New NGEN frequencies launch today!

[Mediafrog+]

Prominently promoted on the KSBJ website: http://www.ksbj.org/how-to-listen.php?ref=menu&banner&Ban=277

I think July 3 was the original date for the switch, but apparently moved up.

Will be interesting to see what impact the 99.5 signal has in the Arbitrons. Only 99 watts, but covers a fair amount of real estate. I assume it will be listed separately from the main KSBJ output?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Yes! About time we get NGEN over the air in Houston! I'll check to see if 99.5 has flipped when I get a chance.

I think the HD-2 circle on 89.3 is a little overly optimistic - they need a better way to cover North and NW Harris county than HD-2

 

[Mediafrog+]

I'm unable to confirm 99.5 has flipped--strong tropo from KNGT Lake Charles is dominating the frequency at my Cy-Fair location. I can usually receive the translator when no tropo is present.

 

[johndavis]

I'm unable to confirm 99.5 has flipped--strong tropo from KNGT Lake Charles is dominating the frequency at my Cy-Fair location. I can usually receive the translator when no tropo is present.

It was still KSBJ on my drive in to work before 8 this morning. I'll check it again at lunch.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I can verify - 99.5 is now NGEN! Heard in the Greenspoint area.

 

[stan]

When will they put NGEN on KSBJ - or can I listen online?

I can't hear any of the translators in the Beaumont area.

 

[johndavis]

When will they put NGEN on KSBJ - or can I listen online?

I can't hear any of the translators in the Beaumont area.

It's been online for the past 2 years. ngenradio.com, also on their own branded smartphone apps and on TuneIn.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Unfortunately, the situation is dire in North and NW Houston. In my normal drive from the Greenpoint area to South Cypress, reception was extreme deep fringe. Hammered by Lake Charles in Greenspoint, it got a little better on BW8 North, then to my surprise it started getting hammered by the Wolf from Ft. Worth on Cypress N. Houston. There are pockets where the Wolf is almost like a local - and a couple where Lake Charles comes in again. As I went further south down Telge to Tuckerton, the Wolf was not as much a problem, NGEN pretty good - only deep fringe instead of extreme deep fringe, pretty listenable around Tuckerton and Barker Cypress. But as I went towards Fry, I was getting more and more interference from the Wolf again, and also KISS from San Antonio. There is a lot of stuff out there on 99.5 that makes getting NGEN miserably hard. KSBJ really needs to fill in the signal in NW and North. I was wondering - what would be the objection to a second 99.5 translator in the Tomball / Cypress / Fairfield area? Certainly none of the 99.5's around would care, I don't think there are adjacent issues, and 99.5 Bryan is so weak it isn't a contender in the area.

 

[Mediafrog+]

There is a lot of stuff out there on 99.5 that makes getting NGEN miserably hard.

Tropo was pretty strong this morning. Will be an issue during the hot, humid summer.

KSBJ really needs to fill in the signal in NW and North. I was wondering - what would be the objection to a second 99.5 translator in the Tomball / Cypress / Fairfield area? Certainly none of the 99.5's around would care, I don't think there are adjacent issues, and 99.5 Bryan is so weak it isn't a contender in the area.

Probably no issue with a second 99.5 translator in the NW Harris County area; just have to keep it far enough away from first adjacent KVST.

Perhaps a better idea: Purchase basket case KTWL and flip it to NGEN.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

There is a lot of stuff out there on 99.5 that makes getting NGEN miserably hard.

Tropo was pretty strong this morning. Will be an issue during the hot, humid summer.

KSBJ really needs to fill in the signal in NW and North. I was wondering - what would be the objection to a second 99.5 translator in the Tomball / Cypress / Fairfield area? Certainly none of the 99.5's around would care, I don't think there are adjacent issues, and 99.5 Bryan is so weak it isn't a contender in the area.

Probably no issue with a second 99.5 translator in the NW Harris County area; just have to keep it far enough away from first adjacent KVST.

Perhaps a better idea: Purchase basket case KTWL and flip it to NGEN.

I'd forgotten about both of those. Pretty forgettable, both of them - maybe KSBJ could buy both. It wouldn't take much of an upgrade to cover just what they need to cover, and pretty much ignore coverage south of I-10 which is covered now. NGEN is a no go in much of the area, this would fill in the gaps pretty well. Or maybe a network of LPFMs in suburbs.

 

[xmusicmatt]

When will they put NGEN on KSBJ - or can I listen online?

I can't hear any of the translators in the Beaumont area.

NGEN is on KSBJ -- Just get an HD radio and you can listen on the HD-2.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

When will they put NGEN on KSBJ - or can I listen online?

I can't hear any of the translators in the Beaumont area.

NGEN is on KSBJ -- Just get an HD radio and you can listen on the HD-2.

What a joke - go out and spend at least a couple of hundred dollars for each car. In 3 out of 4 cars, the radio is so intertwined with the car's navigation and other systems aftermarket radio is not an option. And KSBJ's HD signal doesn't make it to NW Houston without an outdoor antenna - a big one. HD-2 is usually where radio stations send unwanted formats to die. In KSBJ's case, they are at least trying to put it over the air, and that is to their credit. I notice NGEN is talking a lot about their phone app and streaming on the web site. Barely a mention of HD-2.

 

[radiothrowback]

who are some of the artist that NGEN plays?

 

[johndavis]

who are some of the artist that NGEN plays?

Lecrae, Toby Mac, Skillet, The Fray, & Owl City seem to pop up a lot.

 

[foursider]

The first station I ever worked at was an FM station, back when nearly every car only had an AM radio. It wasn't until several years later that AM/FM radios came as standard equipment in most dashboards. I think Volkswagen was the last to do so. But, just the other day, a friend of mine bought a Toyota Avalon with an HD radio embedded in what I cal the "brain" of the car. That contraption that has the air conditioning, radio, navigation system and cell phone blueteeth thingy all wrapped up into one package. Surprised me.

 

[xmusicmatt]

The first station I ever worked at was an FM station, back when nearly every car only had an AM radio. It wasn't until several years later that AM/FM radios came as standard equipment in most dashboards. I think Volkswagen was the last to do so. But, just the other day, a friend of mine bought a Toyota Avalon with an HD radio embedded in what I cal the "brain" of the car. That contraption that has the air conditioning, radio, navigation system and cell phone blueteeth thingy all wrapped up into one package. Surprised me.

Those "all in one" controls on cars are becoming more common -- GPS etc.. all built in -- I think manf purposely do it because it makes it next to impossible to replace with an aftermarket unit.

 

[Fieldtech1]

They are making the speakers harder to change too, I tried changing some recently in a fairly new car and they were welded to the metal door panel, no screws. Nothing an oscillating multi tool and self tapping screws couldn't fix.

 

[willdav713]

The first station I ever worked at was an FM station, back when nearly every car only had an AM radio. It wasn't until several years later that AM/FM radios came as standard equipment in most dashboards. I think Volkswagen was the last to do so. But, just the other day, a friend of mine bought a Toyota Avalon with an HD radio embedded in what I cal the "brain" of the car. That contraption that has the air conditioning, radio, navigation system and cell phone blueteeth thingy all wrapped up into one package. Surprised me.

As late as 1984 they had 8 Track AM Radio tuners. or 8 Track AM/FM Radio tuners (The Oldsmobiles) Compact Cassette was optional.

In 1990, Cassette was optional in Toyota Camry's, also was front speakers! Who would buy a car with only rear speakers, and only am/fm radio?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

The first station I ever worked at was an FM station, back when nearly every car only had an AM radio. It wasn't until several years later that AM/FM radios came as standard equipment in most dashboards. I think Volkswagen was the last to do so. But, just the other day, a friend of mine bought a Toyota Avalon with an HD radio embedded in what I cal the "brain" of the car. That contraption that has the air conditioning, radio, navigation system and cell phone blueteeth thingy all wrapped up into one package. Surprised me.

Toyota made a really decent car radio in the mid-80's - C-Quam AM that kept right on going on WFAA 570 C-Quam all the way to Conroe, the only thing that finally got it was heterodyne from KLVI. If they had put a decent 10 kHz heterodyne filter in there, WFAA C-Quam would have been listenable all over Houston. The Toyota car radio I was talking about was a 1986 model, and AM was hot on it. It did depend on a whip antenna. I eventually moved to another area, and unfortunately there was no C-Quam available. FM was available, but decent stations were deep fringe - the Toyota car radio was not good on FM. Pioneer Supertuner - 2 at the time - was and pulled in things the Toyota couldn't.

Which brings me back to some points on new Toyota HD radios:

(1) If they couldn't equal Pioneer in 1986, I doubt they can now. HD reception seems to depend on a state of the art deep fringe RF design - hence home units like the Sony XDR-F1HD. And sales of that were driven by DX'ers, not by HD advocates.

(2) Decent car antennas have disappeared in favor of little nubs with pre-amps. Not adequate for fringe reception at all. And who wants to hack the fender of a brand new car to put a whip in?

(3) HD advocates would say to people who can't put an aftermarket in - buy a new car with HD radio in it. Really? Buy a new car just to get HD radio? If you are already in the market - make your selection based on HD radio availability? With 9 dollar gas on the horizon? You can add buying a new car only because HD radio is in it to the same probability of hacking into a new car to add a whip antenna.

 

[brian.marchand]

When will they put NGEN on KSBJ - or can I listen online?

I can't hear any of the translators in the Beaumont area.

NGEN is on KSBJ -- Just get an HD radio and you can listen on the HD-2.

What a joke - go out and spend at least a couple of hundred dollars for each car. In 3 out of 4 cars, the radio is so intertwined with the car's navigation and other systems aftermarket radio is not an option. And KSBJ's HD signal doesn't make it to NW Houston without an outdoor antenna - a big one. HD-2 is usually where radio stations send unwanted formats to die. In KSBJ's case, they are at least trying to put it over the air, and that is to their credit. I notice NGEN is talking a lot about their phone app and streaming on the web site. Barely a mention of HD-2.

Bruce first I am a big fan of HD radio. It is all I listen to for Classical music in central Illinois and I get great reception. I used to have a JVC HD car radio 4 or 5 years old and last week bought a Pioneer HD car radio based partly based on your saying they are so good. Both radios cost me about $120 but they would be worth the cost no matter what for me to get HD sub channels for classical music which without I would not even want a radio anymore. I would get XM. So the HD 2 classical stations is all that is keeping me from getting XM. Actually I used to have XM before when it first came out. You can read my experience on the HD radio forum that I just posted. I was actually very disappointed in the features of the Pioneer compared to the JVC and the reception was the same.

I have to believe for your situation what you say is true for you about having so much trouble picking up KSBJ HD in the northwest Houston area which should be where they come in best. However KSBJ is supposed to put out one of the strongest HD signals at 4000 watts. The HD stations I listen to are either 500 watts or 1000 watts and do very good. So I wonder why you have so much trouble. I have to believe that if I drove the Houston I would get better reception then what you get based on my experiences and the coverage map for KSBJ. Looking at the radio-locator map for KSBJ they put a 60 dbu signal almost all of Houston except the far south and west suburbs. I have found I can get a reliable signal in HD on HD stations within their 60 dbu signal. So I do not understand your problem. I wonder if tall buildings could be blocking the signal at places?

In the home I also have an outside FM antenna used in the attic of my apartment and get an HD station WILL-HD from 60 miles away and the local WUIS very good in every room of the house connected the the attic antenna through the house receptacle boxes. Inside a house HD reception can be a little spotty without an outdoor antenna especially if the radio is not near a window as you say. However KSBJ is 4000 watts.

Here WUIS 91.9 is 500 watts and I can listen to their HD2 with proper antenna placement using a connected wire antenna even in interior rooms like a bathroom with patience. Sure some places I place the antenna it goes out but I just have to place it in an area where it does come in. Sometimes with the wire antenna the signal will drop and i have to re-tune but its ok. I can do that. It happened today when in the shower. WCBU in Peoria at 1000 watts comes in stronger with less antenna adjustment. Distance from the tower can also make a big difference. You now your situation but I can't believe its really as bad as you say if I were to come there based on my own experiences. HD radio by nature either comes in or not and takes proper antenna placement and patience and if someone does not have that patience they will be unhappy.

I also understand that newer cars integrate so much into radios now they can not be replaced. But an add-on HD radios can be bought for $30 to $50 dollars. I have installed the JVC add-on which worked well but I hated that you could not store HD subchannels. So I installed the Visteon on a couple of car radios for my mom and wife who did not want an after market radio installed on their car like mine. The Visteon does store HD sub-channels and is a very good tuner. Even then a lot of people do not want anything touched or added-on in their cars.

I like new technology though and have the patience to experiment with it and it works great for me. A lot of people do not. I love getting the perfectly clear signal of HD stations and believe I can make it work no matter where I am if I am within the 60 dbu signal of a station or further with an outdoor FM antenna.