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Insignia Narrator Advanced HD Radio with Radio Reader Service

Thanks, we have needed a replacement for a Radiosophy HD-100 since it dropped and went intermittant on us.
We will get down to a store this week or find one on line. Think their use of the term Radio Reader Service means that everything on the display can be read verbally, as many phones do.
 
Just ordered one.
Should be here within a week
Will present a full review.
 
thezak said:
What do you folks out there think of the Insignia Narrator Advanced HD Radio with Radio Reader Service?
Especially a) audio quality?... , b) reception strengths/weaknesses?... , and c) antenna(s)?...
Click to expand...

Here is my quick reaction after having the Insignia Narrator for a few hours:
The radio is slightly smaller than but heavier than my old Radiosophy HD-100, probably the result of larger speaker magnets, and the sound quality is much better. In fact, for a device in this price/size range, the audio quality of the Narrator is impressive. I will not be using a spare set of computer speakers with this baby. The menu functions and display area are more elaborate than on the HD-100, but presented a longer learning curve and the characters are smaller and harder to read from more than a few inches away.

I prefer the included aluminum whip from the HD-100 to the included twin lead dipole of the Narrator, but they both use F-connectors and are interchangeable. The AM loops are another story, equally poor in both cases, I mean you had better be able to see the tower with either radio, the HD-100 uses pinch type clips while the Narrator uses a plug.

Living in a different location with no outside antenna, we believe the FM sensitivity is probably similar except with regard to RBDS reception. The Narrator has difficulty locking onto weak RBDS signals and I don't know if it includes as much information or if it is just divided up differently on three lines of display, but cleaner signals are a must. The number of station presets is five per band on the HD-100 and is unlimited with the Narrator, but they can only be arranged sequentially, a drawback for those who like to arrange their presets by format, plus the presets can only be accessed by scrolling through them; there is no random access.

When I have it longer, I will notice if the stereo indicator ever gets false triggered on AM, I think the HD-100 has a decoder chip with C-QUAM, not that it will ever find use again. Radio Reading Service works well but was a horrible choice of names, as it has become recognized as a service delivered on non-com SCA's for the print impaired.
 
There's still about 130 CQUAM AM stereo stations out there, according to the Meduci website, so maybe you can find one at night to latch onto to test the CQUAM stereo ability of this radio? KCJJ 1630 is a good one...
 
Gobs of community stations above 1600 plus this receiver is relatively deaf on AM.
Oh, I just had my first "Artist Experience", a lovely gray I-Heart logo fills the screen.
 
Lots of community stations above 1600, plus we are relatively deaf on AM.
Oh, just had my 1'st "Artist Experience", a big gray I-heart logo fills the screen.
 
It's not an unfortunate name for the radio, because it's being primarily marketed to blind people, who might use it to receive reading services on HD. (There aren't many now.)
The voice menus can be turned off with the simultaneous push of two buttons.
It's an average to poor HD radio.
I live in an urban area, and the image rejection is so poor that one nearly HD-quality signal, which I've occasionally heard in HD on other radios, is totally covered up by images.
I do applaud Insignia for using a jack for the AM loop, instead of the spring-loaded connectors that I dislike so intensely. I haven't teszted the AM yet, but we don't have much IBOC to get here.
I haven't decided whether to return or sell this one, but if I sell it, someone will get a sweet deal.
The radio is easy enough to use, and unlike the discontinued Dice Electronics talking HD radio, it doesn't produce noise from its internal circuitry.
One advantage of the Insignia is that, unlike some radios, it doesn't "remember" HD signals, so it's easier to search or tune for analog stations.
Some of the radio's functions can't be used nonvisually, even though the radio is being marketed to blind folks.
There is a (visual) menu setting to change the radio to 9 kHz spacing on AM and .050 on FM, but I don't know if the menus talk if switched back to the verbal prompts mode after that adjustment is made.
 
multiplex said:
It's not an unfortunate name for the radio, because it's being primarily marketed to blind people, who might use it to receive reading services on HD. (There aren't many now.)
Click to expand...
Keep in mind, though, that however actual Radio Reader Services are transmitted by NPR or other stations, they must be restricted to only authorized recipients, and this radio does not have a loop-through for any kind of audio descrambler..
 
ai4i said:
multiplex said:
It's not an unfortunate name for the radio, because it's being primarily marketed to blind people, who might use it to receive reading services on HD. (There aren't many now.)
Click to expand...
Keep in mind, though, that however actual Radio Reader Services are transmitted by NPR or other stations, they must be restricted to only authorized recipients, and this radio does not have a loop-through for any kind of audio descrambler..
Click to expand...

I don't think that's necessarily true, is it? Many of the reading service I've known about just use the SCA and all that requires is a radio, which can be given by the radio group or bought online. I don't think there's any scrambling involved.

Plus, my semi-local pubcaster WUWF in Pensacola is offering their radio reader service for free on their HD-3 and online. And in Memphis, they have a 100,000 watt analog FM station dedicated to nothing but radio reading for the blind.
 
Zach said:
I don't think that's necessarily true, is it?
Click to expand...
SCA's are considered private, non-broadcast services by the FCC.
Copyrights are often involved. You can't just take newspaper copy or wire service material and read it on a broadcast station without some payment to the provider.
These services for the print impaired are usually special exemptions offered free of charge but only for limited non-broadcast use.
A station will often air an hour or two of the services in the clear, but only when pre-approved by the provider.
 
ai4i said:
Zach said:
I don't think that's necessarily true, is it?
Click to expand...
SCA's are considered private, non-broadcast services by the FCC.
Copyrights are often involved. You can't just take newspaper copy or wire service material and read it on a broadcast station without some payment to the provider.
These services for the print impaired are usually special exemptions offered free of charge but only for limited non-broadcast use.
A station will often air an hour or two of the services in the clear, but only when pre-approved by the provider.
Click to expand...

I think his point was that anyone with a radio capable of decoding SCA broadcasts can receive them. Where does this leave HD radio? As usual kind of like a useless appendage like a second nose.
 
It leaves the Ibiquity System in a position that it's well suited for--an alternative (or ancillary) to the conventional SCA, with higher fidelity. (If you've ever heard the Evergreen Radio Reading Service via KPBX or KFAE, you'd understand.)

"I don't think that's necessarily true, is it?"
Click to expand...
Nope.

"Many of the reading service I've known about just use the SCA and all that requires is a radio, which can be given by the radio group or bought online."
Click to expand...
Yup.

http://radiosca.com/
http://metrosonix.com/

"I don't think there's any scrambling involved."
Click to expand...
If they were paranoid enough, I suppose one could use speech inversion or something like that their SCA, although I've never heard of anybody actually doing such things.
 
Legally, SCA's are scrambled by the very nature of the way they are sent.
 
Nope, SCAs (usually) go out in the clear, just like any other analogue signal. The real limiting factor is if your receiver has a narrow enough front-end to capture it. I don't know how this could even legally be thought as "scrambling", since the only thing preventing most people from receiving SCA channels is receivers with far too wide of front-ends and insufficient filtering to make it feasible. (Remember, SCA is just a narrowband FM signal offset from the baseband by a certain specific amount, and transmitted at a considerably lower level.)

And if, as you say, copywrong is such a concern, then why are there RRS that go out over open Internet streams, television SAP channels and even a couple that go out over ordinary mediumwave/FM facilities, all of which are freely/readily accessible and usable by large amounts of the general public?
 
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