Well Black Friday came and I decided to wake up at 6:30am and head to the Newington Radio Shack to pick up their Black Friday Special the Accuruan HD Radio for $99.
I was nervous as I though they would sell out since this was the first time anyone has sold a HD radio for under $100. I stopped by the store on Wednesday Night and was told they had 3 in stock. So I took my chances. I arrived at Radio Shack at almost 7:30am over an hour an a half since they opened. I feared all of the HD radios would be gone.
All 3 HD Radios were still sitting on the shelf. Phew.
I took the HD Radio up to the register and the manager told me I was the first to buy a HD Radio from this Radio Shack Location.
I got home to my house just off of Main Street in Newington, and unpacked it.
Plugged it in and hooked up all the included antennas. Turned it on and immediately I tuned WTIC 96.5 FM, the WTIC Call letters displayed on the screen. About 4 seconds of being tuned in the HD symbol displayed on the screen, I could hear more highs and slightly more bass. I then tuned up and found WTIC-AM 1080 on WTIC FM's subchannel. As I listened I figured out this was WTIC AM's Internet Radio stream as it had no real ads, only PSA's and ads for WTIC.COM.
I then went through the dial and here is what I found in HD which I could pick up from my house.
92.5 WWYZ - With a second Country Channel on SubChannel 2
93.7 WZMX - With Artist and Title Info - Spanish Music on SubChannel 2
95.7 WKSS - With Artist and Title Info - Fabulous "Gay" Music with Artist and Title Info on Subchannel 2
96.5 WTIC - With WTIC AM (Internet Feed) on Subchannel 2
99.1 WPLR - With an ad for WPLR on screen
101.3 WKCI - With a 10 second delayed version of KC 101 on Subchannel 2
102.9 WDRC - With "Big D HD" on SubChannel 2
104.1 WHPP - With Artist and Title Info - Hip Hop music on SubChannel 2.
105.9 WHCN - Station Info shown only - Deep Tracks Classic Rock (With Artist and Title info) on SubChannel 2
106.9 WCCC - Sometimes displays Artist and Title other times displaying "Everyones happy at Hooters"
Scanning the AM Dial for HD Signals and I found NOTHING. ZIP. ZILCH in HD.
The sound quality is anything but HD but what do you expect from a radio that only has 2, 2 inch speakers. However plug some headphones in and you can hear the difference between HD and non HD. When you tune to a HD channel you hear the Analog version of the station first until the radio buffers the HD signal, then it switches over to the digital signal. Through headphones you can hear it click in.
Whats sad is that WRCH 100.5 for some reason sounds WORLDS better then any HD boardcast I have listened to. Don't know what they are doing at WRCH (which is not in HD yet) but the Stereo Seperation and sound is the best on the FM dial.
All of the subchannels are nothing more then Ipods on shuffle play, no personality whatsoever except for WTIC AM. I must admit I do enjoy WDRC with the Big D in HD. Its great to have the Big D back, its just to bad no one but me is listening to the Big D.
Today I have taken my HD radio in to my office. I work on the top floor of the Goodwin Building in Hartford, Connecticut, you would think that sitting at the top of downtown Hartford would be a great thing, however I can't pick up most of the HD signals here in my office, and that it with the big antenna fully extended. This is a MAJOR problem with HD radio, HD will not work everywhere you can get an acceptable stereo signal. In addition listening to WDRC, it will play great for 15 minutes then drop out for a second or two for no rhyme or reason.
This Radio is a CLOCK RADIO, however the clock feature is lacking BIG TIME, you can set the time and date on it, but thats it. No alarms, no timers, just a time display.
It also seems like the HD Radio chipset generates some heat. If I hold my hand over the vents on the back I can feel warm air coming out of it.
Again for being a HD Radio I was expecting better sound, but again with 2 inch speakers it's just not possible. You think they would want to wow people with sound, but instead have made a radio which is better used for backround music.
Stations are not using HD properly, for the first 2 days I had this radio all of the Clear Channel stations had their Artist and Title information STUCK showing incorrect information. Other stations are not showing artist and title information at all. Most of the subchannels are lifeless with no personality nor are they promoted by their main stations.
HD Radio is supposed to be competition to Satellite Radio, but frankly gaining 7 channels is not that big of a deal and the fact that getting a HD Radio signal is not simple task, it seems to me that Satellite Radio has nothing to worry about.
BTW I needed something from Radio Shack so I went in last night and they still had the other 2 HD radios on the shelf. Even below $100 it seems that HD Radio is not catching on.
I was nervous as I though they would sell out since this was the first time anyone has sold a HD radio for under $100. I stopped by the store on Wednesday Night and was told they had 3 in stock. So I took my chances. I arrived at Radio Shack at almost 7:30am over an hour an a half since they opened. I feared all of the HD radios would be gone.
All 3 HD Radios were still sitting on the shelf. Phew.
I took the HD Radio up to the register and the manager told me I was the first to buy a HD Radio from this Radio Shack Location.
I got home to my house just off of Main Street in Newington, and unpacked it.
Plugged it in and hooked up all the included antennas. Turned it on and immediately I tuned WTIC 96.5 FM, the WTIC Call letters displayed on the screen. About 4 seconds of being tuned in the HD symbol displayed on the screen, I could hear more highs and slightly more bass. I then tuned up and found WTIC-AM 1080 on WTIC FM's subchannel. As I listened I figured out this was WTIC AM's Internet Radio stream as it had no real ads, only PSA's and ads for WTIC.COM.
I then went through the dial and here is what I found in HD which I could pick up from my house.
92.5 WWYZ - With a second Country Channel on SubChannel 2
93.7 WZMX - With Artist and Title Info - Spanish Music on SubChannel 2
95.7 WKSS - With Artist and Title Info - Fabulous "Gay" Music with Artist and Title Info on Subchannel 2
96.5 WTIC - With WTIC AM (Internet Feed) on Subchannel 2
99.1 WPLR - With an ad for WPLR on screen
101.3 WKCI - With a 10 second delayed version of KC 101 on Subchannel 2
102.9 WDRC - With "Big D HD" on SubChannel 2
104.1 WHPP - With Artist and Title Info - Hip Hop music on SubChannel 2.
105.9 WHCN - Station Info shown only - Deep Tracks Classic Rock (With Artist and Title info) on SubChannel 2
106.9 WCCC - Sometimes displays Artist and Title other times displaying "Everyones happy at Hooters"
Scanning the AM Dial for HD Signals and I found NOTHING. ZIP. ZILCH in HD.
The sound quality is anything but HD but what do you expect from a radio that only has 2, 2 inch speakers. However plug some headphones in and you can hear the difference between HD and non HD. When you tune to a HD channel you hear the Analog version of the station first until the radio buffers the HD signal, then it switches over to the digital signal. Through headphones you can hear it click in.
Whats sad is that WRCH 100.5 for some reason sounds WORLDS better then any HD boardcast I have listened to. Don't know what they are doing at WRCH (which is not in HD yet) but the Stereo Seperation and sound is the best on the FM dial.
All of the subchannels are nothing more then Ipods on shuffle play, no personality whatsoever except for WTIC AM. I must admit I do enjoy WDRC with the Big D in HD. Its great to have the Big D back, its just to bad no one but me is listening to the Big D.
Today I have taken my HD radio in to my office. I work on the top floor of the Goodwin Building in Hartford, Connecticut, you would think that sitting at the top of downtown Hartford would be a great thing, however I can't pick up most of the HD signals here in my office, and that it with the big antenna fully extended. This is a MAJOR problem with HD radio, HD will not work everywhere you can get an acceptable stereo signal. In addition listening to WDRC, it will play great for 15 minutes then drop out for a second or two for no rhyme or reason.
This Radio is a CLOCK RADIO, however the clock feature is lacking BIG TIME, you can set the time and date on it, but thats it. No alarms, no timers, just a time display.
It also seems like the HD Radio chipset generates some heat. If I hold my hand over the vents on the back I can feel warm air coming out of it.
Again for being a HD Radio I was expecting better sound, but again with 2 inch speakers it's just not possible. You think they would want to wow people with sound, but instead have made a radio which is better used for backround music.
Stations are not using HD properly, for the first 2 days I had this radio all of the Clear Channel stations had their Artist and Title information STUCK showing incorrect information. Other stations are not showing artist and title information at all. Most of the subchannels are lifeless with no personality nor are they promoted by their main stations.
HD Radio is supposed to be competition to Satellite Radio, but frankly gaining 7 channels is not that big of a deal and the fact that getting a HD Radio signal is not simple task, it seems to me that Satellite Radio has nothing to worry about.
BTW I needed something from Radio Shack so I went in last night and they still had the other 2 HD radios on the shelf. Even below $100 it seems that HD Radio is not catching on.
