Some observations about HD radio

[Ed Nielson]

I recently bought an older (2008) HD radio at a thrift store here in SW Fla. (I paid less than $10 for it, thought it would be a cool toy to play with if nothing else.) I"m keeping around because I'm a radio geek and it's a cool toy, but seriously...

I found a few "extra" channels, but really nothing I can't get somewhere else:
1. A local CCM station with 2 HD subchannels that sounded like different mixes. (It's a K-Love EMF station.)
2. Our local NPR has its classical music on HD2.
3. An local that recently switched from beautiful music to AC put the former on HD2.
4. One talk station out of Tampa seems to have an HD2 that is all play-by-play.
5. A couple of AC stations have a Spanish current hits station. (One HD2 I found played English-language AC hits with Spanish liners. Now that was interesting!!)

Nothing on HD on the AM band here... but we are sort of in an AM desert anyway.

There really isn't anything that you can't get online. Now, I could see HD being more popular in cars, especially for people without Satellite. But for home use, I found that one of the main issues is that of reception. If you lose the HD signal, you go back to the HD1 main program. The HD signal is unfortunately the first to go, before you lose the stereo carrier.) You really need an outdoor antenna for HD to work well. I have had HD radios in the past when I live up north, and they all seem to be plagued with this issue.

I have not yet checked out HD in a car. Would love to know what people think? Are there any HD subcarriers that have actually gotten ratings?

 

[louis_p]

Now, I could see HD being more popular in cars, especially for people without Satellite. But for home use, I found that one of the main issues is that of reception. If you lose the HD signal, you go back to the HD1 main program. The HD signal is unfortunately the first to go, before you lose the stereo carrier.) You really need an outdoor antenna for HD to work well.

About 15 years ago, I had a Microsoft Zune HD. At the time, there was only one HD signal with a sub-channel in my area. Even though I am within the city-grade contour of the station’s signal, the digital signal would fluctuate in and out constantly to the point where it was unbearable. This would happen in areas where I could receive a reliable and stable analogue signal.

As you mentioned, HD is the first to go and this means that the radio would revert to the primary analogue signal if the radio is tuned to a subcarrier.

The other issue is that sometimes the HD feed of the primary station is not in sync with the analogue signal. The result would be that the audio would “skip back” 10 seconds when the tuner would switch from HD to analogue. I understand that radio stations could sync the HD and analogue audio but most don’t seem to put forth any effort.

Given this, it seems that reliable HD reception would be more challenging in a moving vehicle than at home. I read a post from a car dealer on another forum that customers were complaining of audio issues due to the fluctuations between HD and analogue. The remedy was for the dealership personnel to disable the HD feature in the radio firmware.

Are there any HD subcarriers that have actually gotten ratings?

Most of the HD subcarriers with any significant ratings are feeding an analogue translator. I recall seeing a few stations occasionally showing up with 0.1.

 

[Ed Nielson]

The other issue is that sometimes the HD feed of the primary station is not in sync with the analogue signal. The result would be that the audio would “skip back” 10 seconds when the tuner would switch from HD to analogue. I understand that radio stations could sync the HD and analogue audio but most don’t seem to put forth any effort.

Given this, it seems that reliable HD reception would be more challenging in a moving vehicle than at home. I read a post from a car dealer on another forum that customers were complaining of audio issues due to the fluctuations between HD and analogue. The remedy was for the dealership personnel to disable the HD feature in the radio firmware.

I forgot about the nasty time shift!! Most of the stations I picked up switched back and forth as I moved the antenna. Just a slight change in quality, but always in sync. I guess enough people complained about it.

Edit to add: ... that is if I'm listening to the HD1 there's no sync issue. But if I'm tuned to say, 90.1-2 and the HD drops, it goes back to 90.1 (no dash) and then you either wait for it to come back or you will be on 90.3. Could be very frustrating for the average person.

 

[tested]

The thing to remember about HD radio is that it was introduced at a time when streaming was not quite so huge. Once streaming exploded in popularity, many of the HD subchannels became simulcasts from those streaming platforms like iHeartRadio, or of other stations in the market. It's gotten worse in the past few years and its very disappointing.

 

[Negin]

Reminds me of long ago when my relative who works in broadcasting gave me a rack-mount DaySequerra HD tuner when upgrading stuff at one of his stations. Although made for the broadcasting industry for stations monitoring their over the air signals, it has a few bells and whistles in it - like alarms to alert the chief engineer for monitoring their signals.

 

[boombox4]

The main HD-2 that I listened to in the Seattle area (KISW's Metal Militia channel) was not -- and still is not -- available as a stream. When Audacy yanked it off the air, it was gone completely. So not all HD-2's and 3's are, or were copies of streams.

 

[radiofan2023]

I just got my first HD Radio and a lot of the HD-2 Kansas City stations aren't streamed. The only one that I know of being streamed is KPRS HD-2, but it also has a translator at 106.9.

 

[ZebraRadio]

With more and more countries going digital, primarily with DAB+, you have to wonder when or if the US will go digital only. For good or ill, we're stuck with HD Radio for AM/FM. As it is now, it's too costly for many stations to install HD Radio equipment, particularly LPFM stations. Should the Feds mandate a conversion to digital they may be forced to subsidize it.

 

[Jstnpspck]

One benefit I've made use of is iHeart typically simulcasting an AM sports station on an FM subchannel- they do so in both Philly and LA. Audacy also typically offers their BetMGM programming on an HD channel, though I'd prefer they offer their Infinity Sports Network.

WMGK in Philly has an oldies station on an HD channel but no online stream available. KKGO in LA also has an oldies HD station that I don't believe streams.

In Los Angles, over the three years I've been here iHeart has dropped an active rock station from their KYSR HD and Audacy dropped a "new alternative" station from their KROQ. Both are likely available online, but I still appreciated the option.

This is all from a little Sparc radio I have in the house. I've never had a car with HD capabilities, meaning it's either jumping around the dial or simply plugging my phone in and using an app. As mentioned before, any saving grace for HD will be in vehicles. However, my buddy just got a new Sonata and let me play around with his radio. I tried showing him the HD functionality, and also found an "ambient sounds" feature built into the car. He already had his phone connected via Android Auto to stream his music and said if anything, his wife would be more likely to use the ambient sounds feature than touch the radio...

 

[boombox4]

With more and more countries going digital, primarily with DAB+, you have to wonder when or if the US will go digital only. For good or ill, we're stuck with HD Radio for AM/FM. As it is now, it's too costly for many stations to install HD Radio equipment, particularly LPFM stations. Should the Feds mandate a conversion to digital they may be forced to subsidize it.

It will go 'digital only' when the last OTA stations are off the air. Then what counts as "radio" will be online and digital only. That is the only way the US will go 'digital only' for radio. HD is a stopgap, that sort of works. Whether your average radio listener is even aware of HD radio is a good question.

The point being that OTA radio will never go digital only in the US. Turning off FM and going all DAB works in a couple countries in the EU because the government pushed for it, and new cars were all equipped with DAB radios. Even at that, there are FM stations in Norway that wouldn't fit on the NRK's DAB transmitters, which had a limit of under 100 channels, and those FMs are still on the air. Switzerland is turning off the FM but I think that's for the national network only. They may still have some commercial FMs left on the air.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

Right now, it seems to me that HD's highest and best use is to feed a FM translator. For relatively little money a broadcaster can get an "extra" signal in their market.

 

[TexasTom]

Should the Feds mandate a conversion to digital they may be forced to subsidize it.

There's really no reason for the Feds to mandate such a conversion. Remember that the reason why the digital TV transition was mandated is because the government wanted to consolidate the stations onto a portion of the TV broadcast band and sell off the rest to cell service providers for a fat profit. They could do that because there was strong interest from those companies in the upper half of the UHF TV band.

In contrast, those same companies wouldn't be interested in using any part of the FM broadcast band even if it were given to them for free. There really is not alternate use for 88 to 108 MHz, so FM stations can remain in place until the universe dies or they are no longer financially viable, whichever comes first.

 

[actionsub]

I bought a 2014 Toyota that came with an HD radio, and until HD dies or the wheels fall off I'll keep driving it. The HD channels in our market are miles above their parent station in terms of quality and music. It's my only outlet for Americana, jazz, classical, and truly classic rock (deep cuts, not the two or three overplayed songs by classic artists that populate most rock playlists).

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I invested in HD radio with a tuner I could connect to the stereo in my home office the was a nice mix of traditional jazz, classic country, smooth jazz, '70's hits, and a rebroadcast of our local AM talker. In time just about all of that disappeared except for the AM talker rebroadcast and the traditional jazz (NPR).

One group owner with 3 full power FM signals puts Fox Sports on HD2 and Podcast Radio on HD3 on all 3!

In 2015 my house was vandalized and the tuner was stolen. I didn't bother replacing it because I didn't trust that the large group owners would continue with the formats I was interested in. I only noticed because I have HD in the car. It looks like my suspicions were correct.

 

[Kelly A]

I invested in HD radio with a tuner I could connect to the stereo in my home office the was a nice mix of traditional jazz, classic country, smooth jazz, '70's hits, and a rebroadcast of our local AM talker. In time just about all of that disappeared except for the AM talker rebroadcast and the traditional jazz (NPR).

Wow, a convert! Congratulations!

In 2015 my house was vandalized and the tuner was stolen. I didn't bother replacing it because I didn't trust that the large group owners would continue with the formats I was interested in.

For a minute there I thought you were going to blame a large group of radio owners for ransacking your home and stealing your radio.

 

[K6JHU]

The local classical station is a rim shot to where I am. Fortunately they are on an HD-3 that is a local. y standard listening in the car. One of the things I oticed, was that even though it is an HD-3, the sound quality is better than listening to the originating station.

 

[DrJerry]

I tried listening to HD subchannels (in the car) when I lived in Seattle. But I found the frequent dropouts (and delay to reacquire HD signal) to be very annoying, so I gave up. I experienced this in various in-city neighborhoods and close-in suburbs (Eastside). Terrain is presumably a factor. I haven't tried it here in Chicago but maybe I will now...

 

[speer360]

I tried listening to HD subchannels (in the car) when I lived in Seattle. But I found the frequent dropouts (and delay to reacquire HD signal) to be very annoying, so I gave up. I experienced this in various in-city neighborhoods and close-in suburbs (Eastside). Terrain is presumably a factor. I haven't tried it here in Chicago but maybe I will now...

What year was this?

 

[davideduardo]

The local classical station is a rim shot to where I am. Fortunately they are on an HD-3 that is a local. y standard listening in the car. One of the things I oticed, was that even though it is an HD-3, the sound quality is better than listening to the originating station.

Remember, the first three HD channels share a single digital stream. Each station can determine how much of it to give each of the main and additional two channels. So, in theory, HD-3 could be assigned greater fidelity than the analog station's required HD-1 (those who are more experienced than me can correct this if I am off... I have not done real engineering for decades).

It's a single digital space, and each usage can be assigned a particular amount of it.

 

[DrJerry]

What year was this?

Around 2021-2023