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Progress of HD

D

DadsVance

Guest
I checked several ads in yesterday's paper... Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's Electronics, Radio Shack. And no one had a single ad for an HD Radio.

XM and Sirius were everywhere.

I know I'm talking about the radio industry (and so my expectations have been appropriately lowered), but is it too much to ask that the roll-out of this new technology be supported by making the hardware reasonably easy to find?
 
> I checked several ads in yesterday's paper... Best Buy,
> Circuit City, Fry's Electronics, Radio Shack. And no one
> had a single ad for an HD Radio.
>
> XM and Sirius were everywhere.
>
> I know I'm talking about the radio industry (and so my
> expectations have been appropriately lowered), but is it too
> much to ask that the roll-out of this new technology be
> supported by making the hardware reasonably easy to find?

The second version of the design specs were not released until 2 weeks ago to the manufacturers in China and elsewhere in Asia. The plan is to build out statins first, add HD2, and by then the radios should start appearing.
 
> The second version of the design specs were not released
> until 2 weeks ago to the manufacturers in China and
> elsewhere in Asia. The plan is to build out statins first,
> add HD2, and by then the radios should start appearing.

I can track the progress of HD on FM by which stations have weaker analog signals than before. It is aggravating - every single station that was strong and clear before IBOC now picket fences and blends to mono in low areas when I am driving. You will NEED HD to get a clear signal again on them! And I can track HD progress on AM by how noisy, muted, and distorted the analog sound is.

What a travesty!
 
> > The second version of the design specs were not released
> > until 2 weeks ago to the manufacturers in China and
> > elsewhere in Asia. The plan is to build out statins first,
>
> > add HD2, and by then the radios should start appearing.
>
> I can track the progress of HD on FM by which stations have
> weaker analog signals than before. It is aggravating -
> every single station that was strong and clear before IBOC
> now picket fences and blends to mono in low areas when I am
> driving. You will NEED HD to get a clear signal again on
> them! And I can track HD progress on AM by how noisy,
> muted, and distorted the analog sound is.
>
> What a travesty!

I'm afraid you are right on my brutha! However, i can hear "some" saying..."I think it's your imagination, everything is fine". :)
<P ID="signature">______________
Is Earth Another Planets Hell?

Remember, the early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

</P>
 
If anyone wants an example of really bad digital all they have to do is listen to a few minutes of KRLD. I don't care how many charts and graphs the proponents want to show. All that (should) truly matter is how it sounds - and KRLD sounds like a steaming load. What a sham(e).


> > > The second version of the design specs were not released
>
> > > until 2 weeks ago to the manufacturers in China and
> > > elsewhere in Asia. The plan is to build out statins
> first,
> >
> > > add HD2, and by then the radios should start appearing.
> >
> > I can track the progress of HD on FM by which stations
> have
> > weaker analog signals than before. It is aggravating -
> > every single station that was strong and clear before IBOC
>
> > now picket fences and blends to mono in low areas when I
> am
> > driving. You will NEED HD to get a clear signal again on
> > them! And I can track HD progress on AM by how noisy,
> > muted, and distorted the analog sound is.
> >
> > What a travesty!
>
> I'm afraid you are right on my brutha! However, i can hear
> "some" saying..."I think it's your imagination, everything
> is fine". :)
>
 
But how can this happen?! The local CBS/KRLD head of engineering is such a BRILLIANT guy...a true visionary...a respected LEADER in his field!

NOT!




> If anyone wants an example of really bad digital all they
> have to do is listen to a few minutes of KRLD. I don't
> care how many charts and graphs the proponents want to show.
> All that (should) truly matter is how it sounds - and KRLD
> sounds like a steaming load. What a sham(e).
 
> I checked several ads in yesterday's paper... Best Buy,
> Circuit City, Fry's Electronics, Radio Shack. And no one
> had a single ad for an HD Radio.

I recently bought my LCD HDTV at Circuit City; the salesgirl was damn good on her knowledge of HDTV (I was impressed) but when I mentioned HD radio, she had a "deer in the headlight" look...I explained to her what it was...she said they never heard of it and had nothing in the sales pipe....of course this didnt surprise me...Heck, you have to order them from Crutchfield (if you are lucky) or someone else...
Another thing...Consumer Reports just put out a big electronics buyers guide..no mention of HD Radio anywhere...HDTV and Sat radio for sure...but nothing on IBOC (as if anyone cares!)
 
Re: Progress of HD - KLUV

During the recent tropos - I had another station coming in over KLUV! We are talking about PLANO here, not Northern Collin county, south Plano at that! Add to that picket fencing and dropouts all over the place on non-tropo days, and you have one seriously degraded analog signal!!! Another "benefit" of HD radio to consider. Before they started this IBOC "upgrade", they went for 150 miles in every direction. I've only tried one direction since then - West - and now a 98.7 in SAN ANGELO starts hitting them hard about Jacksboro! That's less than 100 miles, folks!
 
> But how can this happen?! The local CBS/KRLD head of
> engineering is such a BRILLIANT guy...a true visionary...a
> respected LEADER in his field!
>
> NOT!
>
>
>
>
> > If anyone wants an example of really bad digital all they
> > have to do is listen to a few minutes of KRLD. I don't
> > care how many charts and graphs the proponents want to
> show.
> > All that (should) truly matter is how it sounds - and
> KRLD
> > sounds like a steaming load. What a sham(e).

Some engineers and contract engineering firms, as well as stations, obviously bought a bill of goods on IBOC and considered the job done when it was installed and the bill paid. "Here's your brand new, super duper IBOC, folks. See 'ya." Others, meantime, are seriously trying to effectively integrate IBOC into stations' signals and make effective use of HD. Seems as if the manufacturers are thus far the real winners in IBOC.
>
 
> > But how can this happen?! The local CBS/KRLD head of
> > engineering is such a BRILLIANT guy...a true visionary...a
>
> > respected LEADER in his field!
> >
> > NOT!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > If anyone wants an example of really bad digital all
> they
> > > have to do is listen to a few minutes of KRLD. I don't
>
> > > care how many charts and graphs the proponents want to
> > show.
> > > All that (should) truly matter is how it sounds - and
> > KRLD
> > > sounds like a steaming load. What a sham(e).
>
> Some engineers and contract engineering firms, as well as
> stations, obviously bought a bill of goods on IBOC and
> considered the job done when it was installed and the bill
> paid. "Here's your brand new, super duper IBOC, folks. See
> 'ya." Others, meantime, are seriously trying to effectively
> integrate IBOC into stations' signals and make effective use
> of HD. Seems as if the manufacturers are thus far the real
> winners in IBOC.
> >
> Kinda reminds me in the early 80's of the different systems competing for AM Stereo like Hamm and Kahn.
 
Yes, the whole thing is absolutely "indisent."



> > > If anyone wants an example of really bad digital all
> they
> > > have to do is listen to a few minutes of KRLD. I don't
>
> > > care how many charts and graphs the proponents want to
> > show.
> > > All that (should) truly matter is how it sounds - and
> > KRLD
> > > sounds like a steaming load. What a sham(e).
>
> Some engineers and contract engineering firms, as well as
> stations, obviously bought a bill of goods on IBOC and
> considered the job done when it was installed and the bill
> paid. "Here's your brand new, super duper IBOC, folks. See
> 'ya." Others, meantime, are seriously trying to effectively
> integrate IBOC into stations' signals and make effective use
> of HD. Seems as if the manufacturers are thus far the real
> winners in IBOC.
> >
>
 
> > Kinda reminds me in the early 80's of the different
> systems competing for AM Stereo like Hamm and Kahn.

Hamm????? Never heard of them!

Belar, Harris, Magnavox, Motorola and Kahn were the AM Stereo folks...
Harris and Magnavox were similar and Motorola just improved on them..Belar went away (it was the first AM stereo system) and Kahn was ok but he is a jerk when it comes to keeping everything secret and no marketing skills...thus Motorola won in the end but by then, AM stereo was dead.
 
Re: Progress of HD - KLUV

> During the recent tropos - I had another station coming in
> over KLUV! We are talking about PLANO here, not Northern
> Collin county, south Plano at that! Add to that picket
> fencing and dropouts all over the place on non-tropo days,
> and you have one seriously degraded analog signal!!!
> Another "benefit" of HD radio to consider. Before they
> started this IBOC "upgrade", they went for 150 miles in
> every direction. I've only tried one direction since then -
> West - and now a 98.7 in SAN ANGELO starts hitting them hard
> about Jacksboro! That's less than 100 miles, folks!
>
Dont blame all of it on IBOC...back in 99-2000, KDMX was constantly being clobbered by Houston's 102.9...a Class C at only 1000ft on the east side of downtown Houston...it would clobber MIX in Garland and Ft Worth during the day! Just good conditions with the Houston signal coming up the Trinity valley. Not uncommon in the hot humid conditions that have been happening lately and will be more common in the summer months..
 
> > > Kinda reminds me in the early 80's of the different
> > systems competing for AM Stereo like Hamm and Kahn.
>
> Hamm????? Never heard of them!
>
> Belar, Harris, Magnavox, Motorola and Kahn were the AM
> Stereo folks...
> Harris and Magnavox were similar and Motorola just improved
> on them..Belar went away (it was the first AM stereo system)
> and Kahn was ok but he is a jerk when it comes to keeping
> everything secret and no marketing skills...thus Motorola
> won in the end but by then, AM stereo was dead.


Never heard of Hamm either. I was doing Middays at KKBQ-AM (79Q) in 1982-83 and We gave away a ton of those Motorola Am Streo Walkmans. Sounded pretty good actually. I don't see any stations today giving away thousands of HD radios for promotion. Maybe the "In The Know" know something we don't.
<P ID="signature">______________
Is earth another planets hell?

Remember, the early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

</P>
 
> Never heard of Hamm either. I was doing Middays at KKBQ-AM
> (79Q) in 1982-83 and We gave away a ton of those Motorola Am
> Streo Walkmans. Sounded pretty good actually. I don't see
> any stations today giving away thousands of HD radios for
> promotion. Maybe the "In The Know" know something we don't.

Two reasons - IBOC radios cost way more than AM stereo radios did, and you will not see an IBOC walkman for a long time - if ever - because the chips drink power. Just one more "advantage" of IBOC - power hungry radios.
 
all I know is that every station that started broadcasting in HD has a much weaker regular signal. Hell, the Edge doesn't even have any office penetration anymore and the regular broadcasts sound like crap now compared to other stations. Scroll thru the dial and compare. It's a joke. Why would they kill their regular signal for what... 10 HD listeners??? Brilliant.
 
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