Leonard Kahn says 10 broadcasters have agreed to test his Compatible AM Digital technology, and he expects those stations to begin field tests by the end of the year. Kahn says his Cam-D technology will restore AM to 15 kHz stereo fidelity by using digital processing.
Kahn declined to identify which stations had paid for his system and how much money that entailed. He said, “The receive end of this has a very big potential if it’s done right. AM radio going digital and doing the tricks (the system) is capable of, can make the receiver shoot right up. That’s where the money is and where our patents will go.”
Kahn said he would make a small amount of receivers available to his test stations as pre-production models.
Industry engineers and other observers have called for details concerning the technical specifications of the system, which Kahn claims will “provide improved fading performance over vast distances at night” and “will not increase adjacent or co-channel interference.” But he declined to give details.
However, he said he knows he needs to do that soon. “After bragging, it’s time for people to put up or shut up. … We’re not playing around and not weasel wording.”
Asked whether he would discuss details of his system at the NAB Radio Show, Kahn said he wasn’t sure. An NAB official said in July that Kahn was not slated for a presentation.
Ralph Carlson, president of Carlson Communications in Salt Lake City, plans to test Cam-D and hopes the necessary equipment would be installed in the fall. Using Kahn’s Powerside AM stereo exciter, Carlson said he has increased his station’s nighttime power level by a factor of three.
“Previously, we couldn’t get 20 miles south. Now, we can be heard 40 miles,” said Carlson.
Kahn has said his Cam-D system would perform using a station’s existing transmitter and antenna.
