HD Radio check

[N1WVQ]

I read that they will be giving out HD radios to students at Bryant College when WJMF the student edition goes HD2.

The cost would negate any gain they may get from this deal, financially. Wikipedia lists their enrollment as 3,614. Multiply that by $100 per radio & that's $361,400. Let's say they're getting $3k per month. That's $36k per year.

 

[N1WVQ]

94.1's HD was off as of about 13:00. WHJJ had trouble decoding about 2 miles from the transmitter. When it was HD, 550 would never come in although the radio knew HD was there. Same thing now for 1030.

No problemo. 94.1 analog and 94.1 HD are separate entities. I think the main difficulty we are having in trying to understand HD boils down to context and perspective. The actual HD transmitter powers are: 550 -- ten watts; 630, 790 and 920 -- fifty watts. 1290 HD is 100 watts and the mighty 1030 is 500 watts. Again, this is total transmitted DIGITAL HD output for each station. 94.1 HD (500w erp) and 92.3 HD (370w erp) are at 1% analog carrier levels -- same as AM HDs at 1% analog power.

I believe 550 was quite the HD blowtorch for TEN watts! A 1630 DOT traffic station is 10 watts.

Also, for a tangible measure of comparison of what "10 db" is: 1030 transmitting from Hull at 100kw (we'll give them their DA gain) versus 1030 when doing 10kw from Brighton.


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With the Boston Acoustics radio in East Providence, about 2 miles from WHJJ, WHJY, WBRU, WPRO, WPMZ; 5-10 miles from WPRO-FM, WWLI, WWBB, WSNE-FM, ex-WDDZ, etc., the results were as I stated. I'm glad 550's buzz is gone because it used to trip up the seek function & stop the radio on 560 when tuning up from 550. As for 1290 killing their buzz, I'm happy about that too. When ANY A.M. stops buzzing, I'm happy to hear that.

Now, back to the signal levels. WHJY's HD iboc should come in the best in East Providence. That's the station that seems to have it off the most. In Taunton, the radio can't pick up any HD signals reliably. I say that because WBZ still provides enough of an HD iboc signal to the radio to make it realize something's there but it can't do anything with the signal. In all fairness, DTV can hardly be received there either. Only WLWC/22, er, "28", can be picked up. Nothing from Rehoboth.

 

[iyiyi]

94.1's HD was off as of about 13:00. WHJJ had trouble decoding about 2 miles from the transmitter. When it was HD, 550 would never come in although the radio knew HD was there. Same thing now for 1030.

No problemo. 94.1 analog and 94.1 HD are separate entities. I think the main difficulty we are having in trying to understand HD boils down to context and perspective. The actual HD transmitter powers are: 550 -- ten watts; 630, 790 and 920 -- fifty watts. 1290 HD is 100 watts and the mighty 1030 is 500 watts. Again, this is total transmitted DIGITAL HD output for each station. 94.1 HD (500w erp) and 92.3 HD (370w erp) are at 1% analog carrier levels -- same as AM HDs at 1% analog power.

I believe 550 was quite the HD blowtorch for TEN watts! A 1630 DOT traffic station is 10 watts.

Also, for a tangible measure of comparison of what "10 db" is: 1030 transmitting from Hull at 100kw (we'll give them their DA gain) versus 1030 when doing 10kw from Brighton.


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With the Boston Acoustics radio in East Providence, about 2 miles from WHJJ, WHJY, WBRU, WPRO, WPMZ; 5-10 miles from WPRO-FM, WWLI, WWBB, WSNE-FM, ex-WDDZ, etc., the results were as I stated. I'm glad 550's buzz is gone because it used to trip up the seek function & stop the radio on 560 when tuning up from 550. As for 1290 killing their buzz, I'm happy about that too. When ANY A.M. stops buzzing, I'm happy to hear that.

Now, back to the signal levels. WHJY's HD iboc should come in the best in East Providence. That's the station that seems to have it off the most. In Taunton, the radio can't pick up any HD signals reliably. I say that because WBZ still provides enough of an HD iboc signal to the radio to make it realize something's there but it can't do anything with the signal. In all fairness, DTV can hardly be received there either. Only WLWC/22, er, "28", can be picked up. Nothing from Rehoboth.

Again, no problem. I am well acquainted with the area and it's signals. Your reception difficulties on all 3 bands are completely similar. This indicates that each band has insufficient antenna issues. You get what you pay for. Install a simple UHF 2 bay bowtie panel about 15 (or better) feet above the ground. Rotator, amplifier (make sure fm trap is ON), wire, grounding and beer for the guys that install it should bring the total cost of this improvement to less than $200. I guarantee a minimum of 20 stations will provide excellent and reliable service to you.

Grab a modest 5 or 6 element FM antenna and a suitable amp and have the guys pop that on also when they install the TV ant. Less than $100 for a reliable, eye popping number of new HD FM signals that you will now receive.

Nail one of those super AM antennas that Ramsay sells for around $90 and place that in a suitable area for AM.

Remember that FM HD is striving for a 10 dB signal boost. Please give it a fair evaluation. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on any discoveries you may have noticed. Assessments of the setups used as I've just described will make your experiments more credible and also allow interested parties a model to evaluate HD themselves.


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[Dighton Rockhead]

Install a simple UHF 2 bay bowtie panel about 15 (or better) feet above the ground. Rotator, amplifier (make sure fm trap is ON), wire, grounding and beer for the guys that install it should bring the total cost of this improvement to less than $200. I guarantee a minimum of 20 stations will provide excellent and reliable service to you.

Grab a modest 5 or 6 element FM antenna and a suitable amp and have the guys pop that on also when they install the TV ant. Less than $100 for a reliable, eye popping number of new HD FM signals that you will now receive.

Nail one of those super AM antennas that Ramsay sells for around $90 and place that in a suitable area for AM.

You've GOT to be kidding......right???

This is the 21st. Century......Not people fiddling around with elaborate long-wire antennas to get their Great Depression-era vacuum tube Atwater-Kent radios to work like on "The Waltons"...

You're asking all of us to take a giant leap BACKWARDS. This is an era where people's cell phone antennas are built right into the devices....an era where people....on the promise of cable-TV....took down thier rooftop TV antennas.....etc.

Your "solution" only works for the uber-techno folks who have the time and the inclination to fiddle around with such things.

The rest of the world doesn't give a rat's rear end for anything except turning on thier "media appliance" and expecting it to work with no muss and no fuss.....PERIOD!!!

 

[necrat123]

Now, back to the signal levels. WHJY's HD iboc should come in the best in East Providence. That's the station that seems to have it off the most. In Taunton, the radio can't pick up any HD signals reliably. I say that because WBZ still provides enough of an HD iboc signal to the radio to make it realize something's there but it can't do anything with the signal. In all fairness, DTV can hardly be received there either. Only WLWC/22, er, "28", can be picked up. Nothing from Rehoboth.

Jay,

I'd have to say that the fact none of the Citadel FMs and WPRO AM, are on, make them the winner for who's HD is off the most.

As far as Taunton is concerned, using my JVC in-dash radio, I have no issues locking in Boston stations there or anyone from Providence. There are spots were reception gets touchy. You can tell youre close to the null of the WFHN signal there. But it all depends on your location.

--Mike

 

[N1WVQ]

Now, back to the signal levels. WHJY's HD iboc should come in the best in East Providence. That's the station that seems to have it off the most. In Taunton, the radio can't pick up any HD signals reliably. I say that because WBZ still provides enough of an HD iboc signal to the radio to make it realize something's there but it can't do anything with the signal. In all fairness, DTV can hardly be received there either. Only WLWC/22, er, "28", can be picked up. Nothing from Rehoboth.

Jay,

I'd have to say that the fact none of the Citadel FMs and WPRO AM, are on, make them the winner for who's HD is off the most.

As far as Taunton is concerned, using my JVC in-dash radio, I have no issues locking in Boston stations there or anyone from Providence. There are spots were reception gets touchy. You can tell youre close to the null of the WFHN signal there. But it all depends on your location.

--Mike

Well, of those who still use it. When Citadel had HD on on WPRO-FM & WWLI, I didn't notice any difference sound-wise. As for WWKX, I brought the radio up to WOON shortly after I received the radio. With a modern set-top TV antenna, WWKX's HD was barely receivable. In all fairness, that particular model of antenna has VERY thin & flimsy coax.

Recently I experimented with a 12-year-old set-top antenna (with thicker coax). I could pick up the Boston analog stations (most of them) but their HD signals were nowhere to be found, not even WGBH's. The best antenna orientation, by the way, was vertical.

The Taunton location is over by the Bloom bus terminal, about a quarter- to half-mile northwest of the Taunton Green which is at a low elevation. The antennae were the same: I tried the built-in & then switched to a Terk for A.M., the included wire antenna then the set-top TV antenna for F.M Mike, what are you hearing with your radio? All of the Boston stations?

Some general thoughts:
It would've been nice if a 3rd domestic radio band had been opened up for digital broadcasting like what happened for F.M. in the '40s. A whole new allocation. That way, the big stations could've gotten their stations on but also independents could've come on the air too.

Also, WHJY-HD2 was back on yesterday.

 

[iyiyi]

95.5 and HD. Simplicity at it's finest. Current shows and programming, untouched, on HD 1. Current SHOWS, with programming each party feels enhances their product, on the HD 2. Example: 360 comes on HD 1 at 6 AM Sunday with "In the Spirit". 360+ comes on the HD 2 at 6 AM Sunday with relevant Black programming as they see fit. JAH comes on at 2AM with programming on both HD 1 and HD 2 as THEY shall see fit.

Everybody gets their fair share of HD radio's improvement. NOBODY loses so much as one second of their present time allotments OR autonomy!

BRU always obtains top grade equipment so (maybe) a WBSR on HD 3 and Insight for the blind on the HD 4 could also be an idea. No one gets left out of the HD party! Everyone gets a choice, double slice of the pie!


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[Dighton Rockhead]

No one gets left out of the HD party!

Unless......You're a struggling analog station who can't even stay on the air......or a struggling analog station that barely manages to stay on the air with the most pathetic assortment of so-called "programming" the annals of radio have seen around here for a long long time.

The clues make the identities of these two sad-sack stations fairly obvious......

 

[N1WVQ]

The past 2 days, WSNE-FM hasn't had its HD on, nor has WHJY. WWBB is only running the HD1 & of course WHJJ is splattering 900-940 with its hiss. I wonder if C.C. is starting to throw in the tower on HD.

 

[iyiyi]

The past 2 days, WSNE-FM hasn't had its HD on, nor has WHJY. WWBB is only running the HD1 & of course WHJJ is splattering 900-940 with its hiss. I wonder if C.C. is starting to throw in the tower on HD.

I dunno. I'm better than 15 miles from 101.5 and 94.1. The little Insignia HD01 is getting 5 bars of HD signal on both stations -- without the earphone/antenna -- just by pressing my finger on the empty jack! (I DO have to move the radio around to grab those 5 bars without the antenna, though)

HD is still in Beta so you are going to hear various alterations as they experiment, but right now you should be getting killer HD signals on 94.1 or 101.5. They must have increased their HD power significantly.


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[N1WVQ]

It's possible. The radio detected WJMF-HD2 today for the 1st time. WHJY's & WWBB's HD were on today but WHJJ's & WSNE-FM's are still off as are the subchannels of 94.1 & 101.5. Soon we'll be moving to Middleboro so it'll be interesting to see if Fun 107 or 89.3's HD signals come in.

 

[Numo]

94.1's HD was off as of about 13:00. WHJJ had trouble decoding about 2 miles from the transmitter. When it was HD, 550 would never come in although the radio knew HD was there. Same thing now for 1030.

No problemo. 94.1 analog and 94.1 HD are separate entities. I think the main difficulty we are having in trying to understand HD boils down to context and perspective. The actual HD transmitter powers are: 550 -- ten watts; 630, 790 and 920 -- fifty watts. 1290 HD is 100 watts and the mighty 1030 is 500 watts. Again, this is total transmitted DIGITAL HD output for each station. 94.1 HD (500w erp) and 92.3 HD (370w erp) are at 1% analog carrier levels -- same as AM HDs at 1% analog power.

I believe 550 was quite the HD blowtorch for TEN watts! A 1630 DOT traffic station is 10 watts.

Also, for a tangible measure of comparison of what "10 db" is: 1030 transmitting from Hull at 100kw (we'll give them their DA gain) versus 1030 when doing 10kw from Brighton.


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So what is the point?? If Providence stations like 920 or 630 are stuck at 50Watts as compared to 1030 having 500watts.. Also what is the comparison of say a 92.3 at 370watts or 94.1 at 500Watts?? I dont understand the HD thing all that much but what are the Boston FMs running for wattage... say 107.9 or 94.5??

I have tried HD radio 3 times, 2 defferant home units and a Zune HD.... I gave up quickly, couldnt get squat in Coventry. I see no point in this technology if you need to be sitting under the tower to get it in... for the stations its a waste of money.

 

[N1WVQ]

Clear Channel's F.M.s are back on with subchannels today.

93.3-2: Smooth Jazz/N.A.C.
94.1-2: (Active?) Rock
101.5-2: Classic rock