A Station Owner's View of HD Radio Industry

[SayNoToIBOC]

"A Station Owner's View of HD Radio Industry"

http://www.audiographics.com/agd/061206-1.htm

 

[IBOCRocks]

"A Station Owner's View of HD Radio Industry"

http://www.audiographics.com/agd/061206-1.htm

Must be a slow fake news day for you, bringing up an old opinion article again.

Yeah, do a search...we've already debunked the good Doctor...

 

[SayNoToIBOC]

We need to educate the public on this fraudulent technology.

 

[IBOCRocks]

We need to educate the public on this fraudulent technology.

You could start with some acutal proof that the technology is "fraudulent". Hint: Links to other people saying the technology is "fraudulent" doesn't count, unless they have actual physical proof.

 

[SayNoToIBOC]

It has made false claims about coverage and adjacent-channel interference:

http://www.mediageek.net/?p=1420

 

[IBOCRocks]

It has made false claims about coverage and adjacent-channel interference:

http://www.mediageek.net/?p=1420

Where's the proof?

 

[vsa]

Proof? Here's your proof.

People get tried and convicted in courts every day based on the testimony of witnesses. Dr. Robert Conrad was an early booster of HD Radio. He even spent around $100,000 of his own cash to be an early-adopter of the technology. Read his testimony again, based on his own actual experience. He put serious money and his radio station's reputation on the line for HD-R.

http://www.audiographics.com/agd/061206-1.htm

 

[IBOCRocks]

Proof? Here's your proof.

People get tried and convicted in courts every day based on the testimony of witnesses. Dr. Robert Conrad was an early booster of HD Radio. He even spent around $100,000 of his own cash to be an early-adopter of the technology. Read his testimony again, based on his own actual experience. He put serious money and his radio station's reputation on the line for HD-R.

http://www.audiographics.com/agd/061206-1.htm

Well then, until he succesfully sues someone, it's simply an accusation. There are plenty of others who have not had the same experience.

 

[SayNoToIBOC]

Let's take a look at the readers' comments, at the end of the article:

From: Phil L.

I was always under the impression that if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.
I was with a friend who just purchased a new $400. digital car radio so we
monitored several stations in this area that were broadcasting in "HD" I'm
definitely not impressed. People have complained about multipath but when
you are driving into certain questionable areas the digital stream stutters
and stalls then the radio switches back to the analog mode which in many
cases is not in sync with the digital signal. When we got more than twenty
or thirty miles away from the transmitter, the digital signal was gone.
As a former station owner and engineer, I would not waist any money or effort
to go digital. I can see certain advantages with AM but that won't work at night.
With the FM "HD" system it also increases the amount of undesirable "AM"
noise in the main analog FM signal. When a better system is available, let me know,
in the meantime, I wouldn't waist my money or time doing digital radio.

From: Robert Y.

I went to my local Dallas, TX Radio Shack the other day, asked to see
the new HD radio. "Over there", said the clerk. "But, it doesn't work
in the store". Sure enough, there it was, all 300 dollars of it. The only thing
that works is the on-off sw. In-store HD is blocked out by the building.

Meanwhile just above the non-working HD, sits a standard AM-FM boombox
just booming away. Is this the way an industry sells it's new and improved
product? I smell trouble ahead.

From: Richard U.

The Boston Acoustics radio is notorious for poor sensitivity.
The radio is the problem, this time, not the technology.

From: Sal A.

HD = MD (Mini Disc). Nuff said. Not going to help, a major cost for
little to no reward in a technology market that is moving by leaps
and bounds to render the "tuner" useless in a short time making this
another piece of electronics people just don't need.
It will not reach critical mass because so many other things do what
people want them to do it's just not worth it, not to mention technology
that enables people to listen to internet radio in their car. When cities
are wired and those tuners hit the market, adios terrestrial. Of course
that's just my opinion and I could be wrong but... I doubt it.
Just think at how long it took people to buy CD players. Adults don't
adapt to new media technologies like 18-34's. 18-34's already have
a ton of gadgets they're into and they're already HABITUAL in their
use of those product. HD radio is like an Edsel.

 

[autopaint-1]

"amount of undesirable "AM" noise in the main analog FM signal"

Next time quote someone who knows what they're talikng about. FMIBOC doesn't work that way and you don't hear AM noise on an FM signal, Jeesh, get a life!!

 

[JasonW]

"amount of undesirable "AM" noise in the main analog FM signal"

Next time quote someone who knows what they're talikng about. FMIBOC doesn't work that way and you don't hear AM noise on an FM signal, Jeesh, get a life!!

There is some amplitude modulation in an FM signal, which is "clipped off" from the waveform peaks by the limiter. A German crystal radio enthusiast named Gollum built an FM crystal set that picked up the AM component of the FM signal via slope tuning. It was a touchy set to adjust, but it worked.

-- Jason

 

[autopaint-1]

Again, there is no AM component that can be decoded by a commerical BCB FM radio. In NYC, one of the most crowded radio markets, there is no interference on either AM or FM radio frm the use of IBOC. I stilll recieve all the local stations with no interefernce. At least in my market there are no listeners to first adjacents.

 

[JasonW]

Again, there is no AM component that can be decoded by a commerical BCB FM radio. In NYC, one of the most crowded radio markets, there is no interference on either AM or FM radio frm the use of IBOC. I stilll recieve all the local stations with no interefernce. At least in my market there are no listeners to first adjacents.

Here are plans for an FM crystal set: http://www.vacuumtubesinc.com/info8.html . Also, this web page http://www.somerset.net/arm/fm_only_lowtech.html not only has plans for an FM crystal set, but describes how it is possible to receive FM signals on an ordinary AM receiver via slope tuning. Here are Gollum's FM crystal set plans: http://www.oldradioworld.de/gollum/sloped.htm


-- Jason

 

[autopaint-1]

Why are we discussing crystal radios on the IBOC board? This discussion is inane and not worth my effort any longer.

 

[JasonW]

Why are we discussing crystal radios on the IBOC board? This discussion is inane and not worth my effort any longer.

The fact that FM crystal radios work disproves your assertion that there couldn't be AM noise in an FM signal (which a reader named Phil L. mentioned when commenting on the HD radio article that includes Dr. Conrad's observations http://www.audiographics.com/agd/061206-1.htm ).

FM signals do indeed have positive and negative amplitude peaks, which are clipped off at the upper and lower limits held by the limiter (if there was no amplitude change it would be DC).

-- Jason