New NGEN frequencies launch today!

[brian.marchand]

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.

Like you said window car antennas do not work as well for HD unfortunately and maybe that is your problem picking up KSBJ HD2. I drilled a hole in my new car 9 years ago and put in a new whip antenna before HD radio existed because I wanted to best reception I could get. Most people will not do that and I understand because it is not as important to them. I am one of the very few who would. Magnetic mount antennas can be used though. I wish I would have done that.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Bruce first I am a big fan of HD radio.

Hi! I just replied to your post over on the HD board. I am very sorry to say - I think you got suckered into a Pioneer Supertuner 3 instead of a 3D. Or even worse. The 3D is vastly superior, the 3 is just average. Don't feel bad - Pioneer suckered me into a 3 one time. It is easy to waster your money and buy the wrong model. Too easy!

First off, my reception scenario at home is probably typical. From a far West Houston location on the Cypress / Katy line (Fry road and Longenbaugh if somebody cares to look at a map), Neither KSBJ nor KGLK HD signals are receivable, using the best DX tuner currently available, the Sony Sony XDR-F1HD. Because the HOA's here have so much power, they can absolutely prevent you from using an outdoor antenna, so I use the very best indoor antenna on the market - the Godar. It is the only unit that actually has gain, and doesn't add noise from a cheap internal transistor. Using the best indoor technology available for HD neither rim shot station will decode in HD.

A little cleverness on my part - disguising an FM antenna under a rectangular pool umbrella, and the situation changes completely. Not only do both rim shots decode flawlessly, but I can get semi-reliable HD reception from Dallas, over 200 miles away. Antennas make the difference, which is why I am a fanatic on car whip antennas. And I've discovered that tuning them to a quarter wavelength by making them 31 inches is stupid. For FM (and AM), the longer the better. For AM, a bottom loaded whip several feet long yields 600 mile plus reception - I haven't done it, but its been reported by several mid-Ohio Valley people interested in the New York City clears. That was before HD radio - the decrease in ground wave during the day has probably rendered those folks without reception.

I do not have HD in the car. With only two HD-2's I am interested in at all, and one of them now over the air, I wasn't tempted to buy a new HD radio. That is changing - my car radio is starting to fail after almost 6 years, more my fault than Pioneers. So I may be able to confirm whether car HD from KSBJ or KGLK makes it into NW Houston soon. I think it will be spotty with drop outs. That part of Houston is on one of the approach paths to Houston Intercontinental airport. Observers in Dallas have warned me that HD reception is impossible even as close to ten miles from the towers because of aircraft reflection, which can vary the signal level by 60 dB. I know when the planes are using the approach path over my house - all HD, even from the Missouri City towers less than 20 miles away is unreliable. I can see the towers from my yard, they are 2000 feet and the stations full 100kW. Airplanes fly - HD gone. In and out of lock. It is annoying enough I have implemented Brian Eeasley's Sony mod to force it into analog only. So I have no reason to think the car will be any different. I work next to the airport. I drive home under the approach path. Planes don't always use that path, but when they do, it will destroy HD.

Keep in mind, I've been doing this sort of thing for 40 years. I've had to eat static most of my life because local stations where I live never have the format I want. I must be cursed or something. I could care less about logging stations, getting QSL's, bragging rights, etc. I'm in it for musical formats only. In that pursuit - I'm the guy that did over 300 mile FM reliably from Midland and Lubbock to Dallas. Because Midland and Lubbock radio sucked. Period. And its really been no different any where I lived. The distances and frequencies change, but the result is the same. I've got my musical taste, corporate radio has theirs, the two don't overlap where I happen to live. I don't like eating static - I just know what it takes to get me the best shot at hearing the format I want instead of the format some focus group or church thinks I ought to like. If that means antennas and DX tuners, so be it. I'd love to have something clear, which is why I jumped to satellite the first chance I got. I'll give KSBJ HD and KGLK HD a shot, but based on 40 years of DX experience, I'm probably screwed again - HD just doesn't have what it takes to really be reliable - no matter how much money I throw at it or how much RF engineering I use in the process.

 

[brian.marchand]

I tried to find where you are on the map and where KSBJ 60 dbu ends and from what I can tell you are very close to where the 60 dbu ends. HD reception can be spotty near where the 60 dbu ends but KSBJ HD is at 4000 watts which should extend it further I would think. But at the edge of their coverage area you would need a good antenna outside or a window. That helps exlain why you have problems. You do get HD at home with the right setup.

Let us now when or if you get an HD car radio. From what you said about HD radio reception being bad for KSBJ I thought you had meant while driving in Houston and I did not understand how it could be so bad everywhere. But you do not have an HD car radio to know. I always enjoy reading your posts because because I agree with most of what you say and its well thought out and passionate. I have the Sony XDR-F1HD as well. It was my first HD radio. I wish I would have bought more of them.

I do not know about the plane interference.