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If you dont live in the city

M

midwestclubber

Guest
You might want to think twice about buying one of these. My cousin just bought one, and lives 40 miles from Indianpolis, and cant pick up NOT EVEN ONE of the HD signals in INDY. If you dont have an HD station very close, they dont work, all he can pick up are analog signals anyway, The radio wont even let you tune to an HD channel, unless you can get it really strong.
 
> You might want to think twice about buying one of these. My
> cousin just bought one, and lives 40 miles from Indianpolis,
> and cant pick up NOT EVEN ONE of the HD signals in INDY. If
> you dont have an HD station very close, they dont work, all
> he can pick up are analog signals anyway, The radio wont
> even let you tune to an HD channel, unless you can get it
> really strong.
>


I have found that you can receive the HD signal in the expected service conture map (as you can find on the FCC web site), but not as far as the stereo signal goes.
 
> You might want to think twice about buying one of these. My
> cousin just bought one, and lives 40 miles from Indianpolis,
> and cant pick up NOT EVEN ONE of the HD signals in INDY. If
> you dont have an HD station very close, they dont work, all
> he can pick up are analog signals anyway, The radio wont
> even let you tune to an HD channel, unless you can get it
> really strong.
>
That is what I was afraid of. I was considering purchasing the Radiosophy receiver, but may put off my purchase for awhile until I hear reports from users. Based on some of the reception reports on this board, HD seem to work OK in a car. But a stronger signal is needed for adequate in-house reception, as I'm sure the same propagation properties pertain to digital as with analog. I hope it won't be necessary to keep adjusting the antenna for good reception, only to lose the signal again when you sit back down in your easy chair. That thought remindes me of the days when people placed foil flags on their television rabbit-ears. Perhaps that will be necessary with the first HD receivers! <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Len14043 on 01/24/06 02:42 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Their are lots of good rooftop FM antennae available.
Even a good TV antenna without an FM trap will provide you with good strong signals. Should not be any more difficult than receiving SCA signals.<P ID="signature">______________
Proud 2 B a pioneering satellite radio subs¢riber
Ai4i is always on the trailing edge of technology
_______________</P>
 
> Their are lots of good rooftop FM antennae available.
> Even a good TV antenna without an FM trap will provide you
> with good strong signals. Should not be any more difficult
> than receiving SCA signals.
>

Who still has an antenna on the roof -- or the inclination to put one there -- but hams, CBers and people way out in the sticks, beyond cable's reach? That would describe very few people in, say, Worcester, Mass., who might want to hear the wide variety of HD formats on Boston radio without having to get out the ladder.
 
> > Their are lots of good rooftop FM antennae available.
> > Even a good TV antenna without an FM trap will provide you
>
> > with good strong signals. Should not be any more
> difficult
> > than receiving SCA signals.
> >
>
> Who still has an antenna on the roof -- or the inclination
> to put one there -- but hams, CBers and people way out in
> the sticks, beyond cable's reach? That would describe very
> few people in, say, Worcester, Mass., who might want to hear
> the wide variety of HD formats on Boston radio without
> having to get out the ladder.
>
Yeah, very few people will go to the trouble to put up an ISOR RADIO antenna on the roof, not to mention the fact that in Apartments, Rented Houses, and upscale neighborhoods, your not allowed outdoor antennas. Besides that, i was mainly refering to CAR listening, where the signal will drop out, and then come as you clip the fringe of the stations Protected contour.
 
> ISOR RADIO antenna on the roof...

This is a good name: The
Improved
Stable
Over-the-air
Radio
antenna company

or, five feet higher.<P ID="signature">______________
Proud 2 B a pioneering satellite radio subs¢riber
Ai4i is always on the trailing edge of technology
_______________</P>
 
> > ISOR RADIO antenna on the roof...
>
> This is a good name: The
> Improved
> Stable
> Over-the-air
> Radio
> antenna company
>
> or, ISOR
>
> Actually, I wonder why no one has ever come up with a
> specialty 5/8 wave FM car radio antenna, just for us
> fanatics. Never mind the slight improvement in gain, the
> signal pick up point would be five feet higher.
>



Hmmmm, got me thinking here...... :-D

DAH di DAH
 
> > Their are lots of good rooftop FM antennae available.
> > Even a good TV antenna without an FM trap will provide you
>
> > with good strong signals. Should not be any more
> difficult
> > than receiving SCA signals.
> >
>
> Who still has an antenna on the roof -- or the inclination
> to put one there -- but hams, CBers and people way out in
> the sticks, beyond cable's reach? That would describe very
> few people in, say, Worcester, Mass., who might want to hear
> the wide variety of HD formats on Boston radio without
> having to get out the ladder.
>
hey!! i have a fm/tv antenna outside :)..i use it as a backup in case the sattelite goes out..and the cable tv :)..i hardly ever use it actually..but i like to sit outside and look at it :)..it survived hurricanes katrina and rita, even though the storms broke all 4 guide wires :(<P ID="signature">______________
note to the NAB..satellite radio..its worth paying for!!</P>
 
It's the same with HDTV. I pick up far more analog channels than digital with my roof mount antenna. Still I'm a little suprised at midwestclubbers comment:

"My cousin just bought one, and lives 40 miles from Indianpolis, and cant pick up NOT EVEN ONE of the HD signals in INDY."

I live a little further and hear 7 of the primary HDs from my house. It picks up all the way to Indy with an occasional quick drop - then it goes to analog if it's time-aligned you barely notice. When WIBC-AM broadcasts in HD I get it solid at about 30 miles out of Indy. What kills HDAM are overhead powerlines in the city. It works great most places, but if you travel south or east WIBC HD switches to analog under some power lines. For HD-2's in Indianapolis you only have 3 choices right now (WFYI, WFBQ and WRZX). Q I get fine with an occasional drop but it's solid in the city. FYI seems to be pretty good over much of the city. I don't think they've got X tweaked out. I get a lot of drops for some reason and I noticed CC isn't running a data stream on X-2. I hope it's fixed before they roll out Classic Alternative.

If you're cousin is north of Indianapolis, try WOWO out of Ft. Wayne during the day or the Ft. Wayne PBS station-they usually run 3 audio streams.

Couple other things. If your cousin still can't pick up HD-2, make sure it's a "multi channel receiver." There are some first generation units that will not pick up the aux channels. The one I use also has to be set up through the menu to get the digital channels.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by hdfan on 01/29/06 05:24 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> ...lives 40 miles from Indianpolis,
> and cant pick up NOT EVEN ONE of the HD signals in INDY

Your double negative wording confuses me.
By saying that he can't pick up not even one station, do you mean that he can get at least one HD station?<P ID="signature">______________
Proud 2 B a pioneering satellite radio subs¢riber
Ai4i is always on the trailing edge of technology
_______________</P>
 
> I have found that you can receive the HD signal in the
> expected service conture map (as you can find on the FCC web
> site), but not as far as the stereo signal goes.

Kent,
I'm confused. Yesterday you disagreed with me and suggested my Kenwood supplied antenna might be defective when I said my driving experience found the digital dropped about 7-10 miles before the analog did. Now you're saying the digital doesn't travel as far as the analog. It sure seems like that's exactly what I was saying.

One day that 1% of the analog gives equivalent coverage. The next day it doesn't. Considering the fact that there's some question about whether or not IBUZ obeys the same directional physics in AM, could it be that FM has terrain caused differences between the two modes?

Rich
 
> Who still has an antenna on the roof -- or the inclination
> to put one there -- but hams, CBers and people way out in
> the sticks, beyond cable's reach? That would describe very
> few people in, say, Worcester, Mass., who might want to hear
> the wide variety of HD formats on Boston radio without
> having to get out the ladder.

When I was testing the Kenwood tuner I was unable to receive any Boston FM stations consistently in digital much further West than Framingham. Analog, fine. WBZ was the only Boston AM I could receive in digital about as far as Palmer, MA on the Mass Turnpike.

I'm told the HD2 signals are even shorter range. If I couldn't get digital I sure couldn't get a secondary at Worcester. That leaves the "wide range of HD formats" beyond your reach. Right now that "wide range of HD formats" amount to voicetracked jukeboxes, so you're not missing much showbiz.

Rich
 
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