You probably already know this, but your iPhone has an FM receiver built into it. So do most smartphones, for that matter. Most devices in the United States and Canada leave the FM chip disabled. According to FCC chairman Ajit Pai, that's something that manufacturers should change. He thinks consumers should be able to listen to FM radio with their smartphones. But, get this, he's not looking to force the manufacturers to do anything about it.
Mr. Pai thinks that "radio is vital" to our society. He pointed out that when cellular networks are knocked out, over-the-air radio becomes a lifeline. It provides the latest weather forecasts, directions on where to seek shelter, and information about relief assistance. "After hurricanes or tornadoes or floods," Mr. Pai told the North American Broadcasters Association's Future of Radio and Audio Symposium, "time and again, we see an exponential surge in radio audiences."
Incipient paranoia department: given the fact that board designers have a religion called "minimum parts count", and that electrical engineers obsess over every femtoamp in a battery-powered environment, I find myself wondering what an unused FM receiver chip is doing in an iPhone in the first place.
Not many people know this, but FM stations are able to broadcast a subcarrier signal that isn't received on ordinary sets. It's mostly used to distribute Muzak or other subscription based audio programming, and sometimes for specialized broadcasts like the Physician's Radio Network (try listening sometime: the ads are amazing).
Subcarriers are also sometimes used for data transmissions: the speeds are slow, but good enough for low-bandwidth work like sending traffic alerts to GPS units, or, in the case of iPhones, weather warnings from the National Weather Service, lists of URL's, new ring tones, or secret messages to the Apple Geniuses who are getting ready to take over the world.
I wonder what a phsychiatrist would say.
Bill Horne Moderator