HD Radio in Lexington

[KYradioJake]

Does anyone know if any of the stations serving Lexington besides WUKY 91.3 FM have started broadcasting in HD Radio yet? J/W cause i don't have an HD Radio yet, but I plan to get one as soon as more stations start going HD.

 

[kyscott]

Does anyone know if any of the stations serving Lexington besides WUKY 91.3 FM have started broadcasting in HD Radio yet? J/W cause i don't have an HD Radio yet, but I plan to get one as soon as more stations start going HD.

Nope, nobody besides WUKY. Ibiquity's website has WMKJ as a "coming soon". It's the only one listed in Lexington.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

I just got one & on FM, expect that robust HD reception will be confined to the 70db contour & all HD reception will be gone at the 60db contour. For 50KW/500', that's about 21 miles of reliable reception. If you don't live reasonably near what you want to hear, save your money. I live inside the Indianapolis 'metro' area (the counties surrounding Indy) and only 1 of the stations is reliable here & it's at 21 miles. The rest, while having good analog signals, are no-shows on HD.

 

[KYradioJake]

I really hope HD improves! Man...it's a shame that it's only good for about 20 or so miles. The sound quality is probably not a big difference from analog, anyway.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

I really hope HD improves! Man...it's a shame that it's only good for about 20 or so miles. The sound quality is probably not a big difference from analog, anyway.

The FM quality difference is minimal. On AM, it's remarkable, but sounds just a little like an internet stream. As far as FM goes, it can't improve as long as the analog is there. The HD power (usually from a separate transmitter) is just a few percent of the analog power. The way it's designed, there's just not any horsepower there. If the rules change to where a full 50KW (100KW in Lexington) of HD can operate on FM with no analog, I think you'll find that it covers better than analog. But at present, there is no talk about allowing that. And even if there were, it would amount to economic suicide with the few receivers that are out there. For now, I'm afraid that what you hear is about what you get. The power must be kept this low to keep interference to a tolerable level. There are many (present company included) who feel it already causes too much interference at this power level. This is HD's "dirty little secret"...the proverbial elephant in the room that never gets mentioned in the sales literature. But as more people buy these radios & get inferior reception, the manure probably will hit the rotary oscillator...it will be interesting to see where it all settles.

 

[jb_ky]

Does anyone know if any of the stations serving Lexington besides WUKY 91.3 FM have started broadcasting in HD Radio yet? J/W cause i don't have an HD Radio yet, but I plan to get one as soon as more stations start going HD.

WKQQ-HD1 and WKQQ-HD2 is on the air. WBUL and WLKT should be on the air in HD soon from what I am told.

 

[KYradioJake]

Awesome. I knew it wouldn't be long before the clear channel stations started. I live about 2 miles from the WKQQ / WMXL / WLAP transmitter site on Russell Cave Rd. so WKQQ should be rock solid HD where I live. It's funny...a few weeks ago when they were obviously installing their new HD equipment at the site, the analog signal of WKQQ seemed to have been increased temporarily for some reason. And I say that b/c they were bleeding over WCYO for a while and then went back to normal to where I could listen again.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Though it might be a question for the Engineering or HD forum but I will ask it here in regards to WVLK and WLAP. As I understand an AM antenna system must pass 20 kHz to handle IBOC. Both AM's are directional and use radiators that are less than 90 degrees, though one of WLAP's towers that has the FM antenna is much longer than 90 degrees. The only local AM that might have a chance is WLXG and maybe WXRA. Just wondering.

 

[jb_ky]

Awesome. I knew it wouldn't be long before the clear channel stations started. I live about 2 miles from the WKQQ / WMXL / WLAP transmitter site on Russell Cave Rd. so WKQQ should be rock solid HD where I live. It's funny...a few weeks ago when they were obviously installing their new HD equipment at the site, the analog signal of WKQQ seemed to have been increased temporarily for some reason. And I say that b/c they were bleeding over WCYO for a while and then went back to normal to where I could listen again.

Thats cool. WMXL-HD is supposed to be on the air in late October/early november. From where I've been driving around WKQQ-HD signal is strong. I've been to Danville and heard it just fine. It was somewhat spotty though. Georgetown and Frankfort areas are strong without dropping the signal.

 

[kyscott]

Though it might be a question for the Engineering or HD forum but I will ask it here in regards to WVLK and WLAP. As I understand an AM antenna system must pass 20 kHz to handle IBOC. Both AM's are directional and use radiators that are less than 90 degrees, though one of WLAP's towers that has the FM antenna is much longer than 90 degrees. The only local AM that might have a chance is WLXG and maybe WXRA. Just wondering.

The length of the radiator isn't the deciding factor, however it is a factor. You are correct in stating that an array must be able to pass about 20kHz to pass IBOC, which is why there are not that many directional AMs broadcasting in HD yet.