't stop you.
But don't tell me EVERY phone has to have an analog FM receiver in it. Give me a fucking break.
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You missed the very first quotation mark in this story. The *very first* glyph printed as the content of this fucking website. Goddammit, you're an editor; fucking act like one. Or go kill yourself -- it's not like the site would be worse without you.
When I said that I use a CDMA smartphone, I meant that I use Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile USA uses Sprint's PCS nationwide network. I know, I should switch to Verizon.
I don't have a data plan so I can't stream. And the 20$ portable radios you buy from Target break after a few months. I'm not sure I foresaw the smart phone revolution, but I did think they'd try and jam as many features into them as they could. Sad they have the FM feature disabled. I listen to www.KLOVE.com radio all day long. It isn't as great rhythmically as old 60s-70s classic rock and 90s alternative, but the lyrics are enriching.
God spoke to me
I had the FM radio on one of my smartphones. I never used it.
I don't have it on my current phone and can't think of a reason why I would want it.
Sounds like NAB is trying to force a market.
Open question, since some phones have it, nationwide, what percentage of owners with it listen to the FM radio.
At a NAB convention in Las Vegas this week, Carpenter said there would have to be demand by smartphone consumers for mobile carriers to consider switching on the FM chip.
"What Americans really want is the ability to stream, download and customize music playlists to meet their personal preferences," Carpenter said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "and that's not what the traditional FM radio offers."
Rant Warning!
You don't speak for America you arrogant ass. How do you know which service would get used when you only offer the one you profit from? Why would carriers need to consider NOT switching on the FM chip, it's not like it is costing them any money to turn it on. Oh, but they MIGHT lose money if people actually had a free alternative that THEY might choose to use or not. People always say let the market sort things out, only you want that do you. You only want the monopoly that pays your wages. Those carriers that actually has the manufacturer disable the chip instead of just not providing the software actually COSTS them money to disable FM. These greedy profiteering sleazebags just fear that people would actually listen to local FM and their data profits would decrease. With the right software you can "customize music playlists to meet their personal preferences" just as easily as FM streamers can and it would only take a tiny fraction of the data plan. True, someone listening in on a local station with an FM chip couldn't listen to a station across the nation. So what, most radio stations are controlled by monopolies like Clear Channel Communications and they all play the same music anyway. Only the local DJ chatter and advertisers are different.
Which MP3 player do you have, if you don't mind me asking?
The lack of easy to use media (like AM radio, Antenna TV, written books) will put us into a dark age. Maybe not at the moment when we are using the media, but afterwards when we look back into history and only find some obscure digital media crippled with DRM that can only be unlocked and activated with no longer existing servers.
My guess is that within 1000 years, people will look back at the history and talk about the great achievements of the Greek and Romans, followed by a dark age, followed by a renaissance that evolved gradually through industrialisation and digitalisation in our current modern times with computers and the internet and then again a long period of dark ages, that starts right at the peak of civilization (or when the last bit of content creation was put in the DRM or vendor locked in crippled cloud). Where the societies of the future can only guess at what happened in that period ("a large computer virus bringing down society", "natural disaster destroying the energy infrastructure", "overpopulation resulting in mass murders", ...)
Unfortunately modern phones don't have AA batteries. So what if during a blackout, instead of trying to call each other, people would listen to the radio on their phones? Obvious answer: everybody's phone battery would die and on top of being without electricity, they would be incomunicado.
Solution: compulsory hand cranks on cell phones.
FM radio request here, no more FM broadcast yesterday:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story...
In the south we have things like tornadoes and hurricanes, but they can go all the way up to Kansas and Iowa. Ever since I cut the cord, I don't get the local news anymore. In the last tornado warning (4-5 months ago), there was a blackout and the local cell tower/station went down. The only thing that warned me of an impending danger was the town's tornado sirens, which I could faintly hear them because it was raining so hard. Now, these warnings happen 2-4 times a year, but you only 1 tornado over your house to fuck up your life. If that happens, it may not necessarily save my life, but it will give me enough time to prepare in case I do survive. For example, I would spend the time to get my flashlight and extra batteries; and swap my flip flops for steel-toed boots, because if I do emerge from the wreckage, there will be a lot of sharp things, hazardous chemicals, and even exposed wire trying to kill you. The last major disaster was in 2011 (see Tuscaloosa tornado) that went through the center of the town, really close to the university. A lot of students were affected. Even after the fact, FM radio would be a great way to manage resources - go to shelter A if you live in these zip codes; or location B for blankets and water.
Because I work for the university, I received an automated call and a txt msg warning me of the tornado. But I also received noticed when it was ok to resume my normal life. I don't depend exclusively on FM radios, but if those other methods of communication failed, or if I didn't work for the university, I would need that resource.
I worked on several phones not-to-be-named from a company not-to-be-named.... just because many common RF chips have FM on them doesn't mean it's "no work" to turn them on. The decision to support FM requires additional work from software teams, antenna teams, RF designers, RF validation/testing (to make sure there's no interference resulting from the feature) and additional manufacturing test capabilities (which increase testing time during manufacture and can add significant costs to each unit) for a feature that honestly not that many people want or use when it's there. It's definitely about costs but not necessarily because of collusion from cellular carriers.... the hardware/software development costs are not insignificant.
Emergency personnel is a very limited resource. Just look at Katrina. And helicopters? Try flying it while the winds are still going at 30-60 mph. With your naivetee, why don't you just ask us to build an underground city? That will solve this pesky hurricane problem. Also, where I live, not everyone has or can afford a smartphone. Your attitude of "learn to survive or perish" is crass at best. I agree with you that you are living in a very safe and sheltered country, and you never had any emergencies on the scale we have experienced, and it just makes you sound stupid.
Just move? Where in the US? Silicon Valley? There's earthquakes there. Move a little bit east and you get the mountain ranges (blizzards, treacherous roads); midwest: flood and tornadoes; east cost: tornadoes.
Of if we should move elsewhere in the world, tell us which country you live in. Me and 300 million other people will be crashing at your house.
The iPod Nano has had an FM radio for a while. So the performance with respect to battery, signal reception, etc should be known. I don't have one myself so I can't comment.
To get decent AM reception you need an antenna coil or a very very long wire. These coils are typically the size of a AA battery but they can be a bit smaller. Even then, it isn't practical most phone- or mp3-player-sized devices.
For FM, the earphones double as the antenna.
Someone mentioned weather radio, which is on an even higher frequency than broadcast FM. I can't see any reason why phones manufacturers can't throw in a dirt-cheap weather-band radio as well. Heck, the could even do this with little or no "hit to their bottom line" (the likely reason FM is disabled in many phones) and market it as a selling point: "your phone is an emergency weather radio even if you can't get a cell signal, buy now!"
The average smartphone will die in a day if you run FM radio, a real battery powered FM radio is the thing to have when things go to Sh!t
There was an unknown error in the submission.
I lived in Aptos, CA when the Loma Prieta earthquake happened. My home was about 10 miles from the epicenter.
My home came through it okay. Our cats were pretty freaked out but I don't think we even had any broken windows. (I've heard that the waves increase in amplitude as they get further away from the epicenter, so perhaps we were lucky to be so close.)
We were without power. I think phones were down but I'm not sure.
We didn't have much else to do, so we spent a lot of time listening to the radio. We learned some useful stuff:
* stay at home; the roads should be clear for emergency services.
* Cook and eat the contents of your freezer and fridge before things go bad.
* don't drink the water without boiling it, but it's okay to flush toilets.
* (Later) Okay, the water lines tested out, so go ahead and drink the water.
Also, we heard updates about the freeway bridge that collapsed, the destroyed buildings in San Francisco, etc.
But for the most part, the people talking on the radio didn't have anything too important to say. They filled a lot of airtime with repetitions of the above points, comments like "oh this is terrible", etc. So we stopped listening after a while and read books.
Still, in any future emergency, I will want a radio. The Internet could be down but the radio will still work. Lower-tech old-fashioned solutions are great in an emergency.
Just get a low-tech radio, rather than relying on a radio feature in something complex like a smartphone. Bonus points if you have solar cells and/or a crank to power the radio.
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
he summary reads like an NAB astroturf campaign.
This. This is the terrestrial broadcasters trying to stay relevant in a world where they increasingly are not due to streaming. Just like the electric companies fighting solar tooth and claw, broadcasters are having to deal with Netflix, Hulu, and so on.
"Screaming, 'We're too important during emergencies to not have around!' worked for ham radio," the broadcasters must be thinking, and the FCC, at least, seems to agree. For FM, at least, they don't have to worry about encumberance from cell phones, unlike UHF TV.
Personally, though, I think almost all terrestrial broadcast is a waste of bandwidth, but I know that's not the popular opinion even here on /.
It a wonder anyone survived.. Not having a FM radio in your phone. Oh the humanity. What a bunch of crap. Before smart phones no one had FM radio in there cells and we survived. Before cell phones there were FM radios and we managed to survive.
Anything 50 MHz and above can be served with a discone antenna, about $50 to start. Also look into the RTL2832-based dongles that can decode almost every modulation mode you'll encounter. For the HF bands 30MHz, you can make a fan dipole antenna cut for each desired band at Ltotal= 468/f in feet, where f is the center frequency in MHz and use a shortwave radio with SSB as well as AM (or use an HF upconverter - see rtl-sdr.com). Just be careful to disconnect the antenna in lightning storms or get a gas cartridge lightning arrestor and a grounding system because lightning generates enough voltage in the HF range just from nearby strikes to cook your radio's front end.
Most cell towers have battery back ups so they'll continue to operate even when the power drops.
Depends on the emergency I guess.
Where I live (North Queensland, Australia), we can quite easily loose power in the wet season for up to 6 hours a couple of times a week.
Throw in a cyclone, and we just lost it for days, weeks, a month.
Yes, cell towers have batteries, and they are fantastic during the initial emergency. Yes, providers have diesel backups that can run the tower for days. No, they don't chopper in extra fuel when the roads are flooded for weeks on end.
What do we currently do ? Sit around with candles listening to report updates on the radio.
"But the mobile industry, which profits from selling data to smartphone users, says that with the consumer's move toward mobile streaming apps, the demand for radio simply isn't there"
That's the main reason and ONLY reason. By disabling FM-radio on the majority of smartphones the handset-manufacturers (in accordance with telco's) create this self-fulfilling prophecy of "the demand for radio simply isn't there". They are all greed driven.. all of them.
That's fine... you can sit down with your crank powered FM radio during the appocolypise. I wouldn't dare take that away from you.
However, don't expect me to support you if you want EVERY cellphone to have an FM radio built into by law simply so you can do it on your cell phone.
Which as we all know would have run out of power from lack of charging LONG before the towers actually died.
How pray tell are you charging your cellphone? Hand crank? Personal diesel generator? Wind mill? The Force... that jedi thing?
The towers last as long as the cell phones themselves do which is the point. If it is the end of the world, the dead have risen, the sun hangs red in the sky, and the Elder Gods have risen... then by all means, listen to radio reports on your FM radio. But we're talking about a probably traditional radio set top which can take regular batteries unlike your cell phone, or has a built in hand crack, etc.
Name a REASONABLE situation where after days of no power you still only have your cell phone and yet need to get access to these FM radio transmissions?
There isn't one.
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"Seriously though, lack of FM is not a safety risk. That's absurd. if they're really concerned, then have them blast out a text message if there is an issue."
I merely commented to the fact that a text message device is not always available.
Hi /., I'm in the market for a new phone, and was looking for FM support. I wanted the list of NextRadio supported devices, here it is:
http://nextradioapp.com/supported-devices/
Last three smartphones I've had in the last 5 years, Dell Streak5, Samsung Galaxy Note1, Huawei Ascend Mate2, all purchased full price OFF CONTRACT, direct from the manufacturer, carrier unlocked, had FM radios that worked just fine. You had to use ear buds, because they used the headphone wire for the antenna, but it did work. I've had much better luck with the performance & stability of those 3 devices, than I've had with any of my previous phones. I think in part because they are all unlocked, not crippled non carrier based devices.
No they shouldn't be forced to add them to phones, however they shouldn't be allowed to disable the functionality if it's already there.
Wait, there's phones that *don't* let you listen to FM radio? In 2015?
This is making me seriously reconsider whether I should be upgrading my phone any time soon.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Neither is anything else always available.
Pigeons don't work in a hurricane.
Everything has a context. FM radio is better at some things then other forms of communication. However, those things are not justification for requiring that all cell phones have FM antennas.
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Which MP3 player do you have, if you don't mind me asking?
It's an old 1GB iRiver iFP-895 MP3 player. Its ancient and battered, and I don't really use it except as an "emergency radio" these days, but at the time I quite liked it. Come to think of it, I think it was somebody on Slashdot that originally recommended the device in the first place ;-)
As I mentioned, my phone actually has FM radio enabled but I have no confidence that it will have the necessary battery life should I actually NEED to listen to the radio. But AA batteries last forever and replacements can be found anywhere. Nowadays, the the tiny storage space (1GB) is too limiting, so my phone serves as my primary music player but the iRiver lurks at the bottom of my daybag, with a spare AA battery... just in case.
Sure you could have FM radios on phones (phones are essentially radios anyway). You could also have OTA TV too. The TV is even easier, because FM radio is analogue and TV is digital. But the phone companies sell bandwidth. Why should you get stuff for free from your phone? That doesn't help the bottom line! When the phone company can stream a local program to 1,000,000 phones (using up a mass of bandwidth) rather than using the one single TV channel bandwidth, they would rather occupy all the bandwidth in the world, because free makes them no money. On wireless devices, they want you to pay to play. If people die, its their problem. In the mean time, no one gets anything free (especially Apple phones). You paid $800 for the phone, you pay $8000 per year to use it, if you want to be safe pay a premium to an app developer and pay for a premium app, and you can get emergency information. If the Apple infrastructure falls apart in the earthquake or tornado, TOO BAD! You had too much money anyway. Sincerely,
Phone companies.
The common link is Sprint and Next Radio. They raise this issue to support marketing their products. If you must rely on Sprint during an emergency, you are well and truly screwed.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
It costs money to enable the fm radio. There are external components required, least of all would be inductors to isolate the head phone connection from ground so it can be used as the antenna. Second is space. You need space to connect the external components and to fit them in as well.
This post was typed on a Moto G, which has an fm radio
I completely agree. I think I went so far as to say I'd approve on the spot executions of any executive that did such a thing. Just blow raspberry jam all over the walls and move on.
Okay? Is that enough for you? I fucking hate that shit as well. I've had the misfortune of having one of those phones as well. I don't really use FM radio but I'd like to be able to use it if it is already in my fucking phone. TOTALLY with you.
But just as it is a dick move to turn that thing off it is also a dick move to force people to put it in the phone.
I agree with you they shouldn't disable it if it is there already. HOWEVER if it isn't there at all... leave them alone.
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fm radio is a lot easier than dvb-t or whatever. or the mobile dvb that was tried and killed off already. seriously, nokia had model(s) with digital tv ages ago.
even analogue tv is much easier and cheaper. that's why all those chinese clone-fake-gsm-2-sim phones have analog tv support.
what the fm radio needs is couple of traces and a cap on the board.. even if you put an extra chip on there it would be easy and cheap to do. people just don't use the fm receive functionalities in the phones that have them so people don't give a shit. tons of cheapo nokias had fm-receive for 10+ years now. it's just a 20 cent functionality.
nobody just gives a shit about fm radio when shopping for a new phone if the phone has enough gizmos to play spotify. that's just the way it is.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
From personal experience in a rural setting, where the FM transmitters were tens of miles (or more) away, there was virtually no FM reception on my Moto G unless I had my earphones plugged in to act as an external antenna. So I guess add in a set of earphones to your Go bags.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.c...
Norway is discontinuing FM transmission entirely.
So... I think that shows you that I called this perfectly. FM is retrograde. It is on the way out. Mandating that phones have FM reception in that context is goofy and more than a little out of touch with the times.
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Perhaps somebody has a patent against using a cellular wireless chip to tune FM frequencies?
It's weird, because my old Samsung flip-phone had a nice FM tuner which worked with the headphones, but here (Canada) I haven't seen any such thing in newer smartphones.
(eom)
My Samsung Omnia from 6 years ago and Motorola Droid X from 4 years ago both had a working FM receiver, then 2 years ago I get a Samsung Note II and discover that it has a receiver, but it was disabled by either the manufacturer or the carrier. At first I thought it was mostly because Verizon wants us to listen to streaming radio and use more data so they can make more money. Then I read on some forums that any device with an FM receiver must undergo additional testing to meet FCC requirements, with cost proportional to the amount of spectrum used. So on a carrier with a large amount of spectrum (Verizon), neither the manufacturer (Samsung) nor the carrier wants to pay the fees. Sprint offers same model phones with working FM radio and the NextRadio app, which receives the FM signal, and optionally a small amount of bandwidth for the album cover and a link. Recently I saw a coworker on Verizon demonstrate a working FM radio on his HTC One M8, which means that HTC must have paid for the FCC testing to leave the FM radio functioning on a Verizon phone. The NextRadio app did not work on a Samsung S5. Most carriers will say that FM listeners are declining because of streaming and MP3s, so why bother with it.
Yes you need headphones, or a line in to your PC, or even a chopped off 3.5mm pigtail to receive the signal. Many people in the stores do not know the difference between an app like TuneIn and an FM receiver. I thought we might see HD Radio in phones by now, but it's proprietary so I can see why we might not. I was up for a new phone two months ago, but refuse to purchase one that contains a disabled FM receiver. I'm not switching carriers because of it, but it will be a deciding factor in which phone I purchase next. Then I can stop carrying around this Insignia HD Radio.
Beware of the Redittor who loans you a Sharpie.
"Emergency" stations are only AM. What good does an FM radio do when there are no FM emergency stations?