• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Hiss Gone From WLS Today, when will it finally be OVER with?

T

Tom Wells

WLS is in glorious non-hissing analog only this morning. I enjoyed a drive home from work listening to WLS for a while, then, just for old time's sake, I listened to WGTO AM 910 from Cassopolis Michigan, just because I could without the pollution from 890's iboc.

I always wonder...did the hash-box fail to boot up? How many times did they try to start it up?
Several times I've heard them start it up, then it goes off, they restart it, etc.

Did they miss a payment? What the heck? I'm happy anytime major 50kw stations aren't spewing willful, intentional, repeated, malicious interference upon their spectral neighbors.

All the other splat-offenders are still splatting hiss 50 khz wide from 620, 670, 780, 1000, 1200, 1300, and 1690.
 
Ah, you forgot 1390... unless they turned off the noise while I have been out of town this week. It would sure be interesting to know how many digital listeners some of these AM IBOC stations actually have.
 
audioguy said:
Ah, you forgot 1390... unless they turned off the noise while I have been out of town this week. It would sure be interesting to know how many digital listeners some of these AM IBOC stations actually have.
Click to expand...

Three.

Tom Wells said:
WLS is in glorious non-hissing analog only this morning. I enjoyed a drive home from work listening to WLS for a while, then, just for old time's sake, I listened to WGTO AM 910 from Cassopolis Michigan, just because I could without the pollution from 890's iboc.

I always wonder...did the hash-box fail to boot up? How many times did they try to start it up?
Several times I've heard them start it up, then it goes off, they restart it, etc.

Did they miss a payment? What the heck? I'm happy anytime major 50kw stations aren't spewing willful, intentional, repeated, malicious interference upon their spectral neighbors.

All the other splat-offenders are still splatting hiss 50 khz wide from 620, 670, 780, 1000, 1200, 1300, and 1690.
Click to expand...

Sadly, it's probably temporary. However, let's give WLS and Citadel credit in that at least they turn off the hiss machine for the night at 8pm. I'll tune in today to enjoy clear, clean ANALOG reception!

The others (670, 780, 1000, etc) spray their digital spew all over the central and eastern US all night long and screw up other people's markets too. Good example of that from my QTH in Buffalo Grove is WTMJ Milwaukee. It's IBOC blocks reception from 610 through 630 all day and night long. Even though I am not in their market.

It's been asked many times before, but I'll do it again: How many broadcasters on adjacent frequencies are getting clobbered by the hiss from 50 kw stations via skywave? Worse yet, the technology sucks so much that the hiss is without an upside - you can't even decode it unless the station and sidebands are strong.

What a mess. :mad:
 
The "curious and the kooky" want to know...what's the receiver availability situation in Chi-town these days at retail? Here in Rochester the dopey HD boxes have all-but-disappeared. One big RS has had the same scratched-up Jensen 525i iPod docker on display since before Christmas.

And no Accurians to be seen....

(But I'm sure that dorky ZUNE player will be flying off the shelves!!) ;) :D
 
BRNout said:
It's been asked many times before, but I'll do it again: How many broadcasters on adjacent frequencies are getting clobbered by the hiss from 50 kw stations via skywave? Worse yet, the technology sucks so much that the hiss is without an upside - you can't even decode it unless the station and sidebands are strong.

What a mess. :mad:
Click to expand...

Well here in MA we have WINS on 1010, KDKA on 1020 and WBZ on 1030 which makes a real mess it's a real hissfest from 1000-1040, WTIC 1080 is a noisy fading mess here most nights. I've gotten hiss from WLW, WMVP. WOR is terrible here as is WFAN, when the propagation is right we get all sorts of whoosh and hiss here in MA and of course only one HD station actually received and only days usually right before sundown and that one sounds like krap between drop outs with it's artificial saccharine sounding exaggerated highs: WBZ, this station is cutting a wide noisy jamming swath up and down the east coast. WFAN hisses up the place nights except when there's a baseball game on as does WWVA some nights, there are cat fights between stations here on some nights. WDCD 1540 sometimes is bad as is WQEW every night. WRNI 1290 can be a whooshy pest. Yup, there's a whole lotta hissin' goin' on here on the east coast. These stations are the most usual pests, there are many other intermittent, AM iBlock ought to be a crime.
 
Savage said:
The "curious and the kooky" want to know...
Click to expand...

They're creepy and they're kooky,
mysterious and spooky.
They're all together ooky,
the I-CRAP Family.

Their house is a museum,
unsold HDs ad-naus-eum.
They really are a scre-am,
the I-CRAP Family.

Neat (hash :mad:).
Sweet (hiss ::)).
Petite (bandwidth :eek:).


Apologies to Vic Mizzy, David Levy, Charles Addams, Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch... ;)
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
Savage said:
The "curious and the kooky" want to know...
Click to expand...

They're creepy and they're kooky,
mysterious and spooky.
They're all together ooky,
the I-CRAP Family.

Their house is a museum,
unsold HDs ad-naus-eum.
They really are a scre-am,
the I-CRAP Family.

Neat (hash :mad:).
Sweet (hiss ::)).
Petite (bandwidth :eek:).

Apologies to Vic Mizzy, David Levy, Charles Addams, Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch... ;)
Click to expand...

LOL!!!
 
Still clean as of this morning....maybe they've decided not to run iboc on cloudy days or somethng. :D
 
I got iBlock hiss on 690 last night and when I nulled WLW it went away, this was approx 1:30 AM ET, I can't positively say it was WLW's noise maker though that was covering 690 but it certainly seemed like it.
 
Another full day of glorious, sparkling analog on WLS. Even at low listening levels, the improved sharpness of sibilants makes it apparent that
90 per cent of listeners will think the signal from WLS is now stronger than last week, since the level of degradation (in high-frequency definition), is about what would be expected if listening to a signal at half-strength. The difference in clarity is amazing.
WLS had done a good job of making the analog sound pretty good through the hiss, but now that they're clean, it's almost like listening to them on the studio monitors by comparison.
 
Another day of WLS without iboc has commenced. Can this be the real thing, and not just another false hope?
 
Second request: anybody on the channel able to give us at least a seat-of-the-pants account of availability of HD receivers at retail in the Hissy....excuse me, The Windy City?

Elsewhere the impression you get is that HD Radios continue to get scarcer and scarcer.
 
Tom Wells said:
Another full day of glorious, sparkling analog on WLS. Even at low listening levels, the improved sharpness of sibilants makes it apparent that
90 per cent of listeners will think the signal from WLS is now stronger than last week, since the level of degradation (in high-frequency definition), is about what would be expected if listening to a signal at half-strength. The difference in clarity is amazing.
WLS had done a good job of making the analog sound pretty good through the hiss, but now that they're clean, it's almost like listening to them on the studio monitors by comparison.
Click to expand...

Agreed Tom!! Although I haven't tuned in yet today (will in a few minutes), my listening to WLS on Wednesday was incredible thanks to my wideband Superadio 3! Sounded almost as good as FM. With the ICRAP going, I can hear the hiss mixing in the background.

I was out in the Quad Cities this week and it was interesting to note that the nighttime ICRAP coming from WBBM was incredibly invasive, even 170 miles from their transmitter. Yes, WSCR's was there too as was WHO's - and they were screwing up their spectral neighborhoods - but nothing like WBBM.

For some reason, WBBM's splatter is worse basically nulling out WABC and even interfering with the otherwise solid signals of WJR and CKLW. What a menace this is!
 
JohnnyElectron said:
Is WLS in C-Quam stereo in addition to being analog-only wide-bandwidth mode? If so, I hope WJR turns their stereo back on again too.
Click to expand...

How about if a LOT of people call or email the stations and ask them to please turn on the C-Quam )))Stereo((( since we think it sounds great?
 
Savage said:
Second request: anybody on the channel able to give us at least a seat-of-the-pants account of availability of HD receivers at retail in the Hissy....excuse me, The Windy City?

Elsewhere the impression you get is that HD Radios continue to get scarcer and scarcer.
Click to expand...

Barely available anymore. The local Target stores no longer sell them except online. Best Buy only has the SONY XDR-S10HDIP iPod dockable radio. Radio Shack has a couple of models (a junky Jensen and a Polk unit) and the local Wal-Mart only has some in-dash JVC unit. Basically, nothing really available in my part of the city.
 
At the minimum, WLS sounds GREAT right now with the IBOC off! Was listening again today and they were crisp, clean and clear!
 
BRNout said:
At the minimum, WLS sounds GREAT right now with the IBOC off! Was listening again today and they were crisp, clean and clear!
Click to expand...

Too bad we can't have a Boogie Check on The Big 89 tonight around 9:45 CT. ;D
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
Too bad we can't have a Boogie Check on The Big 89 tonight around 9:45 CT. ;D
Click to expand...

The Boogie Check would be a great replacement for the "Everybody Dance Now" or "What is Love" music segments on the Mark Levin Show...
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom