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Farthest HD reception?

G

GeneSavage

We've all discussed the negatives of IBOC for both local and DX listening, but having an HD receiver in the rental car I'm driving while my car is in the shop, I got to wondering how far HD AM can be received, reliably or not.

I'm about 30 minutes north-northeast of Tulsa, OK and (I'm sure due to signal pattern at night) I get some analog interference on 50 KW 1170 KFAQ (Tulsa) on Hwy 20 between Owasso and Claremore. (Power lines overhead likely make a bad signal area even worse.

I was listening tonight to it on the HD radio in the same area, and the signal never wavered... a shocking improvement over the analog signal in that area.

If you have an HD radio, what is the most distant digital signal you've ever received on AM... and how consistent was it?

(Let's all hope IBOC continues to accelerate its inevitable death!)
 
My farthest HD lock was roughly 560 miles when I got WLW in HD via skywave. I have a youtube video of it, unfortunately the quality is pretty low as it was done on my old cell phone. Now that 690 is back on air in Montreal this will be much harder to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNPqQj6Wdx4

I've also got the call letters for WBBM to show up multiple times. Reliable HD locking is quite a bit different from several seconds via skywave.
 
WILD! I could hear it kick in and out of HD... impressive!! When you COULD get it, it was clean... of course the switching back and forth could be annoying... still, that's impressive.

When two stations are really fighting for dial position, I assume neither would lock on in HD, the radio would just stay in analog, yes?

(Maybe I'm trying too hard to find justification for IBOC AM... lol!)

Thanks for your reply, and thanks for the video; incredible!!
 
Reception limits are going to vary a lot for AM stations for the same reason it varies for analog reception… In places with great ground conductivity, 50 kW blowtorches can probably be easily received 40-50 miles out or more. But in poor ground conductivity areas, urbanized areas with lots of interference issues, I would reckon a little 1 kW station might have a lock for about a hundred feet on a good day.

On FM, the greatest reliable lock I've gotten has been from St. Louis area stations, where I recall getting good reception to about the 50 mile mark as I drove west out of the city. I've also gotten a solid multi-minute lock from KZRR Albuquerque in central Mississippi via DX, but that's obviously very rare. Oddly enough I was in Albuquerque not long after that massive reception event and couldn't get KZRR to stay locked in town to save my life. It was pathetic. East of Sandia it was solid for a good 40 miles, though, covering cows and pastures.
 
I received WHAM 1180 from Rochester NY in Kentucky. I don't believe it was the most distant HD catch, but it seemed spectacular that this occurred while the analog signal was almost buried in co-channel interference, probably from Cuba. Apparently, one or both of the side bands was briefly open on 1170 or 1190 to allow the HD signal to be decoded.
 
I'm surprised dxer2_2000 hasn't chimed in. :eek: I found a few posts where he mentioned KMIK lighting up the HD indicator on his XDR-F1HD in Australia...

http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=109656.0

http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=147136.0

http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=149611.0

http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=178593.0


Speaking of KMIK in Australia (or New Zealand, right in the center of their main ~400 kW ERP nighttime lobe) ... Does anyone have any idea what reception might be like on a typical portable radio there using only the built-in antenna? I'm thinking something like a Sony SRF-M37W (assuming you're not too close to stations on 1566, 1575, 1584, 1593, etc), Sony SRF-59, Tecsun PL-390, Sangean PR-D5, Sangean DT-400W, etc. I would especially like to see youtube videos of down-under reception of them. I've seen videos of 1560 WQEW (just the analog, not HD) being received in Europe, but no KMIK in Australia yet. :( Also what about reception via inductively coupling (placing the radio next to) an existing metal object (like a fence, utility pole's ground wire, etc) that wasn't originally intended to function as an antenna?

Also is it possible for KMIK to punch into Malaysia? I know of someone there who's a fan of someone on Radio Disney, and from what I understand he can't stream them. Or, would 1575 VOA be too close and/or KMIK's pattern be too unfavorable? Maybe another station like 1110 KDIS (don't know what's on 1107 or 1116 there), 1640 KDZR or 1690 KDDZ would be better? (I think I've heard 1575 here near San Diego - ok I know I've heard audio on 1575, just haven't confirmed if it's Thailand - I do have a video of it), and I know it's been heard other places on the west coast.)
 
I was hoping for a stronger signal. :) I can't even hardly hear the music on the frequency. :(

I wonder if this guy was in Japan?  Looking at a couple of things on his channel I see what looks like Japanese characters.  (Should mention I'm not good at telling the difference between Japanese and Chinese.)  He did post another video about 8 hours ago, also of music on 1640, but it doesn't sound like Radio Disney to me.

I was hoping for a quality more like this, though, preferably from Australia or New Zealand on a consumer-grade portable on 1580. :)
 
Some pretty interesting reception reports here, but the original topic was HD lock on HD AM.

I have heard reports of lock on WBAP from almost 200 miles when they ran HD. Given their footprint in Texas, I believe it.

Nighttime HD AM would be extremely problematic, because HD AM seems to be extremely sensitive to interference of any sort.

I had flashes of HD lock from WOAI 180 miles away, before they stopped using HD. That was using a three foot loop on the Sony tuner.
 
North of Tulsa, Oklahoma tonight listening to WBBM-AM 780 in Chicago. Signal sounded strong at times, HD light would come on and stay on for a while, but never could get it to actually switch to the digital feed.

I'm just not finding many digital signals on AM, day OR night. The only digital signal in Tulsa is KFAQ-AM 1170 (the former KVOO-AM), and WBBM is the only distant signal I can get to trigger the HD light.

I'd hoped there might be a digital AM in Oklahoma City or southeast Kansas (or Texas! My word, I was picking up KGOW-AM 1560 out of Houston not long after sunset tonight) but I have yet to be able to locate one.

Any tips on digital signals outside of 1170 that I might be able to pick up in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area? I can usually get KOA Denver, WBAP Dallas, WLS Chicago, WWL New Orleans, and of course a myriad of other stations... is there a regularly updated list of stations currently providing IBOC?
 
From NE NC. Accurian HD best nightime HD regular WBZ Boston about 515 miles. Would not stay locked on HD for very long. Most reliable nights is WPHT Philadelphia.
Daytime with Pioneer HD car radio. Occasionally get HD from WRVA Richmond at about 110 miles. Never able to get any reliable HD on AM. When I do get it, does not do much for talk radio. Not sure there is any advantage for the station?
 
N4GBK said:
Daytime with Pioneer HD car radio. Occasionally get HD from WRVA Richmond at about 110 miles. Never able to get any reliable HD on AM. When I do get it, does not do much for talk radio. Not sure there is any advantage for the station?
Click to expand...

Have you got a decent antenna, or just one of those little nubs / back windshield antenna?

I've really wondered about that advantage for talk radio. Unless it is musical beds / bumper music / commercials. Seems like a waste of bandwidth to me, a lot of money for the station to pay iBiquity. Personally, if I owned an AM talker, I wouldn't want the decrease in coverage and building penetration associated with HD, I'd limit bandwidth to 3500 Hz or so, as much power as I could legally put into mono. If I had an FM talker, I'd turn off stereo and all sideband stuff, especially HD, and put all my power into a good mono signal. Those strategies, not HD, would give me the best building penetration / coverage. I have no idea why talk station owners fool around with HD, it is useless for talk and is a power vampire on the transmitted signal. The only possible advantage I would see for an FM talker would be foreign language on HD-2.
 
Stock GM short whip antenna. Maybe 30 inches at the most. Even when parked with the engine off, WRVA drops in and out of HD. It does the same when driving but no HD at all when close to noisy power lines. Lots of bad power lines here.
 
N4GBK said:
Stock GM short whip antenna. Maybe 30 inches at the most. Even when parked with the engine off, WRVA drops in and out of HD. It does the same when driving but no HD at all when close to noisy power lines. Lots of bad power lines here.
Click to expand...

I have a 31 inch whip on my car as well. And power lines limit my AM HD reception the way they do yours. Or did - there is only one AM HD left in my area, and I cannot get lock on it, because it is 70 miles away. When local KMIC 1590 was using HD, any power lines on the side of the road made it drop out of lock. As close as 5 miles to the station. And the Pioneer is no slouch with AM - it is about the hottest AM DX unit I have had. Only the really old Delcos did better, and I'm not even sure how the Pioneer would do with a 60 inch whip. I need to give it a try sometime. But the reception will probably be good old analog, because the last HD AM station in Houston gave up.
 
Got a shock last night heading northeast out of Tulsa Oklahoma and heading to Owasso Oklahoma (about 20 miles northeast of Tulsa) when 1120 KMOX from St. Louis came in on skip and LOCKED IN HD!

Of course as the skip came and went, so did the HD, but WOW when it locked it was just night and day.

Analog, there was a significant noise floor + the "whine" of a nearby station + the "spit" of ANOTHER nearby station + the low fidelity of the analog tuner on this radio + the low fidelity of the bandwidth-limited analog transmission.

Digital, the noise floor dropped to near zero, the "whine" and "spit" disappeared, the highs were crisp (if a little crunchy from data compression) and the bass was deep and rich. It was really impressive!!

I know all of the reasons to hate so-called HD on AM, believe me, I do... but I think I have softened my feelings a LITTLE bit after being able to listen to a station 350 miles away like it was plugged directly from the output of their board into my car amp... even if it was only for a few minutes at a time...

(BTW, on the subject of HD in general: a local NPR FM has three total digital channels, and listening to their "HD2" today while PARKED, I heard the stream gurgle, stutter, and eventually mute before coming back. Is AM HD actually a little quicker to switch back to analog than HD FM? I haven't heard any digital data "garbage" like I did on the FM station, but it switches on AM from HD to analog at the drop of a hat...)
 
My farthest was earlier this year, atop Mount Mitchell NC I got HD locks from
Greensboro's 105.7 (WMKS), Charlotte's 106.5 (WEND) and also Knoxville's 107.7 (WIVK).
Each of those around 100 miles or more away from my location atop the highest point east of the Mississippi... ;)
 
pianoplayer88key said:
Also what about reception via inductively coupling (placing the radio next to) an existing metal object (like a fence, utility pole's ground wire, etc) that wasn't originally intended to function as an antenna?
Click to expand...

My apologies if I'm OT here, but the question above is an interesting one to me.

I once placed a transistor radio next to a disused railroad track rail and the radio immediately picked up Alaska, which is a rare catch here in WA. Pulled the radio away and 'poof', it's gone. It was acting like a beverage antenna.

I suppose a long metal fence rail, or similar object, could imitate a beverage (or mini-beverage) in the same way. Might work for HD too.
 
^ Which Alaskan? 650? 750? That was cool.

You know, near my workplace I think is also an unused railroad track, but a fence is in between. Sounds like a good experiment when I have time!

cd
 
My AM HD reception is bad because of electric noise, can't even get the locals in HD.

However, I've had 1200 mile FM HD reception via e-skip
 
cd637299 said:
^ Which Alaskan? 650? 750? That was cool.

You know, near my workplace I think is also an unused railroad track, but a fence is in between. Sounds like a good experiment when I have time!

cd
Click to expand...

It was KFQD, 750.
 
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