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HD HOWLER: THIS WEEK'S RW FEATURE ON KBIA

S

Savage

Disclaimer: I think RW generally does a pretty good job reporting on HD, cutting them a generous swath of allowance for the fact that big-group radio and equipment manufacturers pay their bills for them. And I'm sure the KBIA folks are sincere, well-meaning good broadcasters.

But: you guys have GOT to read this article. Among other things, highlights include: GIVING AWAY HD radios as the best way to get them into circulation, or using them to bribe donors (KBIA is a public station.) And actually sending management to recipients of HD Radios to get them working in listeners' homes! Now THESE are practical suggestions to get IBOC into widespread circulation.

Also, read between the lines about the reception experiences.

BTW: the radios mentioned in the article are largely discontinued.

2nd BTW: also a chuckle is Broadcast Electronics' full-page ad "HD scoreboard." The implementation figures outside of Alliance members listed graphically tell the tale. Missing: which stations listed are AM digital-daytimers because of interference issues, or are in intermittent operation (see Barry McLarnon's site for accurate, updated information.)
 
I'd like a job where I can take an expensive HD radio into a woman's house, plug it in and tell her to 'wait for the blinky HD light to stop flashing' so you can receive the HD2 signals!
We don't need to do work on the equipment back at the station - we make 'housecalls' instead - yep.
 
A lot of NPR type stations were early adopters of HD. The attraction for them is multicasting, which could be very useful to may of these stations. They were subsidized in the conversion, and received a few HD radios to use or give away. Subsequently, they were given the opportunity to purchase more radios at very low cost. The idea was to give them away as premiums for significant pledges during their ever-recurring pledge breaks.

I guess some stations still have radios sitting on the shelf. They may still have a deal” on new radios. Organizations like Tech Soup specialize in getting low cost or free goodies for noncommercial entities. The last I looked, stations could get a BA Receptor for $50. Of course, if Best Buy is blowing out the Sony’s for a reported $43.00, that isn’t such a hot deal. Maybe the price has gone down.
 
Good points, Chuck.

But a lot of those NPR stations were already doing a form of multicasting with reading services for the blind on SCA's -- a dependable and proven technology.

So why didn't they just convert to a system using digital SCA's -- FMeXtra (for those who don't know) -- which is just as dependable, and offers multiple streams with more audio bsandwidth than conventional analog SCA's?

They could have saved a bundle by not converting (I refuse to mislabel such folly "upgrading"!) their transmitting facilities to Ibiquity IBOC -- not to mention a ton on their electric bills each month, since FMeXtra works with any modern transmitter!
 
radioskeptic said:
So why didn't they just convert to a system using digital SCA's -- FMeXtra (for those who don't know) -- which is just as dependable, and offers multiple streams with more audio bsandwidth than conventional analog SCA's?

They could have saved a bundle by not converting (I refuse to mislabel such folly "upgrading"!) their transmitting facilities to Ibiquity IBOC -- not to mention a ton on their electric bills each month, since FMeXtra works with any modern transmitter!
Click to expand...

If the FCC relaxes the FM emission specification to allow the proposed 10 dB IBOC digital power increase, then I suppose it's only fair to allow FMeXtra subcarrier injection to be increased (above the current 20% limit) to the point where it generates a similar occupied RF bandwidth.

This would probably allow at least 50% injection, corresponding to a modulation index of 0.5, as the FMeXtra subcarrier's center frequency is roughly 75 kHz. The "0.5 percent main channel penalty for every 1 percent of SCA injection" rule should also be abolished.

Multichannel analog TV audio subcarriers have been pushing 200% total baseband modulation (referenced to 25 kHz deviation) for years with very few complaints.
 
JohnnyElectron said:
I'd like a job where I can take an expensive HD radio into a woman's house, plug it in and tell her to 'wait for the blinky HD light to stop flashing' so you can receive the HD2 signals!
We don't need to do work on the equipment back at the station - we make 'housecalls' instead - yep.
Click to expand...

I would hope that on that job you'd get OT after 8 hours instead of just 40.
 
Chuck you nailed it as usual... NPR – funded by our taxpayer dollars – has made the best [and ONLY] use of “HD Radio” technology – not certainly in the “real” consumer world... BUT who’s listening beyond that non-commercial cloud? ...About two-percent of the “universe”... Wonderful :D ...‘Sounds like the 80s when they were raising money and tapping the government coffers to buy McCurdy consoles feeding 1kw transmitters that served just a few. The NPR “HD experience” does not impress me in the least – it serves less-than TWO-PERCENT of society – and those that “hate” commercial radio to boot. I want to see “the beef” from within the general plain ‘ole audience before I buy this stuff.

“HD” in the consumer world [of “the folks” as Bill-O says] HAS FAILED – and created massive interference and degradation of the spectrum while it’s been on its small-time misadventure... AM band especially... The FM band allegedly. IBOC needs [and WILL] GO AWAY – it is “defective and destructive”. As time passes, the fractured FCC will have no choice but to allocate a “digital band” so the corporates can start all-over :'( The fools and shameless self-promoters at the NAB should have lobbied that from the git-go... Instead, they were too busy begging on behalf of their corporate broadcast sources to be able to hijack small-town FM allotments and move them into large-market stables... HISS, and PI** on your penny stock status :mad:

As a lifelong [and decently-successful marketer], I’m fully and confidently prepared to pronounce the “death sentence” on “HD Radio” as we know and HATE it... ‘Bout time :)
 
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