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"New Jersey 101.5" in HD ..

I tried posting this before but it never showed up.

Here in Southern Ocean County, 101.5s HD signal is poor at best, around LBI and Manahawkin I was unable to lock on the HD for more than 3 seconds at a time. The analog signal also seems weaker as the "ST" light on my radio was in and out frequently and there was even some static in places.


Staying stationary I can get all 8 stations but driving is a whole different story.

Down here I get:
WSJO & WJRZ in HD 100% of the time
WWNJ about 75% solid
WPRB about 50% solid
WKXW as described above.
WMMR, WIP & WBEB about 25% solid.
 
I just got a used XDR-S3HD from EBAY, and this thing is amazing! Like I said, there is a strong 101.5 pirate in the city blocking WKXW's signal from Trenton, and it gets HD through the pirate signal! Crazy, but great! Heard the TOH, "WKXW FM Trenton, WKXW HD". I can now listen to NJ 101.5 in HD from Brooklyn!
 
PirateJim said:
Earlier in the week, I e-mailed the engineer, and he told me, "we are working to improve the quality of the audio; you should notice improvements in the near future" ..
Guess we'll see ..
Click to expand...

Well they got RDS now, "NewJersey101.5", with no spaces, just like that.
 
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I noticed there is still no sub and the readout does not air title, artist and station format (oldies) it still reads TALK. Its a shame wasting HD and not caring what is being done with it. I have to give kudos to Delmarva for utilizing their HD subs like they are main channels, Graffiti Radio is a unique format on WSTW and is carried in Harve De Grace and Ocean City MD on Delmarva owned stations, here is a sample of WKXW and WSTW big difference...
 
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Now that my anger about 101.5 going HD has subsided, they definitely need to have subchannels. "On 101.5-HD2, the music comes out to play" "Traffic and weather 24/7 on 101.5-HD3"
 
Also noticed a blip in there computer or digital system happening like its jumping back sometimes on there reg channel
 
NJ 101.5 locks into HD here in the Clifton area, but its sporadic. Can also get PRB in HD during tropo if WKTU's IBOC is nulled
 
I don't think they are going to add a sub, from my experience with new HD signals, if there is going to be a sub, it is there as soon as the station converts to HD. Some examples are WJBR and WLEV, they usually will not add one if there is nothing added when they switch to HD. I hope that is not the case with 101.5.
 
As Jim noted, NJ101.5 is finally in stereo again. The HD audio sounds identical to the analog, except with more digital compression artifacts -- more than I'd expect from an FM HD station not running any subchannels. I wouldn't be surprised if their music collection is stored in a digitally compressed format, which is causing the loss of quality when it gets re-compressed in the HD encoder. Also, they still don't have any PAD text data. It just says "WKXW-HD".
 
kevtronics said:
As Jim noted, NJ101.5 is finally in stereo again. The HD audio sounds identical to the analog, except with more digital compression artifacts -- more than I'd expect from an FM HD station not running any subchannels. I wouldn't be surprised if their music collection is stored in a digitally compressed format, which is causing the loss of quality when it gets re-compressed in the HD encoder. Also, they still don't have any PAD text data. It just says "WKXW-HD".
Click to expand...

Kevin, I agree ..
They may be in stereo, but the music still sounds "flat" to me .. BUT, it depends on the song ..
I listened for a bit last night ..
They played Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights", and it sounded great ..
On the other hand, I also heard Journey's "Separate Ways" and it sounded horrible ..
 
PirateJim said:
Kevin, I agree ..
They may be in stereo, but the music still sounds "flat" to me .. BUT, it depends on the song ..
I listened for a bit last night ..
They played Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights", and it sounded great ..
On the other hand, I also heard Journey's "Separate Ways" and it sounded horrible ..
Click to expand...

I agree, when Big Joe played Shout by Tears for Fears, it was a horrible mess. The next song (I forgot) sounded alright. Not perfect, and flat as PirateJim mentioned, but the tune-ups are starting to happen to the HD.
 
wkxw1.jpgwkxw2.jpgwkxw.jpgLooking at some photos of the 101.5 tower I took last year, I noticed a 3 bay on the very top, is that 101.5, there is also a 3 bay a bit down from the top that could be WPRB, then there is a 4 bay a bit lower is that NJN, and I think there is one more signal on the tower for low power is this correct...I do not see that on the photos...still no HD side up yet...that is sad...when you have less popular signals such as WKVP and WPRB with sides and a powerhouse like KXW with no side its a joke.
 
They look like pictures RJ took in 1962!

WKXW has a 2 bay antenna above the NJN TV antenna, at the very top.
The "three bay antenna" below the TV antenna is really 9 bays, three on
each side of the tower, it's called a "panel antenna" and it wraps around the
tower to give perfect a near perfect omni directional pattern.

WPRB is on the antenna lower down.

The NJN 88.1 antenna is probably a one bay someplace.
 
Wow, I did not know that antenna/tower was around in 1962, I thought 101.5 used the small 50kw tower at their studio site, never had any range into Philly south of Center City. Is the panel antenna used for WPRB and what signal is on the four bay a bit lower down...do you mean Ron Joseph, did not know he had a tower site...these were taken last September...
 
No, I meant the blurry picture looks like something RJ took in 1962 ... nvm.

The top 2 bay and the panel antenna are WKXW's main and aux ...
the lower 4 bay is WPRB.
 
hangman said:
still no HD side up yet...that is sad...when you have less popular signals such as WKVP and WPRB with sides and a powerhouse like KXW with no side its a joke.
Click to expand...

WSJO/104.9 and WJRZ/100.1 also transmit in HD but do not have sub-channels.

50,000 watt WJBR in Wilmington DE (which reaches a substantial amount of NJ) also doesn't have any sub-channels.
 
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