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If we could just fix....

J

jras20

The sideband channel problem of HD Radio, I may be ok. My problem is, My home place near Austin, if 98.3 out of Corpus comes in as a skip, it knocks out KVET's HD Signal, or any sideband adjustment channel. I think that could be my problem also out in Lavaca county. If we can fix that, and put out a little more HD power, I will be happy. HDFM sounds very good, but I just wish it was more reliable.
 
jras20 said:
The sideband channel problem of HD Radio, I may be ok. My problem is, My home place near Austin, if 98.3 out of Corpus comes in as a skip, it knocks out KVET's HD Signal, or any sideband adjustment channel. I think that could be my problem also out in Lavaca county. If we can fix that, and put out a little more HD power, I will be happy. HDFM sounds very good, but I just wish it was more reliable.
Click to expand...

Trouble is - it increases the noise floor on analog FM. I've got 35 miles, some folks claim 50 - well maybe. But it was only 35 years ago when that was about the limit on FM stereo - so technology advances brought FM stereo up to over 100 miles, it can do it with HD. No risky sideband power increase required.

I just realized ---- I AM getting 50 mile HD reception with a dipole! KTYS is one of the more dependable HD signals, not even requiring the Godar antenna. It is country music so I don't care, but it is 50 miles and works with a dipole. The thing is - in the car with its 31 inch whip antenna, those stations on that tower, and there are two of them, are already blending to mono on analog. If I drive to Mesquite, they are not only blending analog, but dropping out - because that is close to 80 miles from the tower. So I don't think it is unreasonable for the HD to start to drop out at 50 miles if stereo is also dropping out (because it is noisy it blends to mono). I just don't see it as a sideband power issue. I see it as a receive antenna / terrain / receiver issue. Those are geometric signal variations, and no amount of additional power can overcome it.
 
Well the strange thing is, I can get Houston FM stereo with a good dipole antenna up and clear most of the time 84 miles out... If I hook that dipole up to my HDRadio, I only get stereo and RDS, nothing more. I have a video clip of my analog reception, but the audio isnt very clear.
 
jras20 said:
Well the strange thing is, I can get Houston FM stereo with a good dipole antenna up and clear most of the time 84 miles out... If I hook that dipole up to my HDRadio, I only get stereo and RDS, nothing more. I have a video clip of my analog reception, but the audio isnt very clear.
Click to expand...

I can hear stereo and get RDS from KBEZ, Tulsa about 300 miles away most of the time using the HDT 1X. The technical advances allowing that type of reception were all made by the early 70's, the Heath AJ-15 underneath the Sangean does even better, but with less selectivity. I was 80 miles from Jacksonville when I lived in Florida - a dipole brought them in, but best reception came with a Radio Shack Yagi. The dipole just wasn't quite good enough. Even a few tens of feet above the intercoastal waterway, though, and Jacksonville stations were dramatically better in the car. I suspect they were just over the event horizon. Also - they were not as strong or on as tall a tower as the Misouri City towers. A dipole at 84 miles may very well be enough for adequate reception of analog. The RDS is impressive - that is a lot weaker than the rest of the signal. So HD may not be an impossibility at your location. I'd throw an APS-13 antenna on the tower and try again - it sounds like you are almost there with 84 mile HD, you just need more antenna gain.
 
I'll see what I can do, HD does sound great when it pulls in. No static. But the bad part about it is that it doesnt lock in.
 
If they could increase the power 10% then I think I wouldnt have any problem pulling in the HD signals.
 
10db or 'double the power'?!

Hahaha!
I just love how ignorant the spokesweezel for the NAB was!

Is it just me or does 10db sound like one HELL of a lot more power and lots more opertunity for very bad things to happen to short-spaced stations in many areas?
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
10db or 'double the power'?!

Hahaha!
I just love how ignorant the spokesweezel for the NAB was!

Is it just me or does 10db sound like one HELL of a lot more power and lots more opertunity for very bad things to happen to short-spaced stations in many areas?
Click to expand...
A 10db gain is actually ten times the power. At the risk of over-simplifying, if a 100,000 watt analog station has an HD signal, it should be 1000 watts digital to comply with the current -20db rule. If a 10db increase in the HD signal is made, that would allow for 10,000 watts digital. I suspect that with short spaced stations, that power level is sufficient enough to make for some real interference problems.

On the other hand for small stations, LPFM's and translators with low power, it might make HD workable. Under the new proposal a 100 watt analog station could be 10 watts digital. A 250 watt analog translator could be 25 watts digital. That might actually be enough power to be usable within the existing service area of the station. It would be interesting to find out.
 
Chuck said:
On the other hand for small stations, LPFM's and translators with low power, it might make HD workable. Under the new proposal a 100 watt analog station could be 10 watts digital. A 250 watt analog translator could be 25 watts digital. That might actually be enough power to be usable within the existing service area of the station. It would be interesting to find out.
Click to expand...

As you well know, antenna height has a huge impact on coverage. I'd hate to see 10000 watt first adjacents coming off of those 2000 foot towers, there is very little difference in coverage between 10kW and 100kW off of a 2000 foot tower - and some first adjacents are going to take a huge hit from this nonsense. Lower towers combined with lower ERP - it might be workable. But I got HD lock 50 miles away using a dipole - I don't know what these stations are complaining about!
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
10db or 'double the power'?!

Hahaha!
I just love how ignorant the spokesweezel for the NAB was!
Click to expand...

He just might have been confused with one of the fundamental principles of Washington lobbying, which goes something like:

"It requires 10 times the cash to achieve double the influence on those in power."
 
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