In message <r4I5AhJbM0QKFwUU@bancom.co.uk>, tony sayer
<tony@bancom.co.uk> writes
>In article <CQIA3QFTXyQKFwTk@g3ohx.demon.co.uk>, Ian Jackson <ianREMOVET
>HISjackson@g3ohx.demon.co.uk> scribeth thus
>>In message <W6SdnfohqtaJAt_XnZ2dnUVZ8l6dnZ2d@bt.com>, Kráftéé
>><kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> writes
>>>Jimbo GM4DHJ .... wrote:
>>>| "DAB sounds worse than FM" <dab.is@fooked.com> wrote in message
>>>| news:7afjm6F1vb133U1@mid.individual.net...
>>>|| There's a 10 Downing St petition to stop FM/AM being switched off:
>>>||
>>>|| http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/AM-FM-Radio/
>>>||
>>>|| Please sign. Thanks.
>>>||
>>>||
>>>| cool thanks ......
>>>
>>>Maybe some more bandwidth to play with.......Naah I doubt it (it'll be
>>>sold to the highest bidder)
>>>
>>Who IS going to buy that part of the spectrum? There's not a lot of
>>activity between (say) 30 and 87MHz at the moment, so I don't think that
>>there will be as great a demand for the FM radio spectrum as some people
>>think.
>
>There are tracts of spectrum from around 30 to 87 MHz that are hardly
>used as no one wants them;!...

Offhand, I'm not sure what one might expect to find. Old FM cordless
phones 30 to 33MHz. IF region 33 to 40MHz 'protected'. Some radio
control around 49MHz (?), plus old toy walkie talkies and baby alarms.
Amateur 50 to 52MHz. There used to be a blind landing system on 75MHz.
Some council, gas and electricity board stuff around 80Mhz? OK, all of
the spectrum will be allocated, but the actual usage is very low.

Of course, one of the problems with these relatively low frequencies is
the size of the aerial, especially for handheld portable use (even if
loading is used). And, there's also a severe problem with sporadic-E
interference - especially around this time of year. It is not without
good reason that, some time ago, Band 1 was abandoned for TV
transmissions in many European countries.
--
Ian