iBiquity FINANCIAL MAYHEM !

[SayNoToIBOC]

Currently, with all the problems with HD/IBOC, if the current analog system is replaced, it would be with a totally different system/technology. Not to be antagonistic, butI was just reading through one of the articles, and I really started laughing (no joke) - this sounds like some routine from the Three Stooges:


I called Ibiquity and was referred to Vicki Stearn, who works for the PR agency handling the Ibiquity HD account. Interestingly, she lived nearby and I asked her if she was having similar problems. She told me she doesn’t have an HD radio because “they’re very hard to get.”

Vicki referred me to Frank Barone, the Program Manager For Integrated Products at Boston Acoustics. I described my situation, and asked him if Boston Acoustics had test-driven the Receptor with real people, actual consumers. He assured me they had.

Frank asked me a few questions: “How high was the antenna?” “Is it near a window?” Frank explained that signals in HD are considerably lower than analog channels, generally down 10 db.

I was quickly coming to the conclusion that what we might have here was a $500 radio with a 12-cent antenna. When pressed, Frank allowed that external antennas definitely help, as does location and height. He also said that building penetration tended to be poor, especially at distances greater than 20 miles from the radio station’s antenna.

Unfortunately, I no longer live in a dorm room, and the chances of my wife letting me hang a dipole antenna in the bedroom were about as likely as her letting me hang up black light posters and tossing in some bean bag chairs. And are they to expect average consumers to go this extra mile?


Especially, I love this last paragraph ! What, does HD/IBOC require an dipole antenna to be erected on the roof - what a frick'n joke !

 

[JasonW]

Good point, but as I've been told there isn't any spectrum available and that's why they went with the hybrid system. Of course I would hope once things really get underway, the analogue component will disappear over the next 10 years or so. Then it won't be an issue any longer.

That's the ideal situation, but they way it's going we could be waiting a very long time for it to happen.

In the meantime, I would love to get my hands on an all-digital Part 15 (it permits 100 milliwatts output at 510 kHz - 1700 kHz) HD AM transmitter and run some tests with it. End-feeding an electrically 1/2 wavelength antenna (a half-size, coil-loaded wire radiator with a matching network at the feed point) at 510 kHz or 520 kHz under a Part 5 experimental license would provide interesting data on all-digital HD AM performance in the upper part of the Long Wave band.


-- Jason

 

[autopaint-1]

"That's the ideal situation, but they way it's going we could be waiting a very long time for it to happen.

In the meantime, I would love to get my hands on an all-digital Part 15 (it permits 100 milliwatts output at 510 kHz - 1700 kHz) HD AM transmitter and run some tests with it. End-feeding an electrically 1/2 wavelength antenna (a half-size, coil-loaded wire radiator with a matching network at the feed point) at 510 kHz or 520 kHz under a Part 5 experimental license would provide interesting data on all-digital HD AM performance in the upper part of the Long Wave band."

Good luck but in this region of the world we can not use the LW spectrum for broadcast purposes.

 

[JasonW]

SayNoToIBOC wrote:

<Unfortunately, I no longer live in a dorm room, and the chances of my wife letting me hang a dipole antenna in the bedroom were about as likely as her letting me hang up black light posters and tossing in some bean bag chairs. And are they to expect average consumers to go this extra mile?>

Why not try a nearly-invisible Long Wire antenna (1 wavelength or longer) made of thin magnet wire, instead of a dipole? That should get spousal approval, and if it's 1 - 2 wavelengths long (easy to do at FM frequencies) it will give good gain off the far end--just mount it pointing at a desired station. A parallel inductor-and-capacitor LC circuit at the feed point (a small RF choke and a "trimmer" variable capacitor will work) will match the antenna's high feed point impedance to the radio's lower antenna input impedance (either 50 ohms or 75 ohms).


-- Jason

 

[JasonW]

"That's the ideal situation, but they way it's going we could be waiting a very long time for it to happen.

In the meantime, I would love to get my hands on an all-digital Part 15 (it permits 100 milliwatts output at 510 kHz - 1700 kHz) HD AM transmitter and run some tests with it. End-feeding an electrically 1/2 wavelength antenna (a half-size, coil-loaded wire radiator with a matching network at the feed point) at 510 kHz or 520 kHz under a Part 5 experimental license would provide interesting data on all-digital HD AM performance in the upper part of the Long Wave band."

Good luck but in this region of the world we can not use the LW spectrum for broadcast purposes.

The Part 15 rules permit low-power unlicensed broadcasting in two areas of the Long Wave band. Between 160 kHz and 190 kHz it's legal to transmit with up to 1 watt into a 15 meter long antenna. From 510 kHz - 1700 kHz (510 kHz - 530 kHz are the upper 30 kHz of the Long Wave band), it's legal to broadcast at a maximum of 100 milliwatts, using a total antenna + antenna feed line (if any) + ground lead of up to 3 meters in length. While that's not very much power or very much antenna, Part 15 operators who carefully optimize their antenna/ground systems for maximum efficiency (or minimum *inefficiency* <grin>) often achieve ranges of several miles using ordinary consumer receivers or car radios.


-- Jason

 

[autopaint-1]

With proper matching and no receiver descense you might cover a few miles but in my part of the world you wouldn't cover 50 feet. Also take into acount the lousy ground conductivity in most of the US and you'd also want to run CW for the best coverage. Once you introduce complex audio forget it.

 

[JasonW]

With proper matching and no receiver descense you might cover a few miles but in my part of the world you wouldn't cover 50 feet. Also take into acount the lousy ground conductivity in most of the US and you'd also want to run CW for the best coverage. Once you introduce complex audio forget it.

Most 160 KHz - 190 kHz (LowFER) Part 15 Long Wave stations are indeed CW, but KLFB (164.9 kHz) in Sunnyvale, California broadcasts music in AM mode. He gets out clearly a few miles, although his antenna has the biggest loading coil you ever saw this side of WWVB!

The 100 milliwatt Part 15 AM band transmitters typically get out 1/4 mile - 1/2 mile from the 8.5' outdoor whip antennas, although such stations set up near salt water at marinas routinely achieve ranges of 1 - 3 miles. The middle of New York City would be a challenging RF environment, but even there the useful range of a Part 15 AM transmitter/antenna set up on and grounded to a metal roof or a cellular tower might surprise you. When installed on metal billboards, they've been known to get out as far as 3 miles over flat terrain. You wouldn't see that kind of range in downtown Manhattan, but you might in an area like Central Park.


-- Jason

 

[radiomike]

Jason,
I read somewhere, that this was suggested , as you said, to farm out HD Radio to a new all-digital band,
as I believe they have done in Europe, so HD/IBOC would not trash the existing AM/FM bands. This article said something, to the effect, that the DoD is using an all-digital spectrum, but without permission from the FCC...

Europe went to DAB using Eureka quite awhile ago. It was to replace all current radio. It did not, as the radios were expensive and the service never really took off. It is also a different marketing/regulatory model. Canada also adopted it, but it also did not take off, with only very few stations actually ever using it. It was in the S-Band frequencies, which in the US are military and they refused to give them up. So, DAB was dead in the US. There are also some implementation issues for DAB, which were not attactive to broadcasters either, with a one common transmission site.
IBOC is an evolving technology, and it continues to improve. The results for FM are outstanding, but there still needs some improvement. An all digital system, with the proper power levels will go a long way in accomplishing things. At some point, this is where things have to go, in order for it to succeed, the way the TV was mandated to convert.