From: Mike Holden <rockbox_at_mikeholden.org>
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:30:29 -0000 (UTC)

Bertrik Sikken wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> While working with the rockbox radio code a bit I noticed that currently
> the FM channel spacing for the 'europe' FM region setting is 50 kHz.
> (see fm_region_data in firmware/tuner.c)
> I think this should be 100 kHz.
>
> The 100 kHz spacing for europe is mentioned in the si4702 radio chip
> datasheet and wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_band ) also
> mentions "An ITU Geneva conference of 1984-12-07 resolved to discontinue
> the use of 50 kHz offsets throughout Eastern and Western Europe."
> Here in the Netherlands, all FM frequencies are on a 100 kHz spacing.
> This is also the case for France and Germany as far as I could find in
> a quick search with google. According to wikipedia, Italy is apparently
> an exception, still using 50 kHz for some stations.

The wikipedia reference actually says "Some countries, such as Italy which
has a heavily-congested FM band, still allow a station on any 50 kHz
boundary where it can be squeezed in.", suggesting that this is not
exclusively Italy, but possibly other countries as well.

I would personally suggest that unless we can show for definite that Italy
is the __only__ exception country, it may be unwise to make a global
change?

-- 
Mike Holden
http://www.by-ang.com - the place to shop for all manner of hand crafted
items, including Jewellery, Greetings Cards and Gifts

Received on 2008-12-29