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Nautel On the Defensive For HD Radio

C

Carmine5

From the "Whoa" department. Nautel strikes back on criticisms regarding HD Radio. The piece was written in response to RBR's article to a Brazilian broadcaster on the problems of HDR.

http://www.rbr.com/radio/ENGINEERING/95/20134.html

There's a lot of juicy stuff in the Nautel piece. Here is their defense of HD-AM:

"While some have turned it off for various reasons, most still broadcast with HD Radio technology, and the sound quality has to be heard to be believed – FM quality sound, in stereo, and with a receiver display just like FM with full information to the listener. A properly implemented installation mitigates interference, again, which falls within the FCC mask."

Well, haven't some of these AM stations been forced to turn off HD because the signal doesn't fit the FCC mask and never will no matter how meticulously installed the TX plant or how carefully engineered the signal?

I almost get the impression that these guys have been reading this board as some of the points they cover are issues we've addressed here many times. But someone's nose at Nautel has definitely grown a little longer over this article and it's obvious the company has a vested interest in seeing HDR become successful no matter what the cost in interference.

c5
 
It's another regurgitation of the same evasions and dogma, repeated over and over by the same self-interested people. Just one example of the self-serving nonsense: all the umlaut about how HD-AM works just fine, because it fits in some arbitrary, highly contrived NRSC mask.

Any engineer with two weeks experience knows how this data can be manipulated using the peak-hold setting on a spectrum analyzer. Essentially you can make any signal look any way you want bandwidth-wise by selectively adjusting the instrument.

I own a high-power Nautel AM transmitter, and it is a superb piece of gear. Nautel's factory support and its technical staff are second to none. That being said, the RBR article is just another transparently self-serving zero-credibility bleat, and I'm disappointed to read it coming from such a reputable company.

Nobody seriously defends HD-AM any more. Except for two or three Usual Suspects who post here. The industry is turning the system off, not adding stations.

The last battlefield is the digital FM increase, whose prospects for saving HD are dubious no matter how the Commission rules. This Nautel sales engineer tacitly admits as much when he segues from insisting HD Radio is THE technical answer, to advancing alleged successes for DRM and Eureka 147.

Please note: Nautel digital transmitters are not only HD but also DRM capable. There is a reason for this.
 
The guy from Nautel presents a deceptive, overly rosy picture of the DAB situation in the UK:

"In the UK, over 10 million DAB receivers have been sold for the Eureka 147 system, where the government encouraged broadcasters to diversify programming and not simply simulcast."

But the British press has reported that DAB sales have flat lined and that the penetration of DAB receivers is still very small. Only 3% of British households listen to digital radio. As a result, according to The Register, "commercial radio deserted DAB in droves." It costs a station on average 10X more a year to transmit in DAB then it does analog--and, like us, they're also struggling with declining ad revenue.

The Germans and Swiss have snubbed the technology as having no economic up side.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/27/dab_negative_growth/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/02/euro_dab_snub/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/09/uncouple_dab_albatross/

Technical problems aside, if the Europeans are snubbing digital radio for economic reasons, why should it be any different for the majority of US broadcasters?

c5
 
"HD doesn't cause harmful interference....no, no, no, no, NO! Look right here at this piece of paper submitted by a rabidly pro-HD engineer with a personal and professional stake in IBOC success! SEE? It says so! That PROVES it!"

"Here, let me prove how clean the HD signal is, right here in the field. Please turn your back now, while I set up this spectrum analyzer...."

"They're selling MILLIONS of HD Radios! And THOUSANDS of stations are converting! And the digital coverage is just as good as the analog!"

"HD provides CD-quality on FM, FM-quality on AM, and subchannels offering unique and terrific programming choices that will prove to be profit centers for the knowledgeable broadcasters wise enough to invest in HD!"

".....and it makes MOUNTAINS of coleslaw!!!" :D
 
Savage said:
".....and it makes MOUNTAINS of coleslaw!!!" :D
Click to expand...

Well, we know IBOC can create mountains of hash, so why not a little coleslaw on the side to go with it.

But if the author had done a little more research on the true state of DAB he would have seen that it has been no more successful in Europe than HDR has been in the US.

To me this negates the rest of his rebuttal as you have eloquently pointed out.

c5
 
".....and it makes MOUNTAINS of coleslaw!!!"
Click to expand...

Good one! Maybe if iBiquity could bundle receivers with a Pocket Fisherman....They could then try to market these through Bass Pro Shop. Catch fish with help from Popeil, anchor the boat courtesy of iBiquity.

The Nautel guy once worked for iBiquity.

I have a huge amount of respect for Nautel. Their stuff doesn't break, it just runs and runs. Their support staff is the best in the business. It's disappointing, though, to hear one of their representatives make such claims. Oh well, it's his job.
 
As a follow up to the stalled roll out of DAB in Europe comes this item from Grant Goddard's blog:

"The Canadian government...proposes to re-allocate radio spectrum previously used for DAB radio to fixed and mobile wireless devices. The consultation document narrates the story of the failure of DAB radio in Canada...After a promising start, the roll-out of DAB has virtually come to a stop and some stations have ceased operation."

So the Canadians have given up on Eureka-147 but that doesn't mean they won't follow the US lead and adopt HD Radio as the blog points out.

http://grantgoddardradioblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/canada-dab-radio-is-no-longer.html

c5
 
I'm trying to figure out why a local Radio Disney - with their AM-HD, doesn't even bother to broadcast in stereo? Many RD's had stereo C-Quam, but don't put stereo music into Mickey's two ears in HD? What's up with that? If you want to show off your music, put it in stereo for Walt's sake.
However, I will issue partial credit to RD for being the ONLY AM station in my entire region that actually has active up to date PAD info, heck, even the lazy Cumulus FM stations here don't even have anything beyond their web address for HD PAD info.

WJR WAS stereo HD-AM, but now HD is OFF both day and night (so maybe they'll turn their C-Quam back on like WLS has)?
 
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