• One Stream To Rule Them All

    From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to Moondog on Fri Jul 24 11:42:40 2020
    Years ago i heard watchdog groups warning about streaming media and content which requires the application to "call home" occasionally to be played. imagine what it would be like in the future to pull out an media format and player that's no longer in use, and it won't work because the server it checks in with is no longer active? The same applies to video games. If your games will not run offline and a service such as steam no longer exists, theyre' pretty much locked on the old system they were installed on.

    Yah, there where theses Divx disk and some hd dvd ( not the divx video
    format ) that could only play if the play could "call home" and check if
    the disk wasn't pirated, but yeah they close, shut the server down and
    your disk that you paid don't play anymore.

    That's nice

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  • From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to Nightfox on Fri Jul 24 11:44:34 2020
    Yeah, I still like having broadcast over-the-air radio..

    There is still so many reason for broadcast radio, just for emergency situation, that's the think that is easy to make work even when the
    other infrastructures are down.

    Live radio can still bring so much

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  • From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to Underminer on Fri Jul 24 11:52:50 2020
    Superheterodyne circuitry has nothing to do with tracking, and has been the standard for decoding broadcasts since the 1920s.

    Superheterodyne became the facto way to decode because it's very
    efficient. But

    But during the second world war a lot of people got busted because the authority where listening for local oscillator frequencies.

    I remember documentary about than on tv when i was a kid.

    taken from wikipedia :
    "In intelligence operations, local oscillator radiation gives a means to detect a covert receiver and its operating frequency. The method was
    used by MI-5 during Operation RAFTER.[22] This same technique is also
    used in radar detector detectors used by traffic police in jurisdictions
    where radar detectors are illegal. "

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_RAFTER

    And now that I think of it, BBC is supposedly having "detector van" to
    bust people that where watching tv without the proper tv license.

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  • From Warpslide@VERT/NRBBS to Ennev on Fri Jul 24 15:32:00 2020
    On 24 Jul 2020, Ennev said the following...

    There is still so many reason for broadcast radio, just for emergency situation, that's the think that is easy to make work even when the
    other infrastructures are down.

    Live radio can still bring so much

    "This emergency broadcast is brought to you by the new 2021 Ford F150..."

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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Ennev on Fri Jul 24 13:13:23 2020
    Re: One Stream To Rule Them All
    By: Ennev to Moondog on Fri Jul 24 2020 07:42 am

    Yah, there where theses Divx disk and some hd dvd ( not the divx video format ) that could only play if the play could "call home" and check if the disk wasn't pirated, but yeah they close, shut the server down and your disk that you paid don't play anymore.

    I remember hearing about divx discs working that way, but I don't think HD-DVD did that. HD-DVD came years later and competed with blu-ray for 1080p HD, and blu-ray eventually won.

    Nightfox

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  • From Underminer@VERT/UNDRMINE to Ennev on Fri Jul 24 22:02:21 2020
    Re: Your Super what ?
    By: Ennev to Underminer on Fri Jul 24 2020 07:52 am

    "In intelligence operations, local oscillator radiation gives a means to detect a covert receiver and its operating frequency. The method was

    I could see how that would be possible... but you'd basically have to already have someone under surveilance to get much useful out of that. In the 40s when there was less background noise, or you were watching for specific frequencies it would be a bit more usefull for smoking out an agent.
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  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Ennev on Fri Jul 24 19:28:00 2020
    Ennev wrote to Nightfox <=-

    Yeah, I still like having broadcast over-the-air radio..

    There is still so many reason for broadcast radio, just for emergency situation, that's the think that is easy to make work even when the
    other infrastructures are down.

    Live radio can still bring so much

    This is a requirement for me when purchasing cell phones. My phones must
    be able to receive FM radio. I live in a hurricane area, so it's nice to
    not have to always have a radio on me and not depend on the Internet
    always being available or have to power an additional device.


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  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Ennev on Fri Jul 24 19:36:00 2020
    Ennev wrote to Underminer <=-

    And now that I think of it, BBC is supposedly having "detector van" to bust people that where watching tv without the proper tv license.

    Detecting old oscillators is an interesting trick, but I'm pretty sure the technology won't work anymore. Modern chips and circuits are incredibly efficient, and they are specifically designed to keep noise to a minimum.
    It may work for some very cheap radios, I suppose.

    Perhaps that's what led to the BBC's detector vans. That may have worked, again, years ago by listening for the noise of CRT televisions, but now
    with modern screens and electronics...

    Theoretically, you *could* dial in to very specific frequencies with very sensitive equipment, but you would need to know the *exact* location of
    the equipment you want to listen in on, plus already have experience with
    the exact models. And, I'm pretty sure distance will be a huge factor.
    It's been demonstrated you can actually decode the letters on an LCD
    screen, but that was just research. I've never heard of it being successful
    in the wild.


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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Dreamer on Sat Jul 25 01:12:50 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Dreamer to Ennev on Fri Jul 24 2020 03:28 pm

    This is a requirement for me when purchasing cell phones. My phones must be able to receive FM radio. I live in a hurricane area, so it's nice to not have to always have a radio on me and not depend on the Internet always being available or have to power an additional device.

    I've heard of some phones having an FM radio receiver, but I don't think I've ever actually seen a phone in person playing FM radio. I think some of the smartphones I've had were supposed to have an FM radio tuner, but I never saw any included app to tune in FM radio. I seem to remember reading about smartphones often having the FM tuner disabled, for whatever reason.

    Nightfox

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  • From Moondog@VERT/CAVEBBS to Dreamer on Sat Jul 25 06:34:00 2020
    Re: Re: Your Super what ?
    By: Dreamer to Ennev on Fri Jul 24 2020 03:36 pm

    Ennev wrote to Underminer <=-

    And now that I think of it, BBC is supposedly having "detector van" to bust people that where watching tv without the proper tv license.

    Detecting old oscillators is an interesting trick, but I'm pretty sure the technology won't work anymore. Modern chips and circuits are incredibly efficient, and they are specifically designed to keep noise to a minimum.
    It may work for some very cheap radios, I suppose.

    Perhaps that's what led to the BBC's detector vans. That may have worked, again, years ago by listening for the noise of CRT televisions, but now
    with modern screens and electronics...

    Theoretically, you *could* dial in to very specific frequencies with very sensitive equipment, but you would need to know the *exact* location of
    the equipment you want to listen in on, plus already have experience with the exact models. And, I'm pretty sure distance will be a huge factor.
    It's been demonstrated you can actually decode the letters on an LCD
    screen, but that was just research. I've never heard of it being successful in the wild.



    The UK does some crazy things to ensure taxes are being paid. A few years
    ago I read the police had checkpoints before going on their major highways where they would perform a "smell" test on your car's exhaust to see if you're
    using the taxed "on road" fuel or something else. Some drivers of diesel
    were mixing lesser expensive vegetable oil with their diesel to avoid paying fuel taxes. Instead of dumping their fryer grease, they would filter out the crud and pour it in their engines. It owuld get comsume pretty quickly so there was no need for stabilizers or anti-microbial treatments.

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  • From Vk3jed@VERT/FREEWAY to Dreamer on Sat Jul 25 23:48:00 2020
    On 07-24-20 15:36, Dreamer wrote to Ennev <=-

    @VIA: VERT/BMTSOFT
    Ennev wrote to Underminer <=-

    And now that I think of it, BBC is supposedly having "detector van" to bust people that where watching tv without the proper tv license.

    Detecting old oscillators is an interesting trick, but I'm pretty sure
    the technology won't work anymore. Modern chips and circuits are incredibly efficient, and they are specifically designed to keep noise
    to a minimum. It may work for some very cheap radios, I suppose.

    In my teenage years, I discovered that FM broadcast radios typically had a strong LO output that could be easilt detected several metres away. se days, IFs may be less standardised, especially if the radio is a SDR, so even finding the LO frequency and identifying it among the other various birdies could be a challenge. And some HF SDRs don't even need an IF, if they they are direct samplng.

    Theoretically, you *could* dial in to very specific frequencies with
    very sensitive equipment, but you would need to know the *exact*
    location of the equipment you want to listen in on, plus already have experience with the exact models. And, I'm pretty sure distance will be
    a huge factor. It's been demonstrated you can actually decode the
    letters on an LCD screen, but that was just research. I've never heard
    of it being successful in the wild.

    Older equipment did have standardised frequencies. 10.7 MHz was pretty much universal for FM broadcast receivers in the past, 455 kHz for AM broadcast


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  • From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to Dreamer on Sat Jul 25 12:05:17 2020
    On 2020-07-24 4:36 p.m., Dreamer wrote:
    Ennev wrote to Underminer <=-


    Theoretically, you *could* dial in to very specific frequencies with very sensitive equipment, but you would need to know the *exact* location of
    the equipment you want to listen in on, plus already have experience with
    the exact models. And, I'm pretty sure distance will be a huge factor.
    It's been demonstrated you can actually decode the letters on an LCD
    screen, but that was just research. I've never heard of it being successful in the wild.

    Yeah I was referring more to the analog or "discrete component" area.
    With radio on a chip and sometime embedded with others circuitry like
    one of the chip broadcom use to make and that was widely used in phone
    it had WiFi, Bluetooth and FM in one chip (i think that's the one apple
    was using for a time and wasn't hooking up that part of the chip).

    This would be next to impossible to detect and I think theses chips like
    these SDR radio use more the regenerative circuit approach.

    Was just fun to talk about that old stuff :-)

    Any now with streaming radio they now exactly where you are, what
    station your are listening to etc. Streaming is a one to one connection,
    you would be listening to the same feed and have different adds than the
    guy next to you.

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  • From HusTler@VERT/HAVENS to Ennev on Sat Jul 25 22:23:10 2020
    Re: Your Super what ?
    By: Ennev to Underminer on Fri Jul 24 2020 07:52 am

    taken from wikipedia :
    "In intelligence operations, local oscillator radiation gives a means to detect a covert receiver and its operating frequency. The method was
    used by MI-5 during Operation RAFTER.[22] This same technique is also used in radar detector detectors used by traffic police in jurisdictions where radar detectors are illegal. "

    Are these techniques still being used in our US Embassy in China?

    HusTler
    havens.synchro.net:23

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  • From Andeddu@VERT/AMSTRAD to Nightfox on Sun Jul 26 22:17:25 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Nightfox to Dreamer on Fri Jul 24 2020 09:12 pm

    I've heard of some phones having an FM radio receiver, but I don't think I've ever actually seen a phone in person playing FM radio. I think some of the smartphones I've had were supposed to have an FM radio tuner, but I never saw any included app to tune in FM radio. I seem to remember reading about smartphones often having the FM tuner disabled, for whatever reason.

    Nightfox

    I think it's exceedingly rare to come across a smartphone with an FM tuner as users tend to go for digital radio. I do own a cheap 20 dollar burner phone which is capable of tuning into AM/FM radio and playing on loud speaker. It's a spare phone, I obviously don't use it on a daily basis!

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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Andeddu on Sun Jul 26 18:06:12 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Andeddu to Nightfox on Sun Jul 26 2020 06:17 pm

    I've heard of some phones having an FM radio receiver, but I don't
    think I've ever actually seen a phone in person playing FM radio. I
    think some of the smartphones I've had were supposed to have an FM
    radio tuner, but I never saw any included app to tune in FM radio. I
    seem to remember reading about smartphones often having the FM tuner
    disabled, for whatever reason.

    I think it's exceedingly rare to come across a smartphone with an FM tuner as users tend to go for digital radio.

    Many FM radio stations are broadcasting a digital signal these days.. So I'm a little confused on what you mean by "digital radio" - Are you referring to internet streaming radio?

    Nightfox

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  • From MRO@VERT/BBSESINF to Andeddu on Mon Jul 27 02:18:30 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Andeddu to Nightfox on Sun Jul 26 2020 06:17 pm

    I think it's exceedingly rare to come across a smartphone with an FM tuner as users tend to go for digital radio. I do own a cheap 20 dollar burner phone which is capable of tuning into AM/FM radio and playing on loud speaker. It's a spare phone, I obviously don't use it on a daily basis!

    dunno, my motorola phone is last year's phone and it has a fm tuner.
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  • From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to Nightfox on Mon Jul 27 13:42:37 2020
    On 2020-07-26 5:06 p.m., Nightfox wrote:

    Many FM radio stations are broadcasting a digital signal these days.. So I'm a little confused on what you mean by "digital radio" - Are you referring to internet streaming radio?


    Here in Montreal playing with digital using "HD radio". With my sdr
    dongle I do see a couple of stations broadcasting that way, it's fun
    because it's right next to the analog signal, so you still tune a
    station on the fm spectrum. But you need a new radio I'm not sure it's
    bundled in new cars. I guess it will finish like AM stereo, some kind of attempt to bring back listener.

    But in truth I'm sure more station would like to go all streaming over
    the internet, much cheaper than powering a transmitter and pay licenses
    to do so. A lot of TV stations want to go that way too.

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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Ennev on Mon Jul 27 12:54:52 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Ennev to Nightfox on Mon Jul 27 2020 09:42 am

    Here in Montreal playing with digital using "HD radio". With my sdr dongle I do see a couple of stations broadcasting that way, it's fun because it's right next to the analog signal, so you still tune a
    station on the fm spectrum. But you need a new radio I'm not sure it's bundled in new cars. I guess it will finish like AM stereo, some kind of attempt to bring back listener.

    My car is pretty much the only place I listen to actual radio anymore, and my car stereo is able to receive digital FM stations. I think many cars in the US have for a long time.. I remember being in a rented car in 2004 (a Chevy Impala) and its radio would display the song name & artist being played on the station - I think that can only really be done with a digital radio signal.

    Nightfox

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  • From Moondog@VERT/CAVEBBS to Ennev on Tue Jul 28 04:32:00 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Ennev to Nightfox on Mon Jul 27 2020 09:42 am

    On 2020-07-26 5:06 p.m., Nightfox wrote:

    Many FM radio stations are broadcasting a digital signal these days.. So


    Here in Montreal playing with digital using "HD radio". With my sdr
    dongle I do see a couple of stations broadcasting that way, it's fun
    because it's right next to the analog signal, so you still tune a
    station on the fm spectrum. But you need a new radio I'm not sure it's bundled in new cars. I guess it will finish like AM stereo, some kind of attempt to bring back listener.

    But in truth I'm sure more station would like to go all streaming over
    the internet, much cheaper than powering a transmitter and pay licenses
    to do so. A lot of TV stations want to go that way too.

    HD radio has been around for at least 15-20 years. Some of the local
    stations near me brag about having it. Some car radios display data from the radio station, such as it's call letters, or the name of the artist and song, similar to how XM radio does. It would make sense if that's part of what's being sent witht he normal programming.

    Radio is a peculiar media, because it is regional, and a great medium for advertising to potential customers in that region. Even syndicated shows
    allow for local advertising breaks. I was never much of a radio listener, especially talk radio, until I worked a job that required around an hour travelling to or from work. On occasion I had to travel between sites, and that added more travel time. My car radio had a CD player with mp3 playback option and Ipod support (car was made in 2009) and also had an aux in jack, however most of the time I relied on local news and traffic reports duuring drive times.

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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Moondog on Tue Jul 28 13:03:19 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Moondog to Ennev on Tue Jul 28 2020 12:32 am

    Radio is a peculiar media, because it is regional, and a great medium for advertising to potential customers in that region. Even syndicated shows allow for local advertising breaks. I was never much of a radio listener, especially talk radio, until I worked a job that required around an hour travelling to or from work. On occasion I had to travel between sites, and that added more travel time. My car radio had a CD player with mp3 playback option and Ipod support (car was made in 2009) and also had an aux in jack, however most of the time I relied on local news and traffic reports duuring drive times.

    Yeah, there's a local news & talk radio station I often listen to when I'm driving. Occasionally I might listen to a music station these days, but often it's that news & talk station, and mainly just when I'm in my car.

    Nightfox

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  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Nightfox on Wed Jul 29 10:13:00 2020
    Nightfox wrote to Dreamer <=-

    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Dreamer to Ennev on Fri Jul 24 2020 03:28 pm

    This is a requirement for me when purchasing cell phones. My phones must be able to receive FM radio. I live in a hurricane area, so it's nice to not have to always have a radio on me and not depend on the Internet always being available or have to power an additional device.

    I've heard of some phones having an FM radio receiver, but I don't
    think I've ever actually seen a phone in person playing FM radio. I
    think some of the smartphones I've had were supposed to have an FM
    radio tuner, but I never saw any included app to tune in FM radio. I
    seem to remember reading about smartphones often having the FM tuner disabled, for whatever reason.

    I've had the misfortune of picking up a phone with a chip that had the FM circuitry, but which had been disabled by the carrier. I switched carriers after that.

    I try to research phones before purchasing a different model. Usually I
    can find some chatter about the FM capabilities. I can tell you that with
    my current phone, Samsung Galaxy J3 Achieve on Boost Mobile, I don't
    recall a tuner app being preinstalled. I installed one from Google Play.

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  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to MRO on Wed Jul 29 10:58:00 2020
    MRO wrote to Andeddu <=-

    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Andeddu to Nightfox on Sun Jul 26 2020 06:17 pm

    I think it's exceedingly rare to come across a smartphone with an FM tuner as users tend to go for digital radio. I do own a cheap 20 dollar burner phone which is capable of tuning into AM/FM radio and playing on loud speaker. It's a spare phone, I obviously don't use it on a daily basis!

    dunno, my motorola phone is last year's phone and it has a fm tuner.

    I just did a quick search, and saw one article come up that mentioned every major carrier has at least one phone model capable of playing FM radio. Apple phones are not capable, which makes sense -- they are doing away with the audio jack.

    I think, from past research, any phone with the Snapdragon chips is technically capable of FM reception. I'm pretty sure that's a majority of the market.


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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Dreamer on Wed Jul 29 13:33:07 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Dreamer to Nightfox on Wed Jul 29 2020 06:13 am

    I've had the misfortune of picking up a phone with a chip that had the FM circuitry, but which had been disabled by the carrier. I switched carriers after that.

    I try to research phones before purchasing a different model. Usually I can find some chatter about the FM capabilities. I can tell you that with my current phone, Samsung Galaxy J3 Achieve on Boost Mobile, I don't recall a tuner app being preinstalled. I installed one from Google Play.

    I was on Virgin Mobile for a long time before they were acquired by Boost Mobile. I've bought a new phone since becoming a Boost customer. Now I'm curious to see if I can install an FM tuner app and see if it will work.

    Normally, not having FM capabilities hasn't been a deal-breaker for me though. I was fairly happy with a budget carrier like Virgin Mobile (now Boost).

    Nightfox

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  • From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to Dreamer on Wed Jul 29 18:39:05 2020
    On 2020-07-29 7:58 a.m., Dreamer wrote:
    MRO wrote to Andeddu <=-

    I think, from past research, any phone with the Snapdragon chips is technically
    capable of FM reception. I'm pretty sure that's a majority of the market.

    Yes, apple use theirs own chips, and when they where using chip with fm capabilities the motherboard of the phone wasn't wiring that part of the
    chip.

    I believe that for emergency broadcast that it should be mandatory to
    have a radio band capacity on phones.

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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Dreamer on Wed Jul 29 16:33:46 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Dreamer to Nightfox on Wed Jul 29 2020 06:13 am

    I try to research phones before purchasing a different model. Usually I can find some chatter about the FM capabilities. I can tell you that with my current phone, Samsung Galaxy J3 Achieve on Boost Mobile, I don't recall a tuner app being preinstalled. I installed one from Google Play.

    What app did you install? I've searched for FM tuners apps in the Google Play store, and it seems most of them are made for internet streaming stations. I'd like to find one where I know it's using the actual FM radio tuner rather than streaming from the internet.

    Nightfox

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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to Nightfox on Tue Jul 28 12:34:00 2020
    Nightfox wrote to Ennev <=-

    cars in the US have for a long time.. I remember being in a rented car
    in 2004 (a Chevy Impala) and its radio would display the song name & artist being played on the station - I think that can only really be
    done with a digital radio signal.

    There's a way to do that with terrestrial analog radio; it uses a
    a system called RDS to encode the artist name/title in a burst of audio
    that the radio can decode.



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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to Ennev on Tue Jul 28 12:35:00 2020
    Ennev wrote to Nightfox <=-

    On 2020-07-27 11:54 a.m., Nightfox wrote:

    sound is actually digital. The title info and wheather etc is carried
    by a protocol called RDS (
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System ) it's been there for a while and was promising a lot back then having news, weather and all
    kind of other text info.

    Some stations sent the genre of the station over RDS when you
    scanned, so it'd scan the entire dial and give you a list of stations
    by genre. Helpful when you were traveling.



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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to Moondog on Tue Jul 28 12:38:00 2020
    Moondog wrote to Ennev <=-

    Radio is a peculiar media, because it is regional, and a great medium
    for advertising to potential customers in that region.

    I used to listen to a lot of terrestrial talk radio; the internet and
    podcasts have taken that over. I tried listening to AM a while ago in
    my car to hear the news, but it was all commercials.




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  • From Warpslide@VERT/NRBBS to Ennev on Wed Jul 29 21:52:00 2020
    On 29 Jul 2020, Ennev said the following...

    I believe that for emergency broadcast that it should be mandatory to have a radio band capacity on phones.

    I remember hearing a few years back that governments on both sides of the border were looking at pushing carriers to turn on the "hidden" FM radio in their phones:

    https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/16/14636508/ajit-pai-smartphone-fm-radio-activa tion

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fm-radio-cellphone-telecoms-1.3577447

    But I don't think anything ever came out of it. We have one of those wind-up emergency radios with a built-in flashlight to help keep us informed during
    the zombie apocalypse.

    Jay

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  • From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jul 29 22:53:24 2020
    On 2020-07-28 11:35 a.m., poindexter FORTRAN wrote:

    Some stations sent the genre of the station over RDS when you
    scanned, so it'd scan the entire dial and give you a list of stations
    by genre. Helpful when you were traveling.

    Cool, I want that.

    I should check if they have a plugging I could add to my sdr radio.

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  • From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jul 29 22:59:12 2020
    On 2020-07-28 11:38 a.m., poindexter FORTRAN wrote:

    I used to listen to a lot of terrestrial talk radio; the internet and
    podcasts have taken that over. I tried listening to AM a while ago in
    my car to hear the news, but it was all commercials.

    Yes, what I feel with streaming and on demand is the lost of "community"
    where you would tune at a specific time to a live broadcast like talk
    radio etc or an event (sport etc) and have that feeling that somehow you weren't alone, someone was out there talking to you at this very moment. Something would happen and you would know right away.

    There were even a live show here in the 90's where at one point the host
    would ask people to "blink theirs light" you would look at your windows
    and see houses and buildings around you blinking. Really gave you a
    sense of connections even it it was just turning your lights on and off.

    Also it was great to be able to talk around the coffee machine and talk
    about yesterday show, theorize about an intrigue etc.

    now it's "shut up, I haven't streamed it yet"

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ MtlGeek - Geeks in Montreal - http://mtlgeek.com/ -
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jul 29 20:20:40 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Moondog on Tue Jul 28 2020 08:38 am

    I used to listen to a lot of terrestrial talk radio; the internet and podcasts have taken that over. I tried listening to AM a while ago in
    my car to hear the news, but it was all commercials.

    One thing I've noticed about me is that when I'm listening to broadcast radio or watching something on broadcast TV, if I'm interested in it, I'm probably more apt to listen/watch when it's being played on broadcast rather than on a streaming service, where I could listen/watch it whenever I want to. Even a movie I've already seen before, if it's on an over-the-air TV station, I'd probably be more apt to watch it. It might be a psychological thing, knowing that the time it's being played on an over-the-air broadcast is the chance I have to listen/watch it. For movies I own or are on streaming, many times I'll feel like watching it another time, since I can watch it any time.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Ogg@VERT/EOTLBBS to All on Wed Jul 29 22:28:00 2020
    Hello Nightfox!

    ** On Wednesday 29.07.20 - 15:33, nightfox wrote to Dreamer:

    I'd like to find one where I know it's using the actual FM radio
    tuner rather than streaming from the internet.

    Try https://www.gsmarena.com/

    You can refine a search by feature as "fm radio".

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com
  • From Ogg@VERT/EOTLBBS to All on Wed Jul 29 22:39:00 2020
    Hello Dreamer!

    ** On Wednesday 29.07.20 - 07:13, dreamer wrote to Nightfox:

    I try to research phones before purchasing a different model. Usually
    I can find some chatter about the FM capabilities. I can tell you that
    with my current phone, Samsung Galaxy J3 Achieve on Boost Mobile, I
    don't recall a tuner app being preinstalled. I installed one from
    Google Play.


    Samsung Galaxy J3 (2018) *has* FM Radio.

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com
  • From Moondog@VERT/CAVEBBS to Ennev on Wed Jul 29 20:10:00 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Ennev to Dreamer on Wed Jul 29 2020 02:39 pm

    On 2020-07-29 7:58 a.m., Dreamer wrote:
    MRO wrote to Andeddu <=-

    I think, from past research, any phone with the Snapdragon chips is techni capable of FM reception. I'm pretty sure that's a majority of the market.

    Yes, apple use theirs own chips, and when they where using chip with fm capabilities the motherboard of the phone wasn't wiring that part of the chip.

    I believe that for emergency broadcast that it should be mandatory to
    have a radio band capacity on phones.

    The affiliates of a local station commonly play public service ads regarding gaining access to the FM tuner in phones, and mention trusted free apps that allow FM usage for emergency situations. One such commercial lays out a scenario where internet, phone, and cable go down, and the wife and kids are creaming at the father to "fix it," because they can't cope the with it
    being dark and quiet.

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ The Cave BBS - Since 1992 - cavebbs.homeip.net
  • From Andeddu@VERT/AMSTRAD to Nightfox on Thu Jul 30 10:24:42 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Nightfox to Andeddu on Sun Jul 26 2020 02:06 pm

    Many FM radio stations are broadcasting a digital signal these days.. So I'm a little confused on what you mean by "digital radio" - Are you referring to internet streaming radio?

    My bad for being unclear... yes, I was talking about streaming the radio via the internet. I have an old cheapo phone which picks up analogue FM radio, something my iPhone cannot do.

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ BBS for Amstrad computer users including CPC, PPC and PCW!
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to Ennev on Thu Jul 30 11:58:00 2020
    Ennev wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    Some stations sent the genre of the station over RDS when you
    scanned, so it'd scan the entire dial and give you a list of stations
    by genre. Helpful when you were traveling.

    Cool, I want that.

    My 2002 Camry had that, loved that radio. Harmon Kardon stock head
    unit with a 5-disk CD changer, lots on the secondary market, and
    people hacked Bluetooth playback onto it.



    ... Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
    --- MultiMail/XT v0.52
    ■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to Ennev on Thu Jul 30 12:01:00 2020
    Ennev wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-


    Yes, what I feel with streaming and on demand is the lost of
    "community" where you would tune at a specific time to a live broadcast like talk radio etc or an event (sport etc) and have that feeling that somehow you weren't alone, someone was out there talking to you at this very moment. Something would happen and you would know right away.

    Of course you'd feel that way, posting on a BBS to relive that same
    sense of community. :)

    One period of time that stands out for me and BBSing was the first
    gulf war in 1991. TV and radio weren't reporting the protests in San
    Francisco from the streets, and newspapers did a half-decent job. We
    had people posting on BBSes seeing the crowds from their rooftops and
    coming back from the streets. I felt like BBSes were giving a more
    realistic depiction of what was *really* going on our our neck of the
    woods.



    ... Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
    --- MultiMail/XT v0.52
    ■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org
  • From MRO@VERT/BBSESINF to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Jul 30 20:47:53 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Ennev on Thu Jul 30 2020 07:58 am

    Cool, I want that.

    My 2002 Camry had that, loved that radio. Harmon Kardon stock head
    unit with a 5-disk CD changer, lots on the secondary market, and
    people hacked Bluetooth playback onto it.


    speaking of hacking bluetooth this has happened to me twice:

    i'm driving along and then i hear someone else's gps telling them where to go. one time i heard the phone start a call.

    one time there werent any cars near by me.
    very strange shit. it's like our bluetooth encryption is too weak.
    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::
  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Nightfox on Thu Jul 30 19:49:00 2020
    Nightfox wrote to Dreamer <=-

    I was on Virgin Mobile for a long time before they were acquired by
    Boost Mobile. I've bought a new phone since becoming a Boost customer.
    Now I'm curious to see if I can install an FM tuner app and see if it will work.

    Normally, not having FM capabilities hasn't been a deal-breaker for me though. I was fairly happy with a budget carrier like Virgin Mobile
    (now Boost).

    I started with Virgin, and but kept coming back for the flexible plans. I
    love that I can easily tweak my monthly service online at any time. I started out with a $35/month plan, and only recently upgraded to $50 for unlimited phone data plus hotspot. I work out of coffee shops a lot, and they don't always have reliable internet.


    --- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
    ■ Synchronet ■ Beaumont Software Dev - bbs.beaumont.software
  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Ennev on Thu Jul 30 20:10:00 2020
    Ennev wrote to Dreamer <=-

    I believe that for emergency broadcast that it should be mandatory to
    have a radio band capacity on phones.

    I'm sure Apple figures people will keep a working radio next to them at all times. There's a couple problems with that: it assumes people are smart and plan ahead (neither of which are always true), and it assumes the extra
    devices will be handy, which is not always the case.

    I live in a hurricane zone, so I'm usually very well prepared. My family
    and I were watching Harvey come in when the power went out. No problem; I
    went outside and started trying to get the generator going. I had two hours
    of backup battery power for the internet, a Chromebook that could last eight hours total, radios with batteries, and a generator with extra gas. What
    could go wrong?

    First, the generator was being a pain. We tested it a week earlier, but for some reason, it just wouldn't go. An hour before this, I'd paced the neighborhood on foot, as I could see water backing up in a ditch down the
    road. Some houses were flooding, but this property had never flooded in over sixty years. Unfortunately, I was tied down working on the generator, and so
    I couldn't keep up with the news reports, nor did I see what was happening
    down the road.

    Long story short, our property was nearly totalled with five feet of flood damage. It took something like two to three weeks for the water to drain
    from the neighborhood. When we realized we were going to lose the house, we only had enough time to grab bug-out bags. My sedan was already flooded, and
    we nearly lost the crossover. I did not think to grab a radio. I was
    extremely grateful to be able to use the FM radio on my phone, as it used
    MUCH less power. Due to flooding, the only place we could physically reach
    was the Red Cross shelter, so I turned off all the digital radios on my
    phone, tuned in to a channel that was reporting news, and turned off the display. With conservative use, I was able to keep up with the news for the next two days until we stayed with family.

    If you've ever stayed in a shelter (this makes three times for me), you
    never know what you're going to get. The ones you leave out of town to stay
    at, they're OK; this one was a last-minute afterthought with whatever they
    had on hand, and so the only news you got were the stories people brought
    with them. Not very reassuring or accurate.

    Anyways, that's my personal prepper story. Congrats if you actually read
    all that. Mama finally got herself together, and kiddos were able to move
    in with her, so I'm working on getting myself the smallest travel trailer
    or teardrop camper I can live in. For the next hurricane, I'm bringin' my
    home with me.


    --- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
    ■ Synchronet ■ Beaumont Software Dev - bbs.beaumont.software
  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Nightfox on Thu Jul 30 20:16:00 2020
    Nightfox wrote to Dreamer <=-

    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Dreamer to Nightfox on Wed Jul 29 2020 06:13 am

    I try to research phones before purchasing a different model. Usually I can find some chatter about the FM capabilities. I can tell you that with my current phone, Samsung Galaxy J3 Achieve on Boost Mobile, I don't recall a tuner app being preinstalled. I installed one from Google Play.

    What app did you install? I've searched for FM tuners apps in the
    Google Play store, and it seems most of them are made for internet streaming stations. I'd like to find one where I know it's using the actual FM radio tuner rather than streaming from the internet.

    I'm currently using one called Nextradio. It used to have a radio guide, and
    I think options for digital internet streaming on WIFI. However, the digital features pretty much died a slow death. I'm sure it's still on the Play
    Store; the basic tuner still works, they just disabled the streaming feature, and the guide errors out. There was a smaller, simpler app I used in the
    past, but I haven't been bothered enough to find it again. It may have come with the phone I had at the time.


    --- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
    ■ Synchronet ■ Beaumont Software Dev - bbs.beaumont.software
  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Nightfox on Thu Jul 30 20:26:00 2020
    Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    One thing I've noticed about me is that when I'm listening to broadcast radio or watching something on broadcast TV, if I'm interested in it,
    I'm probably more apt to listen/watch when it's being played on
    broadcast rather than on a streaming service, where I could
    listen/watch it whenever I want to. Even a movie I've already seen before, if it's on an over-the-air TV station, I'd probably be more apt
    to watch it. It might be a psychological thing, knowing that the time it's being played on an over-the-air broadcast is the chance I have to listen/watch it. For movies I own or are on streaming, many times I'll feel like watching it another time, since I can watch it any time.

    This right here. This more than anything is why I still like FM radio.

    If something's happening, like a storm or whatnot, I'll stop listening to digital music and start listening to my local FM station. It's nice to know that there [*might] be someone who is just a switch away from breaking in
    with important news.

    Also, I get broader emergency alerts over FM stations than on my phone. I
    like to hear about the tornadic system three counties away moving in fast,
    and it's nice to not have to keep pulling up the radar every thirty minutes.
    I save that for when it's in my county. :)

    [* Many radio stations, unfortunately, don't employ overnight jockeys
    anymore, unfortunately. I've no idea about the practices of our
    stations here. ]


    --- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
    ■ Synchronet ■ Beaumont Software Dev - bbs.beaumont.software
  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Ogg on Thu Jul 30 20:29:00 2020
    Ogg wrote to All <=-

    Hello Dreamer!

    ** On Wednesday 29.07.20 - 07:13, dreamer wrote to Nightfox:

    I try to research phones before purchasing a different model. Usually
    I can find some chatter about the FM capabilities. I can tell you that with my current phone, Samsung Galaxy J3 Achieve on Boost Mobile, I
    don't recall a tuner app being preinstalled. I installed one from
    Google Play.

    Samsung Galaxy J3 (2018) *has* FM Radio.

    Yes, which is how I can use it with the app I installed.

    If you're speaking of a particular app, it was not preinstalled on *this* particular phone at the time I purchased it.


    --- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
    ■ Synchronet ■ Beaumont Software Dev - bbs.beaumont.software
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to MRO on Fri Jul 31 01:29:01 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: MRO to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Jul 30 2020 04:47 pm

    speaking of hacking bluetooth this has happened to me twice:

    i'm driving along and then i hear someone else's gps telling them where to go. one time i heard the phone start a call.

    one time there werent any cars near by me.
    very strange shit. it's like our bluetooth encryption is too weak.

    I don't use my bluetooth very often, but I do use it occasionally in the car and I haven't had that happen.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 01:31:56 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Dreamer to Nightfox on Thu Jul 30 2020 04:16 pm

    What app did you install? I've searched for FM tuners apps in the
    Google Play store, and it seems most of them are made for internet
    streaming stations. I'd like to find one where I know it's using
    the
    actual FM radio tuner rather than streaming from the internet.

    I'm currently using one called Nextradio. It used to have a radio guide, and I think options for digital internet streaming on WIFI. However, the digital features pretty much died a slow death. I'm sure it's still on the

    I found that one (Nextradio) and saw my phone already had it installed. When I ran it though, it said my device wasn't supported.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Vk3jed@VERT/FREEWAY to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 23:45:00 2020
    On 07-30-20 16:10, Dreamer wrote to Ennev <=-

    I'm sure Apple figures people will keep a working radio next to them at all times. There's a couple problems with that: it assumes people are smart and plan ahead (neither of which are always true), and it assumes the extra devices will be handy, which is not always the case.

    Actually, I have found the in phone FM radio increasingly useless, and it's not for the lack of stations - there's more than ever here now. The issue with the in phone FM radio is the antenna, or rather lack of one. They use the wired earphones for the antenna, a technique that has been used back to at least the 80s with Walkmans (and their generic equivalents). Trouble is people these days tend to use Bluetooth earpieces (hey, no antenna!), and my phone dowsn't seem to work with many ear/headphones, making the FM radio function useless. :(



    ... I'm not the one that misplaced the Deltivid asteroid belt!
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.51
    ■ Synchronet ■ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au
  • From Vk3jed@VERT/FREEWAY to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 23:49:00 2020
    On 07-30-20 16:29, Dreamer wrote to Ogg <=-

    If you're speaking of a particular app, it was not preinstalled on
    *this* particular phone at the time I purchased it.

    All of my Android phones and even some of my old pre-smartphone Nokiias had FM radios with a built in FM radio app.


    ... Can you believe that thing is STILL moving?
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.51
    ■ Synchronet ■ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au
  • From Ogg@VERT/EOTLBBS to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 11:47:00 2020
    Hello Dreamer!

    ** On Thursday 30.07.20 - 17:29, dreamer wrote to Ogg:

    Samsung Galaxy J3 (2018) *has* FM Radio.

    Yes, which is how I can use it with the app I installed.

    If you're speaking of a particular app, it was not preinstalled on *this* particular phone at the time I purchased it.

    I did not realize that you had to acquire a separate app inorder to access the FM radio. I thought that if a phone boasted having FM radio, then it
    was part of the OS or pre-installed.

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com
  • From Ogg@VERT/EOTLBBS to All on Fri Jul 31 12:51:00 2020
    Hello Vk3jed!

    ** On Friday 31.07.20 - 05:45, vk3jed wrote to Dreamer:

    Actually, I have found the in phone FM radio increasingly useless [[..]]
    The issue with the in phone FM radio is the antenna, or rather lack of
    one. [[...]] Trouble is people these days tend to use Bluetooth
    earpieces (hey, no antenna!), and my phone dowsn't seem to work with
    many ear/headphones, making the FM radio function useless. :(

    My BB Q10 (7yrs old?) can switch to local speaker, but the wired earphones have to be plugged in. Have your tried using BT to recast the audio with
    the "antenna" plugged in?

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com
  • From Rampage@VERT/SESTAR to poindexter FORTRAN on Fri Jul 31 14:44:01 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Ennev on Thu Jul 30 2020 08:01:00


    One period of time that stands out for me and BBSing was the first
    gulf war in 1991. TV and radio weren't reporting the protests in San Francisco from the streets, and newspapers did a half-decent job. We
    had people posting on BBSes seeing the crowds from their rooftops and coming back from the streets. I felt like BBSes were giving a more realistic depiction of what was *really* going on our our neck of the woods.

    the Tiananmen Square "incident" got out to the world via BBSes (and fidonet)... that was just barely over 31 years ago...


    )\/(ark

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ The SouthEast Star Mail HUB - SESTAR
  • From Rampage@VERT/SESTAR to Vk3jed on Fri Jul 31 15:23:52 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Vk3jed to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 2020 19:45:00


    Vk3jed> and my phone dowsn't seem to work with many ear/headphones,
    Vk3jed> making the FM radio function useless. :(

    take a look at the plug... see if there's 3 ring conductors or four...

    TS - Tip/Sleeve - mono
    TRS - Tip/Ring/Sleeve - stereo
    TRRS - Tip/Ring/Ring/Sleeve - stereo with mic

    there's also TRRRS which i've not seen... then there's also two or three different ways they can be wired and they're not interchangable... you may be getting the right plug but the wrong wiring for your device... i won't
    even mention the thing about balanced and unbalanced stereo...

    check out this site...

    https://www.headphonesty.com/2019/04/headphone-jacks-plugs-explained/

    scroll down to "Anatomy of a Headphone Plug"... it explains this a lot better than i can right now ;)


    )\/(ark

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ The SouthEast Star Mail HUB - SESTAR
  • From Dreamer@VERT/BMTSOFT to Nightfox on Fri Jul 31 13:06:00 2020
    Nightfox wrote to Dreamer <=-

    I'm currently using one called Nextradio. It used to have a radio guide, and I think options for digital internet streaming on WIFI. However, the digital features pretty much died a slow death. I'm sure it's still on the

    I found that one (Nextradio) and saw my phone already had it installed.
    When I ran it though, it said my device wasn't supported.

    That sucks. What phone model do you have?


    --- MultiMail/Linux v0.49
    ■ Synchronet ■ Beaumont Software Dev - bbs.beaumont.software
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Vk3jed on Fri Jul 31 13:26:08 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Vk3jed to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 2020 07:45 pm

    Actually, I have found the in phone FM radio increasingly useless, and it's not for the lack of stations - there's more than ever here now. The issue with the in phone FM radio is the antenna, or rather lack of one. They use the wired earphones for the antenna, a technique that has been used back to at least the 80s with Walkmans (and their generic equivalents). Trouble is people these days tend to use Bluetooth earpieces (hey, no antenna!), and my phone dowsn't seem to work with many ear/headphones, making the FM radio function useless. :(

    Sometimes I feel like they force design changes on all of us, even if some people might not like the change. I realize many people probably use bluetooth headphones (and sometimes I have too, for the convenience), but I like having a wired connection sometimes. A headphone jack has always been included until just the last few years, and in some ways it seems stupid to remove it - as you've mentioned, removing the headphone jack also renders an FM tuner useless. Recently I bought a new phone that doesn't have a headphone jack, so I bought a USB-C headphone jack adapter so I can still plug headphones into it if I want. But that also means I can't plug headphones in while charging because it uses the same port. Unless there's some sort of adapter somewhere that allows you to plug in a charging cable and headphones at the same time.

    They've also made some phones now where you can't replace the battery. I find that frustrating too.. It seems like another example of planned obsolescense. They'd rather you buy a whole new device rather than keep your current device going longer.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 13:26:56 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Dreamer to Nightfox on Fri Jul 31 2020 09:06 am

    I found that one (Nextradio) and saw my phone already had it
    installed.
    When I ran it though, it said my device wasn't supported.

    That sucks. What phone model do you have?

    It's a Samsung Galaxy S20 - Which just came out earlier this year (I bought mine a few weeks ago).

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From MRO@VERT/BBSESINF to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 17:26:42 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Dreamer to Nightfox on Thu Jul 30 2020 03:49 pm

    Mobile (now Boost).

    I started with Virgin, and but kept coming back for the flexible plans. I love that I can easily tweak my monthly service online at any time. I started out with a $35/month plan, and only recently upgraded to $50 for unlimited phone data plus hotspot. I work out of coffee shops a lot, and they don't always have reliable internet.


    i used virgin mobile, but when i got a smart phone i wasnt getting the speed i was paying for.
    so i have bounced around from st h20 wireless to st again.

    straighttalk is like 50 bucks for 24 gigs and i dont ever run over.
    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::
  • From MRO@VERT/BBSESINF to Nightfox on Fri Jul 31 17:35:57 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Nightfox to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 2020 09:26 am

    It's a Samsung Galaxy S20 - Which just came out earlier this year (I bought mine a few weeks ago).

    are those galaxy phones any better? i gave up after my s3.
    i had blu phones and now i have a motorola i like.
    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Ogg on Fri Jul 31 15:51:08 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Ogg to Dreamer on Fri Jul 31 2020 07:47 am

    I did not realize that you had to acquire a separate app inorder to access the FM radio. I thought that if a phone boasted having FM radio, then it was part of the OS or pre-installed.

    How would that work? Normally you'd need to use an app to access various functionality and do something.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Rampage on Fri Jul 31 15:52:28 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Rampage to poindexter FORTRAN on Fri Jul 31 2020 10:44 am

    the Tiananmen Square "incident" got out to the world via BBSes (and fidonet)... that was just barely over 31 years ago...

    I've heard that BBSes are still relatively populr in China due to government censorship in China, and because BBSes can run under the radar and evade censorship a bit.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to MRO on Fri Jul 31 15:59:31 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: MRO to Nightfox on Fri Jul 31 2020 01:35 pm

    It's a Samsung Galaxy S20 - Which just came out earlier this year (I
    bought mine a few weeks ago).

    are those galaxy phones any better? i gave up after my s3.
    i had blu phones and now i have a motorola i like.

    Better than what? Other phones, or previous Galaxy phones? I tend to like them. I've been using Samsung Galaxy phones for about 7 years. My first was the S2. I tend to keep my phone for about 3-4 years before upgrading, so when I upgrade it's usually a fairly significant upgrade. I had the S2, the S4, then the S7, and now the S20. I think the S20 is fast and has a good camera, and I think it's fairly good overall. I have the base S20 model. One thing is it's a little taller than my S7 (the screen has room for one extra row of icons, for instance), and I've had to adjust to holding it one-handed since it's taller. They also got rid of the built-in headphone jack, so if you want to plug in headphones (rather than use bluetooth), you have to buy a USB-C headphone jack adapter. Also I don't really like how the batteries have been non-removable after the S4. But overall I'm fairly happy with it.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Ogg@VERT/EOTLBBS to All on Sat Aug 1 01:48:00 2020
    Hello Nightfox!

    ** On Friday 31.07.20 - 14:51, nightfox wrote to Ogg:

    I did not realize that you had to acquire a separate app inorder to
    access the FM radio. I thought that if a phone boasted having FM radio, Og>> then it was part of the OS or pre-installed.

    How would that work? Normally you'd need to use an app to access
    various functionality and do something.

    I meant that I would expect an app for the FM radio to be pre-installed if the phone has an FM radio. Forcing the user to search for an app sounds cruel.

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com
  • From MRO@VERT/BBSESINF to Nightfox on Sat Aug 1 00:55:03 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Nightfox to MRO on Fri Jul 31 2020 11:59 am

    are those galaxy phones any better? i gave up after my s3.
    i had blu phones and now i have a motorola i like.

    Better than what? Other phones, or previous Galaxy phones? I tend to like

    any better than they have been in the past. my s3 is the only phone i had that ever really became unoperable and that happened twice.

    i try to stay away from samsung products.not a fan of their smart tvs or displays.
    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Ogg on Sat Aug 1 03:44:08 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Ogg to All on Fri Jul 31 2020 09:48 pm

    I meant that I would expect an app for the FM radio to be pre-installed if the phone has an FM radio. Forcing the user to search for an app sounds cruel.

    I wouldn't say it's cruel.. I've seen things like that before. I just bought a new phone a few weeks ago, and I kept getting weird text messages when I got a voicemail or whenever I read a voicemail. I found out those text messages were data messages meant for a voicemail app to let me know when I had a voicemail and to be able to play it for me, etc. I installed a voicemail app (which wasn't pre-installed) and it solved that problem.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Vk3jed@VERT/FREEWAY to Rampage on Sat Aug 1 22:23:00 2020
    On 07-31-20 11:23, Rampage wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    take a look at the plug... see if there's 3 ring conductors or four...

    What plug? (I don't recall getting an earpiece).

    TS - Tip/Sleeve - mono
    TRS - Tip/Ring/Sleeve - stereo
    TRRS - Tip/Ring/Ring/Sleeve - stereo with mic

    Yeah, I know all that, but nothing to compare with.

    there's also TRRRS which i've not seen... then there's also two or
    three different ways they can be wired and they're not
    interchangable... you may be getting the right plug but the wrong
    wiring for your device... i won't even mention the thing about balanced and unbalanced stereo...

    All I know is a standard plug doesn't seem to fit properly.

    Previous phones (both Apple and Android) would work for playback only with a standard 3.5mm headphone plug.


    ... A beer's life does not revolve around football.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.51
    ■ Synchronet ■ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au
  • From Vk3jed@VERT/FREEWAY to Nightfox on Sat Aug 1 23:14:00 2020
    On 07-31-20 09:26, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    Sometimes I feel like they force design changes on all of us, even if
    some people might not like the change. I realize many people probably
    use bluetooth headphones (and sometimes I have too, for the
    convenience), but I like having a wired connection sometimes. A

    I normally use Bluetooth these days, had too many issues with the wire snagging on something, then the earphones becoming intermittent.

    headphone jack has always been included until just the last few years,
    and in some ways it seems stupid to remove it - as you've mentioned, removing the headphone jack also renders an FM tuner useless. Recently
    I bought a new phone that doesn't have a headphone jack, so I bought a USB-C headphone jack adapter so I can still plug headphones into it if
    I want. But that also means I can't plug headphones in while charging because it uses the same port. Unless there's some sort of adapter somewhere that allows you to plug in a charging cable and headphones at the same time.

    Hmm, more annoyances. :/

    They've also made some phones now where you can't replace the battery.
    I find that frustrating too.. It seems like another example of planned obsolescense. They'd rather you buy a whole new device rather than
    keep your current device going longer.

    Now that practice, along with loss leading printers needs to be stamped out, it's too wasteful.


    ... Love is blind, marriage is the eye-opener.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.51
    ■ Synchronet ■ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au
  • From Vk3jed@VERT/FREEWAY to Ogg on Sat Aug 1 23:52:00 2020
    On 07-31-20 08:51, Ogg wrote to All <=-

    My BB Q10 (7yrs old?) can switch to local speaker, but the wired
    earphones have to be plugged in. Have your tried using BT to recast
    the audio with the "antenna" plugged in?

    With my current phone, the issue is the lack of said "antenna". :/


    ... Borrow a few lines = Plagiarism. Steal *volumes* = Research.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.51
    ■ Synchronet ■ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au
  • From Ogg@VERT/EOTLBBS to Vk3jed on Sat Aug 1 12:35:00 2020
    Hello Vk3jed!

    ** On Saturday 01.08.20 - 05:52, vk3jed wrote to Ogg:

    ..Have your tried using BT to recast the audio with the "antenna"
    plugged in?

    With my current phone, the issue is the lack of said "antenna". :/


    OK. But the phone *has* an FM radio? What is the make of the phone?

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com
  • From paulie420@VERT/BEERS20 to Rampage on Sat Aug 1 10:18:00 2020
    the Tiananmen Square "incident" got out to the world via BBSes (and fidonet)... that was just barely over 31 years ago...


    )\/(ark

    It that true??? (Rhetorical; I'm not questioning the statement.) I didn't
    know that, and.. was around back then and it totally makes sense. Fido, back then, was cutting edge.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to Nightfox on Sat Aug 1 13:34:00 2020
    Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    Sometimes I feel like they force design changes on all of us, even if
    some people might not like the change. I realize many people probably
    use bluetooth headphones (and sometimes I have too, for the
    convenience), but I like having a wired connection sometimes.

    Preach, Brother.

    Wired Headphones Don't Run Out of Power.

    Say it with me.




    ... "We can't stop here, this is bat country."
    --- MultiMail/XT v0.52
    ■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to Nightfox on Sat Aug 1 13:37:00 2020
    Nightfox wrote to Rampage <=-

    I've heard that BBSes are still relatively populr in China due to government censorship in China, and because BBSes can run under the
    radar and evade censorship a bit.

    We rely too much on automated collection of data - China has enough
    people employed by the state that they could fill a warehouse full of
    people who spend all day logging onto BBSes and monitoring content.



    ... I'll be unstoppable when I get started.
    --- MultiMail/XT v0.52
    ■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@VERT/REALITY to MRO on Sat Aug 1 13:40:00 2020
    MRO wrote to Nightfox <=-

    any better than they have been in the past. my s3 is the only phone i
    had that ever really became unoperable and that happened twice.

    I loved mine, the form factor was perfect. Not too big, not too
    small. Ran it on the stock OS, then LineageOS, until they stopped
    supporting it. By that time, it had gotten a little too slow compared
    to new models.

    Running stock Android made a big difference, TouchWiz was laggy by
    comparison.



    ... Where is my EXECUTE key?
    --- MultiMail/XT v0.52
    ■ Synchronet ■ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Aug 1 15:54:47 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Sat Aug 01 2020 09:37 am

    I've heard that BBSes are still relatively populr in China due to
    government censorship in China, and because BBSes can run under the
    radar and evade censorship a bit.

    We rely too much on automated collection of data - China has enough
    people employed by the state that they could fill a warehouse full of people who spend all day logging onto BBSes and monitoring content.

    I suppose that's true..

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Vk3jed on Sat Aug 1 17:26:10 2020
    Re: Re: Radio GAGA
    By: Vk3jed to Ogg on Sat Aug 01 2020 07:52 pm

    My BB Q10 (7yrs old?) can switch to local speaker, but the wired
    earphones have to be plugged in. Have your tried using BT to recast
    the audio with the "antenna" plugged in?

    With my current phone, the issue is the lack of said "antenna". :/

    From what I've read, I thought that was true of all phones with an FM tuner? I've read that you'd have to plug in headphones and it would use the headphones as an FM antenna.

    Nightfox

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Vk3jed@VERT/FREEWAY to Ogg on Mon Aug 3 01:08:00 2020
    On 08-01-20 08:35, Ogg wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    OK. But the phone *has* an FM radio? What is the make of the phone?

    Yes, well it has the app preinstalled, and running it results in a message to plug the earphones in. :) It's a Doogee S55 - one of those cheap Chinese midrange phones.


    ... Reality is for those who can't handle computers.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.51
    ■ Synchronet ■ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au
  • From Vk3jed@VERT/FREEWAY to Nightfox on Mon Aug 3 01:21:00 2020
    On 08-01-20 13:26, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    With my current phone, the issue is the lack of said "antenna". :/

    From what I've read, I thought that was true of all phones with an FM tuner? I've read that you'd have to plug in headphones and it would
    use the headphones as an FM antenna.

    That is true, you might have missed the point I was making - I don't recall seeing a set with the phone, and other ones don't seem to work with it, hence "lack of said antenna". :P


    ... I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain just to eat vegetables! --- MultiMail/Win v0.51
    ■ Synchronet ■ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au
  • From Ogg@VERT/EOTLBBS to All on Sun Aug 2 17:16:00 2020
    Hello Dreamer!

    ** On Thursday 30.07.20 - 17:10, dreamer wrote to Ennev:

    [snip]

    I was extremely grateful to be able to use the FM radio on my phone, as
    it used MUCH less power. Due to flooding, the only place we could
    physically reach was the Red Cross shelter, so I turned off all the
    digital radios on my phone, tuned in to a channel that was reporting
    news, and turned off the display. With conservative use, I was able to
    keep up with the news for the next two days until we stayed with
    family.

    BUT.. as it turns out, most cellphone makers would consider you a small demographic (ie hurricane potential). Good to hear that you were able to maximize your cell battery. Too bad you left the charger behind.


    Anyways, that's my personal prepper story. Congrats if you actually
    read all that. Mama finally got herself together, and kiddos were able
    to move in with her, so I'm working on getting myself the smallest
    travel trailer or teardrop camper I can live in. For the next
    hurricane, I'm bringin' my home with me.

    Sounds like you thought on your feet quickly and managed to get your
    family to safety quite well.

    Is the trailer just a temporary thing for yourself until the house is
    rebuilt or replaced?

    I had some original earphones that came with my Blackberry Q10. I used
    them a couple of times primarily to just test the FM radio. They were very comfortable. Now.. I can't find them. :( I *should* be thinking ahead so that should I ever be stuck in waiting room or the laundromat for a period
    of time, the FM radio would be a fine thing to use.

    ---
    ■ Synchronet ■ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com
  • From Ennev@VERT/MTLGEEK to Ogg on Tue Aug 4 14:16:26 2020
    On 2020-07-31 7:47 a.m., Ogg wrote:

    I did not realize that you had to acquire a separate app inorder to access the FM radio. I thought that if a phone boasted having FM radio, then it
    was part of the OS or pre-installed.

    Me too on my old samsung the app was pre-installed.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ MtlGeek - Geeks in Montreal - http://mtlgeek.com/ -