Support VHF airband

[lormayna]

It seems that SI47312 can support airband reception, it's already implemented in ATS-20. The frequencies are from 108Mhz to 137Mhz in AM.
Even if in some countries can be illegal, I think it can be a significant improvement in the product.

[EmEiBee]

Even if in some countries can be illegal,

In which countries? That would be interesting to me.
In Germany, it's certainly legal. You can listen to anything here. Areas used by the military, government, police, or similar organizations are encrypted anyway and can't be decoded with normal hobby equipment...

[Ahemmetter]

Hm, I am not sure this is true for Germany; the airband is (probably) not intended for "the general public" or an "undefined audience" and listening to it would therefore be illegal, even if it's not encrypted.
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ttdsg/__5.html

[EmEiBee]

I think you're wrong.
The second paragraph is crucial here. It says at the end, "... must not be [...] disclosed to others."
That's actually the crucial sentence. It applies fundamentally, especially to amateur radio operators (like me, for example).

[Ahemmetter]

Well the second paragraph is a second, independent prohibition. Part 1 is about the act of listening, part 2 is about what you do with the contents if you caught them by mistake. That is also something that appeared in several questions when I did my amateur radio exam in Germany (https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Unternehmen_Institutionen/Frequenzen/Amateurfunk/Fragenkatalog/Pruefungsfragen.pdf)

But either way, the more important question regarding the original post is whether or not it would be legal to add such a feature. It seems that there is no prohibition to own a receiver that covers the airband (in Germany), so that should be fine.

[EmEiBee]

yepp...
Someone once said:
You can own almost anything. But whether you can use it is another matter.
In any case, the Airband-receivers are freely available for sale and can be purchased by anyone.
So I don't see any problems there either.

[lohtse]

Even if in some countries can be illegal,

In which countries? That would be interesting to me. In Germany, it's certainly legal. You can listen to anything here. Areas used by the military, government, police, or similar organizations are encrypted anyway and can't be decoded with normal hobby equipment...

In the UK is is technically illegal to listen on Airband but nothing is ever done... The funny Part is it is only illegal on a radio and not on an SDR.. Try making that make sense lol (I am from the UK BTW)

[max-arnold]

I'm not aware of a way to enable air band support in Si4732, besides adding an external converter, see #129

[AleksY65]

Всегда хочется немножко больше чем есть). Но есть технический предел. Приёмник просто не будет работать на этих частотах, а если всё-таки сможет, то это будет ужасный приём.