Promoting HD radio

[jlehmann]

The only good I ever saw with HD radio were some very good quality tuners/radios produced for a while. I personally have the Sangean HDT-1X and the Sony XDR-S3HD. They are extremely sensitive, selective, and the Sangean especially has an excellent display of RDS data. I'm just talking about analog performance with these units. Unfortunately both Sony and Sangean have stopped making HD Radios, which is a real shame. Now when they show up on eBay, they go for well per what they were selling for new. The Sony XDR-F1HD tuner was sold new for 79.99 for a while, now they go for a couple hundred on eBay...

I don't know of any being produced now that are up to this level of quality. If someone does, I'd be very curious.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

1. When listening to analog fm, the stereo signal doesn't seem to be picked up as far away from the transmitter as on other radios.

Deafness seems to be the order of the day when it comes to digital. The first and second generation of digital TV's were extremely deaf, making OTA reception almost impossible, even when you could see the transmitting tower. To get these HD radios for phones down to a reasonable price point, apparently they felt they had to compromise sensitivity, forgetting that most people don't exactly live in the shadow of the transmitting tower of their favorite station.

2. The drop-out problem. I was listening to KCDA HD2 last weekend and it kept dropping, going to complete silence, kind of gets annoying. Are there any additional hd channels for the few am stations in HD? If not, then what's the point of running in hd? If you really want to run in hd on an am station, just simulcast on one of the subchannels of an fm station.

One reason FM HD secondaries will never go anywhere. There's nothing to fall back on when the signal drops. At least with the HD1, the analog is there to catch it when it fails.

AM HD has no secondaries, only the one HD channel that must simulcast the analog channel.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

The only good I ever saw with HD radio were some very good quality tuners/radios produced for a while. I personally have the Sangean HDT-1X and the Sony XDR-S3HD. They are extremely sensitive, selective, and the Sangean especially has an excellent display of RDS data. I'm just talking about analog performance with these units.

I have the Sangean HDT-1, and the problem with it is that it will not hold on to HD3 channels. It's great if you're listening to analog, HD1 or HD2's, but forget about HD3's on it. It gets little blips of them at best, and then loses them within seconds and reverts to the HD1, even when the HD1 and HD2 of the same station is loud, steady, and displaying full "bars".

Some of the HD3's in this area don't even exist on it. It will skip right over them and go to the next frequency even when the HD1 and HD2 of the same stations are fine. Even the Insignia tuners, which are lower quality overall, do a lot better on HD3's than the Sangean.

Also, the digital clock display on the Sangean is inaccurate. It runs much too slowly, it loses about a minute a day. I have to reset it every few days. This receiver was apparently intended to have good specifications, but manufacturing quality control was poor.

The best tuner I have is the iLuv HD stereo clock table radio. Great sensitivity, selectivity, it gets all the HD3's that the Sangean can't, and the clock keeps accurate time. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued.

 

[4CX1000A]

Clear Channel has already dumped advertising for the HD Alliance.

...and that very well may be game, set and match. When the largest radio group in the country, and iBiquity's largest broadcasting investor, stops promoting the tech, its days are numbered.

Have they, though? What is Mr. Moore's source? Googling for "Clear Channel" and "hd radio" doesn't seem to confirm it.

It'll be interesting to see if they add HD Radio to 101.7.

 

[bobdavcav]

1. When listening to analog fm, the stereo signal doesn't seem to be picked up as far away from the transmitter as on other radios.

Deafness seems to be the order of the day when it comes to digital. The first and second generation of digital TV's were extremely deaf, making OTA reception almost impossible, even when you could see the transmitting tower. To get these HD radios for phones down to a reasonable price point, apparently they felt they had to compromise sensitivity, forgetting that most people don't exactly live in the shadow of the transmitting tower of their favorite station.

2. The drop-out problem. I was listening to KCDA HD2 last weekend and it kept dropping, going to complete silence, kind of gets annoying. Are there any additional hd channels for the few am stations in HD? If not, then what's the point of running in hd? If you really want to run in hd on an am station, just simulcast on one of the subchannels of an fm station.

One reason FM HD secondaries will never go anywhere. There's nothing to fall back on when the signal drops. At least with the HD1, the analog is there to catch it when it fails.

AM HD has no secondaries, only the one HD channel that must simulcast the analog channel.

I was not talking about locals not in stereo, those are fine, I live about 20 miles from the main transmitting site here in the Seattle market. The stations I can't recieve in stereo are those like KISM, CKKQ, and KAFE, all of which are at least 60 miles north. I'll have to bring the tuner in today to see if I can get CKKQ in stereo in here, I was in another room when I tried it, but for a station with that big of a signal, I would have thought the hd would have picked up stereo, especially when it's clear as a local on a radio that's not the highest quality. One of our other stations runs an hd subchannel that this tuner does not want to pick up, though I have not had problems with any other stations except one, which probably has more to do with the distance, again over 60 miles north of me.

 

[aaronread]

Very many new cars (possibly most new cars) these days come with HD radio as standard.

Sadly, that is very, very far from the truth. There are quite a few car models that have HD Radio available as an option. But not standard. Usually it's the models where there's a built-in display for a computer system of some kind...navigation, Microsoft Sync, DVD player, etc. HD Radio tends to be far down the list of what buyers for those cars really care about.

FWIW, that list of car makers that have HD on iBiquity's website (www.hdradio.com) is kind of notoriously inaccurate. It includes cars/companies that have promised to make HD available on an upcoming model, and such promises are often broken. At least when it comes to HD...I've watched that list closely over the years and seen several models appear and then later disappear from it. Don't get me started on the list of what stations are running HD and what formats are on the subchannels!

 

[Jimmy128]

WMJX HD2 & WZLX HD2 aren't working today. Anybody know why? They are not from the same company.

 

[pqgeorge]

WMJX HD2 & WZLX HD2 aren't working today. Anybody know why? They are not from the same company.

I believe they are running on reduced power. For the most part, all of the Pru stations do quite well up here in Manchester, NH. This morning, I noticed that 'ROR and 'ZLX were not very strong. I thought the front end of my car receiver was beginning to deteriorate ('98 Ford Contour). But, nope..... I had no problem with other stations from Boston as well as 97.3 and 98.1 from New Bedford were coming in just fine. Either there is some temperature inversion or a few stations are on reduced power.

 

[HD_Ready]

THey are doing "antenna work" at the Pru

 

[aerie]

I noticed that last night: no HD in Andover from the Pru at all, fine from 128 stations. It might have been atmospherics too, because I heard WDRC-FM from Hartford loud and clear.

 

[nd2023]

I just got an hd tuner for my phone and my friend is having a hard time finding one for his, apparently they're selling out at Radio Shacks down there. I think we're in the 60s or so when it comes to hd. How many people thought fm was going to be the next big thing back then? There are two things I don't like about this radio though,
1. When listening to analog fm, the stereo signal doesn't seem to be picked up as far away from the transmitter as on other radios.
2. The drop-out problem. I was listening to KCDA HD2 last weekend and it kept dropping, going to complete silence, kind of gets annoying. Are there any additional hd channels for the few am stations in HD? If not, then what's the point of running in hd? If you really want to run in hd on an am station, just simulcast on one of the subchannels of an fm station.

Those HD radio adapters for iPhones have been discontinued for over a year. No one's been buying them, which is why they're still around.