AM-FM-HD radios. SPARC HD Radio SHD-T750 Table Top AM/FM Radio with Alarm

[thezak]

What impressions have any of you kind folks hearing the AM-FM-HD radio at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TE3L2HE

How does the audio quality compare for example with Tivoli audio quality?...

 

[tomservo]

Well, my first impression is Amazon's tag saying "#1 Debut in Shortwave Radios" even though it doesn't have shortwave.

Looks nice enough, it has external connections for coax (FM) and twin lead (AM) antennas, an aux in and a USB jack of indeterminate use.

The radio's display implies it handles Artist Experience but the description casts that in doubt. So, I dunno.

It's a lot for a glorified alarm clock, but if someone could review it and it turns out to be a DX monster, it might be worth the dough.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

What impressions have any of you kind folks hearing the AM-FM-HD radio at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TE3L2HE

How does the audio quality compare for example with Tivoli audio quality?...

This looks like iBiquity's private label radio. A bit pricey to pick up just to evaluate. As a general rule, I don't go for premium tabletop radios. Bose - little better than your normal portable model a little fixed RF gain, a second IF ceramic filter. CCrane and GE Superadios run rings around it for reception. Not sure about Tivoli but if you got a schematic I'll look at it. As for sound - you aren't gonna get anything close to good sound out of a little box on the table top. My daughter has a big "Dr. Dre" iphone dock about 2 feet wide by 6 by 6 - that thing has pretty good sound for what it is. But I run a modified Sony SRF-59 through the auxiliary jack - now THAT is a good setup if you are limited in space.

I've found that ALL - as in ALL HD radios that I have evaluated can be DX monsters. Not because HD alliance gives a darn about DX - that is what it takes to pull in the HD stations, so you get things like the little Sony wonder tuner, the Sangeans, those Pioneer car radios that are the standard by which car DX is measured. So I expect this thing to be a pretty good DX radio. But for this type of money I'd buy a CCrane 2 - now THAT would definitely get good reception. Of course you wouldn't get HD, but judging by the "dependability" of my local HD-2 offerings, you wouldn't lose that much. Stations consider those HD-2's just a "feature" and they go away on a whim, or equipment failure that won't be fixed for days, weeks, or ever. I wouldn't recommend buying an HD radio just for HD-2.

 

[Kelly A]

Of course you wouldn't get HD, but judging by the "dependability" of my local HD-2 offerings, you wouldn't lose that much. Stations consider those HD-2's just a "feature" and they go away on a whim, or equipment failure that won't be fixed for days, weeks, or ever. I wouldn't recommend buying an HD radio just for HD-2.

So Bruce, did you ever bother to contact your local station to find out what the status of your favorite HD-2 station is? Or are you just choosing to continue duplication of your generalized rants here?

 

[tomservo]

So Bruce, did you ever bother to contact your local station to find out what the status of your favorite HD-2 station is? Or are you just choosing to continue duplication of your generalized rants here?

If his stations are anything like the ones I've tried to deal with, they are impossible to get in contact with. Sure, there's Facebook, manned by some intern drone who doesn't know HD from SCA from stereo. You'd have better luck praying to Allah.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

So Bruce, did you ever bother to contact your local station to find out what the status of your favorite HD-2 station is? Or are you just choosing to continue duplication of your generalized rants here?

If they don't care, why should I waste my time on hold? It is not my job to be the station's engineer. He should check the HD-2 at least once or twice a day, and take corrective action if it is off the air. And it is a sad commentary on the state of HD radio adoption if I am the only caller who reports an outage. Many industry posters have made it abundantly clear that stations don't take "the stations between the stations" seriously - as anything more than a "feature". Since HD-2 is the only real advantage of HD radio to the average consumer, and I am the only one who notices - I am left to wonder if I am the only one using an HD radio to hear the HD-2. If there are others, they long since have given up on the HD-2 if not HD radio entirely. Without HD-2, an HD radio is nothing but a more expensive radio that doesn't sound any different from analog. Might as well just stick with analog.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

If his stations are anything like the ones I've tried to deal with, they are impossible to get in contact with. Sure, there's Facebook, manned by some intern drone who doesn't know HD from SCA from stereo. You'd have better luck praying to Allah.

Good one Tom. Especially since the Babylonian moon god doesn't exist. It makes me wonder if - you are saying by implication - most stations have no engineer on call. They just contract the work out when something breaks down. Something they actually care about, not HD. For all the energy expended by HD advocates in defense of the system and hating on me - they are surprisingly indifferent when the system actually breaks down. With that much religious ferver over HD radio, I would think they would move heaven and earth to protect the sacred cow and keep the HD system perfect and sinless.

I am starting to think I should put HD radio on the list of religions I do not discuss. You know, like tube vs. transistor, speaker wire, Windows vs. Linux, Mac vs. PC, etc.

 

[Kelly A]

That figures. It's easier to speak on behalf of all stations, like you KNOW they don't care. Well the facts are Bruce, I know that stations do care. Simply picking up the phone and calling the station, even if you register a complaint with the receptionist is obviously more than you're willing to do. I guess its easier to complain here, than bother doing anything about it. Or is it that you still claim the receptionist is actually in India? Which by the way, is the most ridiculous claim you've made yet.

 

[tomservo]

That figures. It's easier to speak on behalf of all stations, like you KNOW they don't care. Well the facts are Bruce, I know that stations do care. Simply picking up the phone and calling the station, even if you register a complaint with the receptionist is obviously more than you're willing to do. I guess its easier to complain here, than bother doing anything about it. Or is it that you still claim the receptionist is actually in India? Which by the way, is the most ridiculous claim you've made yet.

I'm the one who made that claim first in this thread, and I stand by it. Sure, lots of little mom and pop owned stations care enough to listen to their listeners. I'm talking about the big corporate ones who are most likely to be running HD and least likely to publish any kind of contact information on their websites, or in the phone book, etc. I remember a long time ago, well before the days of IBOC, I actually called a station to complain about their audio quality. I didn't know it at the time but they'd migrated from playing music off CDs to an automated system with Musicam (MP2) audio. It sounded terrible, as anyone who remembers what lossy audio sounded like back in the late 90s could attest. Back then, I got an actual receptionist who took my question, forwarded it to the chief engineer who was actually at the cluster's studios and he called me back to discuss the issue (and claim it sounded exactly like the CDs did, which made me realize some engineers have tin ears.)

Jump ahead ten years through massive consolidation, and in some cases you'd be hard pressed to even find a general office number for some stations anywhere. Certainly no public contact info for anyone beyond the office or a request line. I've tried several times to get in touch with station engineers to ask questions or voice concerns ("Your station is being heard for 30 miles from the TX on spurs 200 kHz above and below your carrier frequency" seems like the kind of thing they'd want to know about) and it's always gone into black holes. Or worse, been deleted from stations' social media pages.

Needless to say, asking about HD subchannels on a station's social media page just gets my posts deleted, especially if they're asking why the audio has gone away. I don't think the interns operating those pages are even aware of what it is.

 

[Kelly A]

.

Needless to say, asking about HD subchannels on a station's social media page just gets my posts deleted, especially if they're asking why the audio has gone away. I don't think the interns operating those pages are even aware of what it is.

First of all, most station Engineers don't have access nor reply to company Facebook, (or whatever) social media pages. That job is left up to either their digital or promotions group, who have no idea what your techno-ramble is. As David pointed out in an earlier discussion, most station engineers are busy, not waiting for your contact via social media. Second, and I've experienced this first hand, sending a long, drawn-out accusatory E-mail or voice mail acting as if you're some sort of expert in all things broadcast, will not get you a result. Also, stations don't care about your DX-ing hobby. Most Engineers also don't have time for nutty-appearing messages. Being respectful, business-like and to the point, is always the best way to get a response or result. There is this thing called a telephone which uses your voice. Pick up the telephone, call the station BUSINESS OFFICE during regular business hours. Politely ask for the Chief Engineer. If the Chief Engineer isn't there, ask to leave them a voice mail. Here is a suggested script: "Hello, my name is Tom, and I was wondering when your HD-2 channel would be back on the air. I really enjoyed that channel and look forward to knowing when it will be back. My callback number is: (***) ***-**** or my E-mail address is: [email protected]. Thank you very much"

 

[rbrucecarter5]

That figures. It's easier to speak on behalf of all stations, like you KNOW they don't care. Well the facts are Bruce, I know that stations do care. Simply picking up the phone and calling the station, even if you register a complaint with the receptionist is obviously more than you're willing to do. I guess its easier to complain here, than bother doing anything about it. Or is it that you still claim the receptionist is actually in India? Which by the way, is the most ridiculous claim you've made yet.

The India thing was a bit of hyperbole - lighten up! If stations don't care, I don't care. I've already reprogrammed my presets to other stations. If HD-2 comes back it comes back. If not, it was nice while it lasted. As for posting about it here, other people post about HD-2 coming and going. I wasn't the first, but I may have been the last. Nobody but me cared about HD radio. Past tense, you notice.

 

[tomservo]

First of all, most station Engineers don't have access nor reply to company Facebook, (or whatever) social media pages. That job is left up to either their digital or promotions group, who have no idea what your techno-ramble is. As David pointed out in an earlier discussion, most station engineers are busy, not waiting for your contact via social media. Second, and I've experienced this first hand, sending a long, drawn-out accusatory E-mail or voice mail acting as if you're some sort of expert in all things broadcast, will not get you a result. Also, stations don't care about your DX-ing hobby. Most Engineers also don't have time for nutty-appearing messages. Being respectful, business-like and to the point, is always the best way to get a response or result. There is this thing called a telephone which uses your voice. Pick up the telephone, call the station BUSINESS OFFICE during regular business hours. Politely ask for the Chief Engineer. If the Chief Engineer isn't there, ask to leave them a voice mail. Here is a suggested script: "Hello, my name is Tom, and I was wondering when your HD-2 channel would be back on the air. I really enjoyed that channel and look forward to knowing when it will be back. My callback number is: (***) ***-**** or my E-mail address is: [email protected]. Thank you very much"

I've always been professional when dealing with radio stations because in life it's always the best way to get results. It's hard to find a station's number when it isn't published anywhere, though. The last time I called a corporate station, the receptionist not only refused to put me through to the engineer's voicemail, she refused to even take a message and pass it along. She said they only forward general calls to the request line or sales. My guess is there was no engineer, it was a contract-out job.

That's not to say all my radio experiences lately have been negative. A brand new station just went on the air earlier this week in another part of the state. Nowhere on their website or Facebook did they happen to list the format (and they aren't streaming yet), so I sent 'em a little question via PM on Facebook asking, and got a friendly response within a day. But this was a small business with just a few small-town stations; the social media is probably run by the same people who run the day to day operations, do the selling and host the morning show!

 

[KB1OKL]

What impressions have any of you kind folks hearing the AM-FM-HD radio at
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TE3L2HE

How does the audio quality compare for example with Tivoli audio quality?...

I was just wondering Zak if you are connected in any way with Sparc radio or HD radio in general? Seems like all you do is plant advertisements like this all over the forum and not only in HD radio and your posts are ALWAYS about HD. No offense intended of course, just an observation.

 

[thezak]

Advocate that HD be competitive. Tivoli doesn't manufacture an AM-FM-HD radio. Ibiquity/Sparc and others haven't a quality tabletop or boombox radio with the quality fidelity of a Tivoli radio. HD shouldn't be in the hands of one company without competition. HD should be in other hands and that it would be easy to go to Sears and get an AM-FM-HD tabletop or boombox radio with the quality audio of a Tivoli at an affordable price.

That's an idea about how to advocate for HD radio to get out of its current state. Tivoli design and audio quality happens to be one current favorite.

Even though WGBH broadcasts HD-2 and HD-3 WGBH offered a radio wasn't an HD radio for its fund raising! There is a question whether the current folks generally advocating HD radio could better understand philosophically the HD radio type of technology and have skill/talent to market HD radio with greater oomph !

How to advertise HD radio
see also... The Crazy Ones S1 E1-22

 

[Wimmmex]

I was just wondering Zak if you are connected in any way with Sparc radio or HD radio in general? Seems like all you do is plant advertisements like this all over the forum and not only in HD radio and your posts are ALWAYS about HD. No offense intended of course, just an observation.

Zak is a library and academic person. He doesn't have anything to do with the business. (You can probably tell by his posts.)

However, the idea of secondary channels fascinates him, as it does many people. And living close to the city (Cambridge?), he should have no trouble picking up the signals.

 

[Wimmmex]

As for posting about it here, other people post about HD-2 coming and going. I wasn't the first, but I may have been the last. Nobody but me cared about HD radio. Past tense, you notice.

More cars than ever, more radios than ever, more listeners than ever.

Doesn't sound like the past tense.

 

[Kelly A]

The last time I called a corporate station, the receptionist not only refused to put me through to the engineer's voicemail, she refused to even take a message and pass it along. She said they only forward general calls to the request line or sales. My guess is there was no engineer, it was a contract-out job.

One experience with a single receptionist, isn't indicative of all radio stations. That's like saying I had a bad customer service experience at a chain restaurant, so all chain restaurants are just as bad. That's just a silly cop-out.

 

[tomservo]

One experience with a single receptionist, isn't indicative of all radio stations. That's like saying I had a bad customer service experience at a chain restaurant, so all chain restaurants are just as bad. That's just a silly cop-out.

I was merely offering the most recent experience. I've gotten the shaft more than once from calling.

 

[Kelly A]

Having been in this business most of my employed life, I would bet that you must have come off as somehow unprofessional or odd. Keep in mind that radio stations are generally nut magnets to a select few listeners that think they know better about how radio should run, and believe the station is wrong for not believing the same. I've taken many a call or received just such a message from some amateur radio user, DX'er and alike, who start out wanting information, then turn into weird stalkers. You may want to re-think your approach, assuming you honestly want a result, because if Bruce or your comments to stations were anything similar to what you post here, I sure wouldn't bother returning a call or E-mail either.

 

[tomservo]

What have I said in here that you find so crazy?