FM transmission Standards

[gilid]

Hello,

I have a question regarding FM radio transmission standards. Recently, I took my Magnum Dynalab FT101 Etude tuner (purchased in Canada) to Europe (France). Aside from the obvious ps voltage issue (I use a step down autotransformer), are there any differences between North American and European FM transmission standards? My tuner sounds terrible here - on par with my 4 year olds toy radio.

Any help would be appreciated!

[ftorres]

Hi,

Welcome to France and its wonderful radio world

Well, I think your main problem is de-emphasis. The broadcasts are made with pre-emphasis, which is a technique to improve high frequency S/N ratio. And your tuner has to do the inverse job. Nice thing about standards is that they are no standard In USA/Canada, pre/de-emphasis uses a 75 us (microsecond) curve, and in Europe, we use 50 us.

So, check inside your tuner. I dunno for Dynalab, but there must be a little switch, either labelled USA/Europe or 75/50. If not, try to write down all the IC references that you will find inside, and post'em. Will try to look for some informations.

Hope this helps