HD Radio: Coming to a Pirate Station Near You

[nd2023]

A pirate in Boston with the fictitious call letters WPOT (gee, wonder what the owner's smoking) broadcasting on 87.7 FM claims to broadcast in HD. I really would not be surprised if I personally hear IBUZ on 87.5 and 87.9 next time I go to Boston. Ironically, that pirate station moved to 87.7 from 97.5 because of...you guessed it...IBUZ interference from WKAF 97.7!

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

A pirate in Boston with the fictitious call letters WPOT (gee, wonder what the owner's smoking) broadcasting on 87.7 FM claims to broadcast in HD. I really would not be surprised if I personally hear IBUZ on 87.5 and 87.9 next time I go to Boston. Ironically, that pirate station moved to 87.7 from 97.5 because of...you guessed it...IBUZ interference from WKAF 97.7!

1) He's not in HD, at least not last night when I listened.

2) How do you know he changed frequency because of HD interference from WKAF? Did you ask him?

I'd have to guess it's more likely he moved because there's no more TV on channel 6 in that area.

 

[Savage]

How could this guy be broadcasting illegally in HD? iBiquity licenses each one of its Decepticons. Even if he got one in the used-equipment aftermarket it would be really easy to trace where it came from. Nobody in his right mind would sell a used HD exciter-exporter to a pirate.

(Then again....nobody in his right mind would have an HD exciter in the rack in the first place.....)

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

Bob:

It's much more likely that the pirate people in Boston are just poking a little fun at the whole HD "phenomenon".

It was stupid of them to set up shop on a first-adjacent to a Boston market signal anyway, and the permanant departure of New Bedford's WLNE-TV from Channel 6 is probably the reason for the move to 87.7.

Keep fighting the good fight...but...Bob...PLEASE!!....for the love of God......Try to lighten up just a bit.

 

[Savage]

Hmmm.....better check myself. I thought I HAD lightened up recently....oh well....

It had occurred to me that the 87.7 pirate could just be joshing over the "HD" origination. If so, I say..."more power to him." A "legal" (illegal?) ID...something to the effect, "A Service Of CBS Radio Northeast," would also be a nice touch.

 

[necrat123]

2) How do you know he changed frequency because of HD interference from WKAF? Did you ask him?

Change "from" to "to" WKAF. Entercom and the FCC were breathing down the necks of "WPOT". The chief of Entercom has been keeping on the FCC to go after these guys.

They were forced to switch because of that. (Now they're illegally 2nd adjacent to WMBR 88.1).

HD or not, WKAF (97.7) has a valid complaint against someone putting up a illegal transmitter on 97.5, only 5 miles away...

 

[audioguy]

I personally find it ironic that a licensed station can legally jam its adjacent channel neighbors in the name of broadcasting in "HD", while a pirate could face a jail term for putting a few watts on the air on a similar adjacent channel frequency.

 

[Play Freebird]

Hmmm.....better check myself. I thought I HAD lightened up recently....oh well....

It had occurred to me that the 87.7 pirate could just be joshing over the "HD" origination. If so, I say..."more power to him." A "legal" (illegal?) ID...something to the effect, "A Service Of CBS Radio Northeast," would also be a nice touch.

Although HD Radio is a registered trademark, "High Definition" is not. Further, we've been told officially by iBiquity (and by our own ears) that HD does not stand for High Definition. So any analog station (whether licensed or pirate) should be allowed promote itself as High Definition without running afoul of legal trademark issues.

 

[Tom Wells]

Hmmm.....better check myself. I thought I HAD lightened up recently....oh well....

It had occurred to me that the 87.7 pirate could just be joshing over the "HD" origination. If so, I say..."more power to him." A "legal" (illegal?) ID...something to the effect, "A Service Of CBS Radio Northeast," would also be a nice touch.

Although HD Radio is a registered trademark, "High Definition" is not. Further, we've been told officially by iBiquity (and by our own ears) that HD does not stand for High Definition. So any analog station (whether licensed or pirate) should be allowed promote itself as High Definition without running afoul of legal trademark issues.

Any AM station with audio response exceeding the NSRC AM "mask" would be HD then, wouldn't it?
Definition, like resolution in photography, is a matter of how small of a detail (or sound, in this case) can be reproduced by the total system.
Not to bring in distortion, a whole 'nother can of worms.

 

[HowardMBurgers]

Although HD Radio is a registered trademark, "High Definition" is not. Further, we've been told officially by iBiquity (and by our own ears) that HD does not stand for High Definition. So any analog station (whether licensed or pirate) should be allowed promote itself as High Definition without running afoul of legal trademark issues.

The term HD Radio was never intended to mean High Definition, but rather Hybrid Digital. Ibquity or their radio partners just don't publically correct the term with consumers in marketing, nor have they ever called it High Definition either. I believe they probably wanted to allow the indirect connection riding on the coat tails of HDTV.

 

[Chuck]

The term HD Radio was never intended to mean High Definition, but rather Hybrid Digital.

Actually, according to Ibiquity "HD" means neither. It is simply "HD," with no associated meaning. Other terms like High Definition or Hybrid Digital have been applied by pundits and supporters, but are not of Ibiquity's making.

 

[Savage]

I can't cite it, but I believe the "Hybrid Digital" moniker was cooked up by somebody at the Alliance, possibly Peter Ferrara or one of his minions.

 

[JohnnyElectron]

I could picture a pirate doing DRM, and even RDS, but not HD (unless he was one of those sickos that are into pain and all that stuff)

 

[necrat123]

In Boston, another pirate , the 105.3 Pirate has RDS on it...

 

[Play Freebird]

In Boston, another pirate , the 105.3 Pirate has RDS on it...

Most of the central and western European pirates also have RDS for reasons that should be obvious. "Pira.cz", a Czech supplier of pirate radio gear, offers an very cost-effective RDS encoder in both kit and assembled form. I have these on my translators (both the PIRA 32 and Mini RDS) and they work quite well:

http://pira.cz/eng/

 

[jhardis]

Entercom and the FCC were breathing down the necks of "WPOT". The chief of Entercom has been keeping on the FCC to go after these guys.

They were forced to switch because of that. (Now they're illegally 2nd adjacent to WMBR 88.1).

It's one thing to mess with Entercom. However, having spent 4 years at MIT I'd predict that screwing with WMBR could inspire some, shall we say, creative blowback.

 

[stormy01]

I could picture a pirate doing DRM, and even RDS, but not HD (unless he was one of those sickos that are into pain and all that stuff)

Definitely not worth the effort for the 14 people in range who could possibly pick up the signal in HD! How about firing up Quadraphonic? There are probably more people out there with a old Quad receiver from the 70's than there are people with an HD radio! (;