Floor mats thrown in by dealer as compensation for HD radio in new BMW

[davideduardo]

Sorry we can't force the HD radio to analog only or replace your radio but enjoy these floor mats!

Wow. One sentence, and two errors.

These are are the facts:

The BMW HD radios can be set to analog only.

The cars come with floor mats.

 

[Tom Wells]

I've had German cars before, Audis and such. While its performance was outstanding, the love of over-engineered technology places the BMW in its own realm.

Of course, I forgot that the easiest way to do many things on most BMWs is to push one button and tell it what to do.

And hope that both the driver and car remember what that was. I don't recall ever having trouble remembering how to run
the climate control in any of my cars, even the one that's been in storage 10 years. Quite sure that when I get it back out again the car will also remember which control does what.

I remember the first US made car sold that had screen navigation to get to the "radio" page, It was the Buick Reatta.
I wasn't the only one at the Chicago car show who thought it was a silly idea.
There was no way to "leave" the radio screen up....it would revert to the default screen after a minute or so.

GMs alos had the wonderful idea that you'd never want to be able to leave the frequency showing on the dial, but to make it
switch over to clock display within a few seconds. Then they added the maddening mute delay during AM tuning; tune, wait, tune, wait.
What would be so wrong with hearing the tuning as it shifted up or down, and only mute when on a seek function?
And why no adjustable threshold for seek capture?

 

[Savage]

Tom, do any of your Mopar Transitone radios have the thumbwheels for volume and tuning?

Mopar radios had, for several years running, the off-on-vol and tuning knobs both to the left of the dial for convenient adjustment by the driver. I thought it was a simple and smart idea - dunno why everybody didn't design their radios that way.

I had a 1964 Plymouth Belvedere that had a stock factory radio that would blow away anything you could buy at BB today.

 

[TVradioguru]

And hope that both the driver and car remember what that was. I don't recall ever having trouble remembering how to run
the climate control in any of my cars, even the one that's been in storage 10 years.

Nor do I have any trouble running the climate control in my 740i. I just tell it what the temperature I'd like the car to be.

If you don't, or don't want to own a modern car that's certainly your right. I think we've established however, that the original premise of the post is bogus.

BMWs come with floor mats, very nice ones, and the HD function can be disabled. Oh and yes, there is an operators manual for the car too which explains how to disable it if you don't feel like dialing through the choices.

 

[Tom Wells]

Tom, do any of your Mopar Transitone radios have the thumbwheels for volume and tuning?

Mopar radios had, for several years running, the off-on-vol and tuning knobs both to the left of the dial for convenient adjustment by the driver. I thought it was a simple and smart idea - dunno why everybody didn't design their radios that way.

I had a 1964 Plymouth Belvedere that had a stock factory radio that would blow away anything you could buy at BB today.

Thumbwheels were introduced in 1968 as a safety feature on some models. Those that did not, got flat, rounded off knobs that were safer than the chrome face manglers previously used. All mine have the "regular" knobs left and right.
Mopar used several mfrs for radios, mostly Bendix and Tenna, then a bit later, Motorola.
The Bendix radios were as sensitive as could be made, and with 262.5 IFs, pretty selective and had 15 khz audio.
I consider them to be the standard by which to judge other auto radios. Blaupunkt also made some really hot radios into the mid-80's.

If you remember your radio as being that good, it was a Bendix.
Besides braking systems, they also made avionics so they had a good background and perspective on just how good a radio "ought" to be.

 

[TSL2]

You can't turn HD off, there's no switch for analog only.

Nearly all "switches" in a BMW are via software controlled by the iDrive, and you can disable the HD capability with about 4 clicks from the main screen.

Wrong, again.

What ibiquity doesn't want you to know:

MBW HD service bulletin: fix user issues related to HD Radio. Access the iDrive and disable HD.
Nice!

 

[ddsparxx]

Wow, using the iDrive to force analog mode!?!?

 

[tomservo]

Of course, I forgot that the easiest way to do many things on most BMWs is to push one button and tell it what to do.

What's the voice command to shut off HD, an exasperated sigh?

 

[davideduardo]

Of course, I forgot that the easiest way to do many things on most BMWs is to push one button and tell it what to do.

What's the voice command to shut off HD, an exasperated sigh?

I don't know. Mine, both on AM and FM, works very well... but I am in the service area of some well engineered stations so the time lags, incompatible codecs and things like that which are appareantly heard by some (and caused at the station level) are not things I notice at all.

 

[tomservo]

Of course, I forgot that the easiest way to do many things on most BMWs is to push one button and tell it what to do.

What's the voice command to shut off HD, an exasperated sigh?

I don't know. Mine, both on AM and FM, works very well... but I am in the service area of some well engineered stations so the time lags, incompatible codecs and things like that which are appareantly heard by some (and caused at the station level) are not things I notice at all.

Would that be LA?

I was there a few months ago. Aside from what appeared to be some type of terrain shadowing in the hills around Burbank and Pasadena, I was duly impressed with how well the HD worked and sounded there. Or that might have just been overload. Either way, it was minor and not unexpected performance from my little Insignia FM portable. Every market should be that well maintained!

 

[RadeoEngineer]

Of course, I forgot that the easiest way to do many things on most BMWs is to push one button and tell it what to do.

What's the voice command to shut off HD, an exasperated sigh?

I don't know. Mine, both on AM and FM, works very well... but I am in the service area of some well engineered stations so the time lags, incompatible codecs and things like that which are appareantly heard by some (and caused at the station level) are not things I notice at all.

Would that be LA?

Every market should be that well maintained!

Sure. Except that $15,000 processor costs the same $15,000 whether you're selling spots for $500 or $5.

 

[davideduardo]

Sure. Except that $15,000 processor costs the same $15,000 whether you're selling spots for $500 or $5.

Except that the $5 a spot station is using an Optimod 8000 they bought used.

 

[Savage]

And, therefore, we all see why HD sucks unless you're in giant markets with stations which have the most resources - for engineering and capital budgets.

In those cases it usual sucks INTERMITTENTLY.

 

[KB1OKL]

And, therefore, we all see why HD sucks unless you're in giant markets with stations which have the most resources - for engineering and capital budgets.

In those cases it usual sucks INTERMITTENTLY.

Only when it's on: 5 mile range and 30+ Khz worth of destruction.

 

[davideduardo]

And, therefore, we all see why HD sucks unless you're in giant markets with stations which have the most resources - for engineering and capital budgets.

In those cases it usual sucks INTERMITTENTLY.

Only when it's on: 5 mile range and 30+ Khz worth of destruction.

Nothing like exaggeration and hypebole... I've carried several of the Phoenix HD FMs to about 20 miles east of Quartzite, which is something like 125 miles. I have also carried KFYI on day power almost to the same point, still well over 100 miles.

KFI has been heard in the I-10 between Palm Springs and Indio, and the higher power LA FMs to about Banning.

 

[Tom Wells]

WBBM 780 doesn't decode in digital 15 miles from the antenna on the new Kenwood super-duper auto radio.
Well, it has once, but the wind must have been straight out of the west that day.
WSCR, never. WLS once briefly.
And I actually think we were about 5 miles closer on that occaision.

Here at home with the Accurian, you must orient the deaf loop antenna (not reasonant, just a coil) just so to get it
to pick up the digital mode.
But that radio has only ever been "tried out several times".
You can't actually "listen" to a radio that sounds like that, it's SO muddy in its response that words are very hard to discern.

Only my 1927 Atwater Kent battery set when connected to the horn speaker can compare.
When used with the RCA balanced armature cone speaker, it's better sounding than the Accurian.

 

[KB1OKL]

And, therefore, we all see why HD sucks unless you're in giant markets with stations which have the most resources - for engineering and capital budgets.

In those cases it usual sucks INTERMITTENTLY.

Only when it's on: 5 mile range and 30+ Khz worth of destruction.

Nothing like exaggeration and hypebole... I've carried several of the Phoenix HD FMs to about 20 miles east of Quartzite, which is something like 125 miles. I have also carried KFYI on day power almost to the same point, still well over 100 miles.

KFI has been heard in the I-10 between Palm Springs and Indio, and the higher power LA FMs to about Banning.

I live about 40 miles due west of Boston and have never gotten an FM station to lock without dropouts, the most easily received and the most consistent was WGBH, a 100KW NPR station and yes this one drops out too although not as frequently as the others.
I received at most 4-5 at in succession on a very good day here after the leaves fell off the trees. I get WSRS which is less than 10 miles from here and in IBOC it sounds WORSE than in analog not pretty much the same like the rest but worse. WBZ AM is just about non-existent in IBOC here but I've heard enough to know just how bad AM IBOC sounds and it's the only AM IBOC station I've ever received, and WTAG, a 5 KW AMer which is less than 10 miles from me has never been received in glorious IBOC on my Sony tuner. This station pegs the tuning meters on just about every radio I've got. I use a C Crane twin ferrite antenna for AM with the tuner and AM IBOC is just about non existent except for wide swaths of hash which of course go halfway across the country, the light does light up though

 

[tomservo]

I live about 40 miles due west of Boston and have never gotten an FM station to lock without dropouts, the most easily received and the most consistent was WGBH, a 100KW NPR station and yes this one drops out too although not as frequently as the others.
I received at most 4-5 at in succession on a very good day here after the leaves fell off the trees. I get WSRS which is less than 10 miles from here and in IBOC it sounds WORSE than in analog not pretty much the same like the rest but worse. WBZ AM is just about non-existent in IBOC here but I've heard enough to know just how bad AM IBOC sounds and it's the only AM IBOC station I've ever received, and WTAG, a 5 KW AMer which is less than 10 miles from me has never been received in glorious IBOC on my Sony tuner. This station pegs the tuning meters on just about every radio I've got. I use a C Crane twin ferrite antenna for AM with the tuner and AM IBOC is just about non existent except for wide swaths of hash which of course go halfway across the country, the light does light up though

In a part of the country with class B stations, I wouldn't expect any digital lock or quiet stereo at 40 miles. You're right on the fringes of coverage, anyway, for most radios, and certainly outside the sphere of advertising, I'm sure. Maybe Boston is different.

As for the WGBH station, remember it's grandfathered in; that does not protect the station from anything better than normal class B interference standards, so I wouldn't expect their HD signal to protected that far out, either. 40 miles out would be somewhere like Auburn, which wouldn't be in the Boston market at all, would it?

 

[KB1OKL]

I live about 40 miles due west of Boston and have never gotten an FM station to lock without dropouts, the most easily received and the most consistent was WGBH, a 100KW NPR station and yes this one drops out too although not as frequently as the others.
I received at most 4-5 at in succession on a very good day here after the leaves fell off the trees. I get WSRS which is less than 10 miles from here and in IBOC it sounds WORSE than in analog not pretty much the same like the rest but worse. WBZ AM is just about non-existent in IBOC here but I've heard enough to know just how bad AM IBOC sounds and it's the only AM IBOC station I've ever received, and WTAG, a 5 KW AMer which is less than 10 miles from me has never been received in glorious IBOC on my Sony tuner. This station pegs the tuning meters on just about every radio I've got. I use a C Crane twin ferrite antenna for AM with the tuner and AM IBOC is just about non existent except for wide swaths of hash which of course go halfway across the country, the light does light up though

In a part of the country with class B stations, I wouldn't expect any digital lock or quiet stereo at 40 miles. You're right on the fringes of coverage, anyway, for most radios, and certainly outside the sphere of advertising, I'm sure. Maybe Boston is different.

As for the WGBH station, remember it's grandfathered in; that does not protect the station from anything better than normal class B interference standards, so I wouldn't expect their HD signal to protected that far out, either. 40 miles out would be somewhere like Auburn, which wouldn't be in the Boston market at all, would it?

You missed my point: I get all these station in analog very easily, in HD? Nope. Not a very good radio design is it? WGBH is the only one that came in with any regularity actually and it's a 100KWer.

 

[tomservo]

You missed my point: I get all these station in analog very easily, in HD? Nope. Not a very good radio design is it? WGBH is the only one that came in with any regularity actually and it's a 100KWer.

Unless those out of market stations actively target your area with advertising, I'd say they probably don't care about anyone outside the I-95 corridor. Again, I could be wrong, but that's how most urban markets are. Atlanta doesn't carry advertising for Rome or Social Circle, even though they're well within the signals.

It's a supplementary thing, like FM stereo. The stereo carrier and RDS and SCAs don't necessarily decode at the fringe of the signal either, but no one calls them poorly designed. I'd be more interested in defects within the core Boston metro. Something tells me the stations running HD that blanket the area with a good signal don't have dropouts. At least on FM. AM HD is a disaster and should be shut down. You won't get any argument from me that it's a good thing.

I have trouble decoding the three class C HD FM's (NPR repeaters) that are 35-45 miles from me, so I know what you're going through. They work fine in one spot, but are analog in another. And if this computer monitor is on, they're completely wiped out.

But when they don't work, I have a very noisy stereo signal anyway, something I wouldn't listen to for very long. And I lose even usable mono reception with this monitor on, so it's not just HD that's problematic for me.

The difference is, I know I'm in fringe reception for clear stereo sound from the three stations anyway. So I wasn't really expecting a miracle. All three serve my town but none do it well because they're so far away. I wouldn't expect HD to fix that.