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AM HD TURNOFF PACE ACCELERATES

JohnnyElectron said:
David, funny you mentioned the AM audio bandwidth, as our two iHeart/CCME/Jacor stations dropped HD on AM but they left their 5KHz brick wall bandwidth filters in place despite encouragement from me to return to standard NRSC 10.2KHz audio.
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You could probably refer them to my page, which proves beyond any doubt that ALL new AM radios are inherently wideband, due to cost reduction: http://earmark.net/gesr/Current_Radio_Design.htm You are NOT going to get 3-4 kHz audio bandwidth out of a radio with only one ceramic filter in the IF. The component isn't designed for it. You can get narrow band stagger tuned IF ceramic filters, but they are technically more than one ceramic filter in a single package, they are not cheap, and would make tuning a cheap radio a nightmare. If there is any reduction in audio bandwidth, it is done with a cheap RC lowpass filter, and the gentle roll-off would still pass a lot of higher frequency audio. Car radios are a different case, there are better IF sections on the AM, or it is all done in a DSP algorithm. But for home and portable - this is it. I have no idea why there is a conscious effort to suppress this information, but if you go and buy a portable in the store - a new one not a goodwill antique - this is what is inside.
 
JohnnyElectron said:
David, funny you mentioned the AM audio bandwidth, as our two iHeart/CCME/Jacor stations dropped HD on AM but they left their 5KHz brick wall bandwidth filters in place despite encouragement from me to return to standard NRSC 10.2KHz audio.
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Can't speak to their reasons, but it could be as simple as they haven't gotten around to change the preemphasis and LPF in their audio processor. If they're using an analog Optimod 9100, one has to remove a circuit board and change some jumpers. With the digital version, you have to go into a couple of pages and make the changes. One could also theorize that maybe they sent their HD/IBOC exciters back for repair and are just waiting for them to return from the manufacturer. I've heard many complaints that manufacturers are slow to repair the AM HD exciters.

You should call the stations and ask the engineer if they are intending to put HD back on and if not, when they plan on put their audio back to 10Khz. If you do get up the courage to call them, report back on what they said.
 
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WBZ's and WOR's jammers were off last night, someone told me that WBZ's IBOC is now off at night, it was on this morning though, will report back.
 
MarioMania said:
So at night, People around Ohio can hear KDKA now at night?
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I haven't heard WBZ's hash makers on for a few days now including during the daytime. WOR's hasn't been on at night, I don't receive it well enough during the daytime to tell. KDKA has still been on. WOR and WBZ were kind of like the beacon's for iBlock though and if they are truly off, well what can I say? Kind of anticlimactic though.
 
Oh good! I will see if I can get WBZ again at night. I've never hear KDKA, and I have tried on many occasions.
 
JohnnyElectron said:
When WBZ has the HD off, they could be on their CQUAM backup transmitter?
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I don't know I hope not because that means they're probably fixing their 30 khz wide hashmaker. I have heard that transmitter a few times though and it's a lot cleaner sounding than their main transmitter. I believe it's a 10 KW back up transmitter.
 
It looks like WBZ turns it off at sunset, also WOR is still off, I can't accurately check them during the day. I could see if they were both CBS, maybe a very late policy change but WOR is a clear channel station (whatever they call themselves now) and WBZ is CBS.
 
At one point, St. Louis had four AM stations broadcasting in HD: KFUO (850), KMOX (1120), WSDZ (1260), and KATZ (1600). Now, KMOX is the only station using HD.
 
WTAG 580 Ma is off today, it has been off at night for years but is not on right now at noon time, will check for the next few days. This one has been on and off for years so it may just be another super duper update or something.
 
HD radios and radios in general are increasingly FM only. Perhaps corporate has noticed?

I bought Insignia's NS-HDRAD at Best Buy. It was the cheapest (err...most affordable) on the market and the only one in stereo. Plus it's sold in a retail store; no waiting for shipping/keeping track of packages and paying with the chip at the POS terminal over entering numbers on a keyboard (in case of a keystroke logger). Sparc's similar model on Amazon is mono and slightly more expensive (and the same Insignia radio was almost double).

iHome is notoriously (analog) FM only. I would speculate that they started the trend of FM-only radios. AM's days are numbered!
 
KTN Corp said:
HD radios and radios in general are increasingly FM only. Perhaps corporate has noticed?

I bought Insignia's NS-HDRAD at Best Buy. It was the cheapest (err...most affordable) on the market and the only one in stereo. Plus it's sold in a retail store; no waiting for shipping/keeping track of packages and paying with the chip at the POS terminal over entering numbers on a keyboard (in case of a keystroke logger). Sparc's similar model on Amazon is mono and slightly more expensive (and the same Insignia radio was almost double).

iHome is notoriously (analog) FM only. I would speculate that they started the trend of FM-only radios. AM's days are numbered!
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The reason why AM is left off is because engineers designing radios don't know how to do their jobs, and the digital stuff in the radios causes interference to AM, and they don't know how to isolate ground places and decouple. Analog design is a vanishing art, and the engineers don't know it.

Statements that AM is going away are ridiculous. If that were the case, the FCC wouldn't be getting inundated with new license requests for AM. Around here, it seems that one foreign group after another is clamoring to squeeze in yet another AM station. Whether it is Spanish religious, Chinese, Hindu, Arabic - the AM band is getting more and more crowded with stations, and they all MUST have a business model that allows them to go and stay on the air. AM is the only band where I can get oldies - I suspect niche formats are going to flock to AM in the coming years. People WILL listen to stations playing the formats they like - whether they are on FM or AM.

i-Anything is not going to work well on AM or FM. That isn't the fault of the engineers, it is the fault of the iPhone which pumps out interference when you get an antenna too close to it. I have a couple - my daughter insisted on them. Even she is disgusted she can't listen to her favorite analog FM station 50 miles away while charging her phone. Full class C station 50 miles away. Too much interference from the phone getting into the ridiculous 12 inch FM wire antenna hanging out the back.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
The reason why AM is left off is because engineers designing radios don't know how to do their jobs, and the digital stuff in the radios causes interference to AM, and they don't know how to isolate ground places and decouple. Analog design is a vanishing art, and the engineers don't know it.
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That is not so. The reason AM is left off is that it is not perceived as something consumers need, and the added few cents per radio needed to put in a band switch, separate antenna coupling (and antenna in some cases) when multiplied by thousands or millions of units is a significant cost savings.

Statements that AM is going away are ridiculous. If that were the case, the FCC wouldn't be getting inundated with new license requests for AM.
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Also untrue. There are no new AM applications as the FCC has in place a sort of moratorium non new AM filings so nothing is "pouring in" and "inundating the FCC with applications.

In fact, the FCC stopped licensing new daytimers, and to build most new full-time stations requires a directional antenna system for night operation. The trend is to eliminate directionals in many existing situations by going to lower night power and a single non-DA antenna.

There is a rising amount of talk about allowing AMs with translators to simulcast for a few years and then sign off the AM, leaving only the translator as a fully licensed facility.

Around here, it seems that one foreign group after another is clamoring to squeeze in yet another AM station.
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You obviously mean "ethnic group" as a "foreign group" is not allowed by FCC regulation to own a radio station in the USA or its territories.

In any case, none of such groups is "clamoring" to get a new AM station as the FCC is not accepting applications for any more of them. And in any case, any new AMs must be fulltime and are likely to only fit in places like Sidney, MT or Blythe, CA, if at all. And those are precisely the places where AMs have been taken off the air when the licensee of an AM got a nice FM and decide the AM was no longer viable.

Whether it is Spanish religious, Chinese, Hindu, Arabic - the AM band is getting more and more crowded with stations, and they all MUST have a business model that allows them to go and stay on the air.
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Nope. There is always a fool who wants a radio station badly enough to buy a bad radio station in the hopes of making a buck. For the moment, in larger markets, there is enough demand for inferior facilities to keep those that fail on the air with a new owner. But in smaller markets, there is a slow but inexorable decline in the number of AMs. While not a lot, each year we lose a couple of dozen in a minimal but definite trend towards thinning the herd.

AM is the only band where I can get oldies
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In other words, after a lengthy preamble, it comes down to this all being about you.

I suspect niche formats are going to flock to AM in the coming years. People WILL listen to stations playing the formats they like - whether they are on FM or AM.
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No, they won't. That is because so few AMs truly cover their market day and night. Houston, for example, only has one AM that covers 80% or better of the population day and night, and only one other that even approaches total market coverage. Those are 740 and 950. Every other signal is in some way deficient.

And the formats that might appear on AM that are not ethnic or brokered or talk would be in music genres such as 60's oldies or smooth jazz or standards or classic country, none of which will enjoy sales success because the advertisers needed to be profitable don't want the age groups such formats appeal to. No revenue equals no station.

i-Anything is not going to work well on AM or FM. That isn't the fault of the engineers, it is the fault of the iPhone which pumps out interference when you get an antenna too close to it.
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To Millennials, the iPhone or Android phone is their radio. So what if it interferes with old-fashioned radios... fully a third of Millennials do not even have a conventional radio in their home and the number is growing.

I have a couple - my daughter insisted on them. Even she is disgusted she can't listen to her favorite analog FM station 50 miles away while charging her phone. Full class C station 50 miles away. Too much interference from the phone getting into the ridiculous 12 inch FM wire antenna hanging out the back.
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Full Class C stations (100 kw at 2000 feet) are only protected to 91 km or about 56 miles. So you essentially have no reasonable expectation to be able to always hear such stations right at the edge of their protected contour.
 
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