8
8638
Guest
I've followed with interest the vibrant debate over HD radio here on R-I. Last year, I bought the little Sony HD tuner, with which I am very pleased, primarily for its analog reception capability. It is the most selective tuner I have ever owned, and I've owned a few. But, the reason for the post is HD.
My gut feeling about HD radio in general is that it is a technology that wasn't fully thought through. Where I live, coastal New Jersey, roughly 57 air miles from the Roxborough antenna farm in Philly and the ESB, the HD signal is, charitably put, feeble (I'm talking FM). The HD signals are more attenuated from Philadelphia than from NYC. I figure this has to do with terrain; much of the path to NYC is over water or low lying coastal areas, while the shot to Roxborough goes through a pine forest. I am not a typical listener; as a former electronics technician and current hobbyist, I know what it takes to receive good quality FM signal. I have an FM Yagi on the roof, with a rotator, feeding the tuner with RG-6 coax, which provides robust analog signal from any direction in which it is pointed. Interestingly, the HD signal on some stations acts as if it is being broadcast from another location than the analog. A few degrees of aim from good analog will often bring HD lock. The oak tree in the yard, when the leaves are present, has an attenuating effect on the NYC HD's. Leaves! I cannot imagine trying to listen to this technology in the car. I also do not believe that the ballyhooed HD power increase will improve things much. I live far enough out that I am relatively unaffected by first adjacent interference from the HD stations, but have seen the effect closer to both cities, and it is detrimental to receiving first adjacents, which sometimes offer programming not available in the cities.
As for programming, some of the HD subs offer stuff I can't get elsewhere, such as Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel on 95.5 WPLJ HD-2. Speaking of that station, they do a TOH ID that I've never heard on other HD subs..."This is WPLJ, and WPLJ HD-2, New York." Gee, how can it be BOTH?? I do like the ability to hear the big NYC AM's (WABC, WCBS, WINS, WFAN) on the FM HD-2's or 3's. The noise floor on today's AM dial is tiring over hours of listening.
This leads me to AM HD. This is truly junk science/technology! I will admit, when you can get HD lock on AM, the audio quality is improved. But I think AM of 25 years ago, along with the better receivers of that day, sounded pretty good. Problem is, you don't get much lock on AM where I live. The one AM HD that I use, WOR, will usually lock daytime, but once we enter critical hours, lock diminishes, and by dark, no more lock. I attribute the night drop to being on the edge of the night signal. And, it hashes all over 690, 700, and 720. NONE of the big 50 Kw stations using HD at night (happily, these are few) will lock here. Compare this to C-QUAM AM stereo, which provided coverage that basically mirrored a station's analog signal. HD doesn't. I remember listening to 1190 WOWO Fort Wayne in AM stereo at my former home in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was near the end of their music format. Sounded great, minimal fade, almost constant stereo lock. AM seems to be dying a slow death, and all this hashing over adjacent frequencies by the HD'ers is most likely accelerating the process.
I'd like to see AM HD go away. Poorly executed, a poor real world performer. I do like the FM HD concept, but would like to see it perform more robustly, and without interfering with its first adjacent neighbors.
My gut feeling about HD radio in general is that it is a technology that wasn't fully thought through. Where I live, coastal New Jersey, roughly 57 air miles from the Roxborough antenna farm in Philly and the ESB, the HD signal is, charitably put, feeble (I'm talking FM). The HD signals are more attenuated from Philadelphia than from NYC. I figure this has to do with terrain; much of the path to NYC is over water or low lying coastal areas, while the shot to Roxborough goes through a pine forest. I am not a typical listener; as a former electronics technician and current hobbyist, I know what it takes to receive good quality FM signal. I have an FM Yagi on the roof, with a rotator, feeding the tuner with RG-6 coax, which provides robust analog signal from any direction in which it is pointed. Interestingly, the HD signal on some stations acts as if it is being broadcast from another location than the analog. A few degrees of aim from good analog will often bring HD lock. The oak tree in the yard, when the leaves are present, has an attenuating effect on the NYC HD's. Leaves! I cannot imagine trying to listen to this technology in the car. I also do not believe that the ballyhooed HD power increase will improve things much. I live far enough out that I am relatively unaffected by first adjacent interference from the HD stations, but have seen the effect closer to both cities, and it is detrimental to receiving first adjacents, which sometimes offer programming not available in the cities.
As for programming, some of the HD subs offer stuff I can't get elsewhere, such as Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel on 95.5 WPLJ HD-2. Speaking of that station, they do a TOH ID that I've never heard on other HD subs..."This is WPLJ, and WPLJ HD-2, New York." Gee, how can it be BOTH?? I do like the ability to hear the big NYC AM's (WABC, WCBS, WINS, WFAN) on the FM HD-2's or 3's. The noise floor on today's AM dial is tiring over hours of listening.
This leads me to AM HD. This is truly junk science/technology! I will admit, when you can get HD lock on AM, the audio quality is improved. But I think AM of 25 years ago, along with the better receivers of that day, sounded pretty good. Problem is, you don't get much lock on AM where I live. The one AM HD that I use, WOR, will usually lock daytime, but once we enter critical hours, lock diminishes, and by dark, no more lock. I attribute the night drop to being on the edge of the night signal. And, it hashes all over 690, 700, and 720. NONE of the big 50 Kw stations using HD at night (happily, these are few) will lock here. Compare this to C-QUAM AM stereo, which provided coverage that basically mirrored a station's analog signal. HD doesn't. I remember listening to 1190 WOWO Fort Wayne in AM stereo at my former home in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was near the end of their music format. Sounded great, minimal fade, almost constant stereo lock. AM seems to be dying a slow death, and all this hashing over adjacent frequencies by the HD'ers is most likely accelerating the process.
I'd like to see AM HD go away. Poorly executed, a poor real world performer. I do like the FM HD concept, but would like to see it perform more robustly, and without interfering with its first adjacent neighbors.
, no I won't go there.
