autopaint-1 said:
I live 25 miles from the transmitter site of nearly all the area FM signals (Empire state) and have no trouble maintaining steady reception on all the FM stations as well as the AM's (We have three WNYC AM, WOR and WADO). I use a pair of rabbit ears for FM and a passive loop for AM.
This sure isn't jibing with my experience. I have found that I can now reliably receive the HD on our local NPR station (80kw analog at about 30 miles) by moving the receiver to a different room. That's not necessary for analog reception. (and even with the radio relocated, I have to carefully position the antenna to receive HD. Again, not necessary with analog stations.) Stations around here are running considerably more power - more than 10dB more power - than those in NYC. I suppose part of the problem *could* be that our antennas are somewhat lower (1132' vs. 1360' for many NYC stations) but I'm on high ground in a good RF location - and again, I have no problems with the analog stations which of course are using the same towers as the HD.
The problems I read from are from people who are currently able to receive fringe signals from relatively great distances (50, 60 miles or more) and find that they can't hear the HD station as well as they used to. To the best of my knowledge a station is licensed to serve a market. At least here in the north east, when you travel 60 miles you are not within a stations market/licensed contour any longer.
Actually, they're licensed to serve a *city*, though the FCC extends an interference-protected contour that usually runs quite a bit further. I suppose in NYC you might not miss out-of-market stations. Elsewhere, they show up in the ratings. For example, Milwaukee, where Chicago's WGN shows up & beat one local station 12+. Or South Bend, Ind. where WGN beat five local stations and WLS also shows up. In Madison, WGN shows up as does Milwaukee's WTMJ. In Muskegon, Mich., WGN beats six local stations and WBBM also shows up. And in Rockford, five Chicago AMs (including daytimer WCPT!) and two FMs show up, along with three Madison, Wis. FM stations. WGN beat six local stations. There are thousands of people listening to out-of-market stations in these cities. [/quote]
I have friends who work for XM and I've heard XM and to be honest a properly engineered HD station sounds better than the sats and there is no monthly charge.
on the other hand, your XM radio offers a LOT more formats; most of them are and likely will remain commercial-free -- and your favorite XM station won't disappear when you get more than 50 (30) miles from the transmitter. Probably not an issue in NYC - definitely an issue for, say, the Zion, Ill. commuter heading into Chicago.
bursts forth from the limited fidelity AM analogue transmission. We're in an experimental period and to be honest what will prove to be the success of IBOC is when they get some car manufacturers to offer it eithe as standard equipment or as an option in their automaobiles. I know BMW already does but its a must that more cars are fitted to receive IBOC radio.
I'm afraid it's not off to a very good start...What HD has in its favor is a pretty strong commitment from the stations. We didn't see that with AM stereo. However, I don't see any commitment from setmakers or retailers to sell the receivers. (it's not *worse* than it was with AM stereo, but it's not any better either!) From a strictly technical side there's no reasonable entry strategy. You can't replicate analog coverage while limited to the lower digital powers of hybrid mode -- you can't switch from hybrid mode to all-digital if the vast majority of your audience is still listening to the analog -- and important parts of your audience will not buy new digital radios if they can't get their favorite station. (especially if the digital radios are much more expensive than analog, but really even at the same price) Maybe not a serious problem in NYC, but most of us don't live in New York.
