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How NOT to promote HD radio!

R

rbrucecarter

Guest
Is KLDE still in IBOC or not? I did a search on their web site and could find no reference to "HD" or "HD radio". If IBOC is supposed to be the "next big thing" or the "salvation" of radio - you would think the logo would be on there, with links to where one could purchase HD radios in Houston. It would have some rosy sounding marketing blurb, etc.

Instead - all I know is that the RDS feed of song titles is off on KLDE - one of the "advantages" of IBOC.
 
> Instead - all I know is that the RDS feed of song titles is
> off on KLDE - one of the "advantages" of IBOC.

Stations broadcasting in IBOC can still use RDS. We unfortuantely have a TON of FM IBOC stations here in Boston, and most of them also use RDS.
 
I went into a large electronics store on The North Freeway, just south of The Beltway a few weeks ago looking for HD Radios. First it took forever to even find anyone working there that knew what HD Radio was, Second the "expert" said there were no HD radio stations in Houston and had only a vague idea of HD Radio, other than it was a special radio. Finally third all they had were three top of the line receivers that went at well over a $1000 dollars.

Unless there are some receivers that are in a price range under $200 or less I don't see many people buying an HD Radio, even if every FM station in the area was broadcasting in HD and using the HD2 channel.

I've gone on line and haven't found anything under $350 and that had ONE speaker, looked like crap and was definitely a step backwards from the good old analog stereo boomboxs I have. Why a company would even put out an HD Radio which is suppose to have superior stereo with one speaker giving you a mono radio is beyond me.

HD may be a bigger flop than FM Stereo was and FM Stereo was actually very good, the FCC never set a standard like they have with Ibiquity as they company with the system that will be used for broadcasting in digital. AM HD Radio is already a flop until Ibiquity can get the signal truely IBOC "ON CHANNEL" and not using anywhere from three to five channels or frequencies that would be assigned to stations. There are many blocks of stations that are only 20kHz apart in metro Houston that can not use the system as it exists today and AM HD Radio is and rightfully so, daytime only.

Mexico where 20kHz spacing of stations in the same city is not uncommon tested Ibiquity's HD Radio on AM and to the best of my knowledge the system did not work with stations 20kHz apart in the same city and Mexico is testing other systems.

KPRC 950 was on the list of stations licensed for HD Radio, I wonder how long they will keep the HD signal on when they find out how much coverage they are going to lose going to HD Radio? It's not like analog where it will fade out, it is all or nothing and the HD signal is only good to the 1mV/m range, and that is iffy. In your vehicle you can easily listen to a station with an analog signal of less than 0.5mV/m during the day, for a station like KPRC it is probably a good 20+ miles from the 1mV/m signal to 0.5mV/m signal. That is a big loss of coverage.

Mike O
 
> I went into a large electronics store on The North Freeway,
> just south of The Beltway a few weeks ago looking for HD
> Radios. First it took forever to even find anyone working
> there that knew what HD Radio was, Second the "expert" said
> there were no HD radio stations in Houston and had only a
> vague idea of HD Radio, other than it was a special radio.
> Finally third all they had were three top of the line
> receivers that went at well over a $1000 dollars.
>
> Unless there are some receivers that are in a price range
> under $200 or less I don't see many people buying an HD
> Radio, even if every FM station in the area was broadcasting
> in HD and using the HD2 channel.
>
> I've gone on line and haven't found anything under $350 and
> that had ONE speaker, looked like crap and was definitely a
> step backwards from the good old analog stereo boomboxs I
> have. Why a company would even put out an HD Radio which is
> suppose to have superior stereo with one speaker giving you
> a mono radio is beyond me.
>
> HD may be a bigger flop than FM Stereo was and FM Stereo was
> actually very good, the FCC never set a standard like they
> have with Ibiquity as they company with the system that will
> be used for broadcasting in digital. AM HD Radio is already
> a flop until Ibiquity can get the signal truely IBOC "ON
> CHANNEL" and not using anywhere from three to five channels
> or frequencies that would be assigned to stations. There
> are many blocks of stations that are only 20kHz apart in
> metro Houston that can not use the system as it exists today
> and AM HD Radio is and rightfully so, daytime only.
>
> Mexico where 20kHz spacing of stations in the same city is
> not uncommon tested Ibiquity's HD Radio on AM and to the
> best of my knowledge the system did not work with stations
> 20kHz apart in the same city and Mexico is testing other
> systems.
>
> KPRC 950 was on the list of stations licensed for HD Radio,
> I wonder how long they will keep the HD signal on when they
> find out how much coverage they are going to lose going to
> HD Radio? It's not like analog where it will fade out, it
> is all or nothing and the HD signal is only good to the
> 1mV/m range, and that is iffy. In your vehicle you can
> easily listen to a station with an analog signal of less
> than 0.5mV/m during the day, for a station like KPRC it is
> probably a good 20+ miles from the 1mV/m signal to 0.5mV/m
> signal. That is a big loss of coverage.
>
> Mike O
>

I just ordered the Kenwood EZ900HDS http://www.crutchfield.com/S-kfiR4cbCqnY/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=247450&I=113EZ900 for my vehicle. UPS says it'll be here Wednesday. I'll report my results ASAP.
 
>
> HD may be a bigger flop than FM Stereo was and FM Stereo was
> actually very good, the FCC never set a standard like they
> have with Ibiquity as they company with the system that will
> be used for broadcasting in digital.

I'm sure you meant AM Stereo, but point taken.<P ID="signature">______________
What, you were expecting me to make sense for a change?</P>
 
> >
> > HD may be a bigger flop than FM Stereo was and FM Stereo was
> > actually very good, the FCC never set a standard like they
> > have with Ibiquity as they company with the system that will
> > be used for broadcasting in digital.
>
> I'm sure you meant AM Stereo, but point taken.
>

The X, Thank You for the correction, I sure did mean AM Stereo. Time to start really reading what I wrote and not what I meant to write. That mistake certainly killed the whole idea, I'm glad you caught the error. Thanks again.

Mike O
 
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