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HD radio in the Tampa/St. Pete/Sarasota area

D

drt

I have some questions in reference to the Hybrid Digital radio I bought at Best Buy in Bradenton; it's their brand, the Insigna and it's a boombox with an I-Pod dock (and CD player).

The is the second HD radio I have bought, the other one was returned to Radio Shack w/i 24 hours (this was several years ago); it wasn't locking in anything, no matter where I placed the radio or how I arranged the dipole antenna.

This unit was on sale and is FM only (I was hoping to someday hear AM HD), the analogue FM band (no AM) is relatively deaf as far as sensitvity goes, so I'm pleasantly surprised that I am able to lock in as many HD2 and HD3 stations as I am.

WXTB will only sometime decode and that is outdoors; WCTQ! HD2- Classic country comes in well outside, but inside is a problem.

I realize that WXTB's tower is in Holiday and that makes a difference; in fact I can't get 107.3 into the HD mode either and it's antenna is in Oldsmar.

I have several questions, I'm near the bayfront in downtown St. Pete, so the Riverview HD stations are no problem, but 99.5, 104.7 and 106.5 are very hit and miss. (and the CBS stations with antennas in Seminole - 92.5 and 98.7 come in like troopers, both HD1 and HD2).

One question I have, is would installing a longer whip antenna (there is no antenna input on this unit) help with the reception? I'm hoping it will, as that is something I can do.

My other question is for WLLD, I'm receiving their base station as HD1, but no HD2, but an HD3 station simulcasting WFAN 660 out of NYC; is there a 94.1 HD2 signal, that my unit is not picking up?

Any comments from HDradioengineer, Jeff or Rfrus would be appreciated.

drt,
st. petersburg

btw- 102.5's HD2 comes in well indoors and out, here as well.

btw-2 I was stopping in parking lots every few mile to dx the HD2 stations with this; at Best Buy just north of Cortez, at Bayshore Gardens and at Publix at 1414 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota and I was amazed at how just a few miles can make a big difference.

Also I was not picking anything up around the Airport, Whitfield Estates or Bayshore Gardens on 99.9; this was this past Friday evening.
 
94.1 HD2 used to be Traditional Jazz. This HD2 signal has been since turned off during the WLLD/WSJT 94.1/98.7 swap.
 
tngu77 said:
94.1 HD2 used to be Traditional Jazz. This HD2 signal has been since turned off during the WLLD/WSJT 94.1/98.7 swap.
Click to expand...
Thanks to the info regarding WLLD HD2; at least I know the radio is not playing tricks on me.

There must be some type of technical reason or contractual reason, why CBS doesn't put WFAN on the HD2; it seems odd to go directly from the HD1 to HD3.

I'm sure if this unit (Insignia Boombox) had an antenna input, a pair of rabbit ears would pretty well insure much better coverage, so the only other thing I know to do is to try a slight longer whip antenna and take a gamble that might help.

I did take the unit to extreme Eastern Hernando county this past weekend, and as I expected, none of the Orlando, Tampa or Ocala stations even showed any sign of trying to lock in. WXXL 106.7 is one of the stronger signals there and that's the first one I tried.

drt
st. petersburg,fl
 
Do any of the Ocala stations even have HD2 Subchannels. Other than WKTK HD2 which broadcasts Christian Contemporary. I don't believe WOGK, WTRS, WMFQ or any others have HD Subchannels.
 
WFAN broadcasting on the HD3 is irrelevant. That's where it was from the beginning so I'm sure they've just left it. Besides, I think the original plan was to put an "old school / classic hip hop" station on Wild's HD2. Maybe that's still in the works but I'm sure that's not a high priority since Wild and Play have been struggling ratings wise in recent months. In other words, know your priorities and secondary HD stations are not high on the list. That's obvious based on the Cox group.
 
I bought the same radio from Best Buy that drt bought, and have had trouble getting HD signals for 88.5, 90.5,94.1,98.7, 102.5 in the Northend of St.Pete. The first thing I did was look in the back for some kind of input for antenna and did not see one. I was tempted to try Radio Shack to buy their HDTV antenna which said it improves FM HD signals. The only problem would be is how to link that antenna to HD Boombox. I agree with drt that the antenna that is attached to the radio is way too limited. I have a HD radio from Radiosophy and the antenna is more than a few inches longer than the HD Boombox . I am this close to returning the radio back to Best Buy because of the limited availability of HD stations, if I cannot find an antenna that will pick up all the frequencies that I am not able to get. What baffles me is the smaller hand held Insiginia HD radio picks up everything, but the HD Boombox falls very short. If anyone knows what antenna can be used for this, I am sure that drt and I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks.
 
daw said:
I bought the same radio from Best Buy that drt bought, and have had trouble getting HD signals for 88.5, 90.5,94.1,98.7, 102.5 in the Northend of St.Pete. The first thing I did was look in the back for some kind of input for antenna and did not see one. I was tempted to try Radio Shack to buy their HDTV antenna which said it improves FM HD signals. The only problem would be is how to link that antenna to HD Boombox. I agree with drt that the antenna that is attached to the radio is way too limited. I have a HD radio from Radiosophy and the antenna is more than a few inches longer than the HD Boombox . I am this close to returning the radio back to Best Buy because of the limited availability of HD stations, if I cannot find an antenna that will pick up all the frequencies that I am not able to get. What baffles me is the smaller hand held Insiginia HD radio picks up everything, but the HD Boombox falls very short. If anyone knows what antenna can be used for this, I am sure that drt and I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks.
Click to expand...
DAW, I tried to send you a long winded PM, but I'm not sure it went through, since I didn't get the BCC I sent myself.

Let me know if you haven't received it and I will recompose it.

I seem to be getting more stations in HD than you and I'm assuming that's due to my location being almost a straight shot over the bay from Riverview. (w.s.w. of Riverview) and then 106.5 WCTQ is almost a staight shot over lower Tampa Bay.

That said, 97.9, 105.5 and 107.9 are complete no shows as far as HD is concerned. 90.5, for some reason is only receivable outside at my location near the bay in the downtown area.

I bought mine last Friday and at least it was on sale (an unadvertised sale; not in their weekly ad); I'm thinking if you bought your w/i the last 30 days, they could or should honor the sale price.

drt
 
I have the Assurian table model, two JVCs, a "Jump", and the insignia portable.

Out of all four models, the Jump is by far the best. It is in my taxi and is pretty stable with the Riverview FMs as I drive around Sa-ra-so-ta!. 970 is annoying as it goes from an FM quality sound with a lot of bass to being buried in the interference all day long in analogue.

The Assurian was picking up 970 in HD when I first got it but increasing interference has forced me into putting a radio outside and running an audio line to the system I have inside.

As far as the FM HD's, 97.9 is not stable, but if you see their contour, it is not supposed to be reliable South of the Bay, anyway, so if you are driving through Bradenton, be happy with the stability that exists. I have an antenna high over the roof, but it does not help the reception from 97.9 and frequently it will shift back to the pulsating screaming (part of the programming) of the HD-1.

Tampa digital, be it radio or TV, is non-existent on portable. In the analogue world, we had the best of TV and radio from both Tampa and Ft. Myers. They call that progress...

On the good side, as I have said to "Hubcity" on the New Jersey board, they run WBJB, which is a college station I was with years ago, the plus side of the HD is that extra programing can be run for different purposes. Our WFLA will run some programming online, when it goes to FM, it certainly can be an option for over the air and I am somewhat excited about those prospects.

CD's were not readily accepted when they first came out, it took a couple of years for the technology to take hold. But it worked well from the start. HD Radio has alot of bugs to work out of the system before it's ready to replace analogue radio.

"That's how I see it"

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
Thanks for your input, Jeff.

I'm on the road a lot and that's why I wanted a portable, something easier to lug around than a full fleged receiver and also something that could operate on batteries.

All in all I guess I'm lucky in that I am able to receive all the Riverview stations indoors, as well as the two Seminole CBS stations (92.5 and 98.7) and 95,7 plus WCTQ, granted on some of these I do have to experiment and get the whip antenna just right, but once it's locked it, it stays locked in.

On 97.9, I can only get the HD2 intermittently and that has to be outdoors! Tonight, when I was outdoor, WXTB HD2 was coming in better than I had received it before and the Lightning game sounded awesome in stereo, came back inside though and WXTB HD1 and HD2 were both no-shows.

Last Friday evening in the parking lot of Best Buy, just north of Cortez on 14th St W, WSRZ was hit and miss in decoding the HD, but a few miles south in Bayshore Gardens, WSRZ HD1 and HD2 were both coming in and of course, it was coming in more reliably at the Publix on North Tamiami Trail just north of downtown. (their RDS display on the HD2 kept showing "Love is Like an Itching in My Heart for the 20 mintues I listened and the only Supremes song during that period was "Baby Love". I think with good engineers and better receiver standards, things could improve.

All in all, I'm happy with the Insignia Portable, but I'm sure if I lived in Sarasota, I wouldn't have near as many options, just the HD stations from the Nokomis antenna farm.

Just one more note; I notice on the WUSF website (as well as some others, that promote HD radios, that when you find a radio, you might want to purchase, there will be a note, that these are no longer in stock, or have been discontinued, which begs the question as to why those receivers are still on the website.

I still hope to make it to Radio Shack to see if there might be a longer compatible whip antenna that could help with the HD reception.

drt
 
I have a used Accurian model 12-1686 table top with an outside omni directional antenna only about 10 feet up or so... works well... also 2 Visteon(sp) Jump converter that also does pretty good for the car... 97.9 and AM 970 go back and forth from HD to Analog, especially 970 ...The little small portable Insignia also seems to be OK, especially outside...
 
There are so many things that can be done with the HD-x's. I don't know if lack of receivers or lack of revenue is the source. Or maybe the FCC is regulating what they can and can't do.

I am convinced that the Riverview stations that moved 200 feet higher will receive no immediate ROI on the analogue side, but there was a big improvement for the HD's.

And given the opportunity to move, it was either then, or never, especially if HD continues to be an option and possibly their future.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
gamefreak said:
Do any of the Ocala stations even have HD2 Subchannels. Other than WKTK HD2 which broadcasts Christian Contemporary. I don't believe WOGK, WTRS, WMFQ or any others have HD Subchannels.
Click to expand...

Gamefreak, the only HD Radio stations in the Gainesville-Ocala listening area are UF J-school's NPR stations, WUFT-FM and WJUF-FM (HD1 = regular NPR programming; HD2 = classical music; HD3 = "old-time" radio) and the Entercom-owned stations, WSKY-FM (HD1 = news/talk; HD2 = "Subterranean"/deep-tracks format) and WKTK-FM (HD1 = AC format; HD2 = "The Swamp"/blues)

WWRM-HD2 is Christian Contemporary. [Maybe you've confused this with WKTK-HD2.]

All other radio stations in the area are broadcasted in regular analog.
 
A story I heard as recently as December told of an employee that was let go at a rather large station cluster on the west coast. He was the "creative director/production director" and the cluster downsized. He was decidedly upset as he would have graciously taken a cut in pay, and made other concessions if only the management had spoken with him about it. They didn't, so he was a little upset I guess.

Before he left, he recorded one last promo, and inserted it in the queue for the station's HD-2 stream running some kind of niche format. Remember this is in a large market. It stated that (as a special HD radio marketing event) anyone listening to the HD stream was eligible for a special "corporate name" bonus check in the amount of 500.00..and all they had to do was e-mail, call, or present themselves and the station would give them a check for 500.00 or a gift card in the amount of 1000.00 at Target. It contained all the usual "one payment per household..etc" stuff so it sounded legit.

NOBODY CALLED....nobody even knew it was running for nearly 2 months!! Only the CE found it when the rack mounted computer it was running on was swapped out because ont of the main (analog FM) servers failed and they needed a spare. They just killed the HD-2 feed altogether in February.

Seems like regular HD listeners are more like the geeky National Radio Club DXers than "real" listeners. (no offense to NRC members..as I was one for years with their cool AM radio nighttime pattern book..remember those?"
 
Jeff Laurence said:
A story I heard as recently as December told of an employee that was let go at a rather large station cluster on the west coast. He was the "creative director/production director" and the cluster downsized. He was decidedly upset as he would have graciously taken a cut in pay, and made other concessions if only the management had spoken with him about it. They didn't, so he was a little upset I guess.

Before he left, he recorded one last promo, and inserted it in the queue for the station's HD-2 stream running some kind of niche format. Remember this is in a large market. It stated that (as a special HD radio marketing event) anyone listening to the HD stream was eligible for a special "corporate name" bonus check in the amount of 500.00..and all they had to do was e-mail, call, or present themselves and the station would give them a check for 500.00 or a gift card in the amount of 1000.00 at Target. It contained all the usual "one payment per household..etc" stuff so it sounded legit.

NOBODY CALLED....nobody even knew it was running for nearly 2 months!! Only the CE found it when the rack mounted computer it was running on was swapped out because ont of the main (analog FM) servers failed and they needed a spare. They just killed the HD-2 feed altogether in February.

Seems like regular HD listeners are more like the geeky National Radio Club DXers than "real" listeners. (no offense to NRC members..as I was one for years with their cool AM radio nighttime pattern book..remember those?"
Click to expand...
I seem to recall, a geeky guy by the name of Bill Gates playing with a device that didn't work, either.
HD Radio, is "not ready for prime time."

Pushing a technology not ready will lead to problems each and every time.

The human race is insane - by definition!

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
We get calls if our HD's have a problem. HD has surged in the past few months. The quality is great. Much better than satellite.
 
rfrus said:
We get calls if our HD's have a problem. HD has surged in the past few months. The quality is great. Much better than satellite.
Click to expand...
I feel like an idiot when I call to say that the digital is behind the analogue. I get the impression the person answering the phone has better things to do.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
Sometimes its not easy keeping the HD & FM time aligned. Ibiquity keeps updating the firmware and buffering drifts.
 
rfrus said:
Sometimes its not easy keeping the HD & FM time aligned. Ibiquity keeps updating the firmware and buffering drifts.
Click to expand...
The idea is to make it as maintenance free as possible. How do you consider iBoc "ready for prime time" when, by it's very nature, requires an audio alignment and firmware updates.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
rfrus said:
I feel the same way about computers and cell phones
Click to expand...
No doubt, because they are all relying on the digital technology.

I have stated,here, in the past, that, although, bandwidth is at a premium now, with the improvements that we see on almost a daily basis that make a more efficient use, there will come a time, when bandwidth will become a non-issue. It will have made the mandatory shutdown of analogue TV of 3 years ago, look irrelevent.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
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