WBZ is back, broadcasting in IBOC tonight, as of a half-hour ago. Can't hear anything on 1020 nor 1040 except for noise (here in Maine). CAN get 1010-WINS tho, and 1050-NYC (forget the calls). Bob, hows WYSL-1040 sounding in Monroe County tonight? - Doing a quick bandscan, I notice the it appears that WBZ is the ONLY one broadcasting in IBOC. Even WOR appears to not be doing it.
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WBZ-1030 DOING I-BLOC TONIGHT
- Thread starter JIBGUY
- Start date
JIBGUY said:1050-NYC (forget the calls). Bob, hows WYSL-1040 sounding in Monroe County tonight? - Doing a quick bandscan, I notice the it appears that WBZ is the ONLY one broadcasting in IBOC. Even WOR appears to not be doing it.
Hi Bob,
1050 is WEPN (ESPN Radio New York)
WOR is, in fact, broadcasting in HD. I can hear the sidebands.
WCBS 88 turned the HD off for the Yankee buttki..errr... game, but I think they'll turn it back on now that the game is done.
WNYC 82 is running on its kilowatt night power. IBOC is off.
The operation of major-market Class As in IBOC mode seems increasingly erratic these days, at least under reception conditions here in Western New York - with the unfortunate (for WYSL) and notable exception of WBZ. The station's upper IBOC saddlebag is utterly obliterating WYSL's nighttime coverage. For several nights WBZ has been invading a WYSL signal strength of over 18 mv/m, at a measurement point 0.9 sm from the station, with clear reception of the station often not possible until you're on the Tx site. That's a local GROUNDWAVE approaching FOUR times city-grade. Forget about Rochester which is largely within the WYSL 5.0 and 2.5 (I've been lectured by pro-IBOCers about how WYSL is "not entitled" to that coverage. The mantra chanted over and over is, "you're only entitled to your nighttime interference-free," which in WYSL's case is 13.687 mv/m. This is an utter falsehood, a typical talking-point (lie) being circulated to push HD while trying to intimidate smaller operators who may lack the in-house technical expertise to deflect the argument. BTW, this is NOT the case at WYSL.
If the only thing that matters is the NIF, why does the Commission require plotting predicted 5 and 2 contours? And the rules never envisioned a scenario where ALL COVERAGE OUTSIDE THE NIF was to be utterly worthless. If this was the FCC's intent to change the coverage rules for AM to this extent, where was the rulemaking proceeding pursuant to which broadcasters could have commented?
Essentially, HD-AM amounts to "AM spectrum eminent domain" with no compensation to stations whose coverage has been stolen by large-market stations pointlessly pursuing the hapless, clueless HD-AM experiment. And which, after four years of frantic attempts to force the market, is going down in flames THREE WEEKS after its launch....on the whopping fewer-than-100 stations which have attempted it.
Another BTW: WBZ is ignoring WYSL's interference complaint. So much for the argument that "unusual cases of IBOC interference will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis."
If the only thing that matters is the NIF, why does the Commission require plotting predicted 5 and 2 contours? And the rules never envisioned a scenario where ALL COVERAGE OUTSIDE THE NIF was to be utterly worthless. If this was the FCC's intent to change the coverage rules for AM to this extent, where was the rulemaking proceeding pursuant to which broadcasters could have commented?
Essentially, HD-AM amounts to "AM spectrum eminent domain" with no compensation to stations whose coverage has been stolen by large-market stations pointlessly pursuing the hapless, clueless HD-AM experiment. And which, after four years of frantic attempts to force the market, is going down in flames THREE WEEKS after its launch....on the whopping fewer-than-100 stations which have attempted it.
Another BTW: WBZ is ignoring WYSL's interference complaint. So much for the argument that "unusual cases of IBOC interference will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis."
Bob, I'm here in the heart of the Philadelphia market where WBZ's hash on 1040 is significantly stronger-- from 300 miles away-- than co-owned WIP's on 600/620.
For those here unfamiliar with Philadelphia, WIP is a local station with a nice (prior to IBOC anyway), low-on-the-dial signal.
And WBZ's hash (which stops on seek at 1040 here) is ridiculously stronger than that of local "50,000-watt powerhouse" WPHT's-- evident at night here on 1200 but almost unheard on 1220.
I'm very curious about what WBZ's hash is doing to the 1040 religious station in Hunterdon County, NJ at night. I think it's still owned by Nassau.
By the way, KYW's IBOC hasn't been on at night all week.
WPHT has de-activated its IBOC for both of the recent Phillies playoff losses, presumably because of the delay. As I keep saying, what a great technology-- it needs to be disabled for a station's most important programming. (The Phillies play tonight in Colorado, so I'm guessing the IBOC will remain on since there won't be fans at the stadium trying to listen along to the play-by-play on 1210.)
I'm really sorry to hear what this garbage has done to your night coverage at WYSL. Hopefully this'll ultimately be temporary.
For those here unfamiliar with Philadelphia, WIP is a local station with a nice (prior to IBOC anyway), low-on-the-dial signal.
And WBZ's hash (which stops on seek at 1040 here) is ridiculously stronger than that of local "50,000-watt powerhouse" WPHT's-- evident at night here on 1200 but almost unheard on 1220.
I'm very curious about what WBZ's hash is doing to the 1040 religious station in Hunterdon County, NJ at night. I think it's still owned by Nassau.
By the way, KYW's IBOC hasn't been on at night all week.
WPHT has de-activated its IBOC for both of the recent Phillies playoff losses, presumably because of the delay. As I keep saying, what a great technology-- it needs to be disabled for a station's most important programming. (The Phillies play tonight in Colorado, so I'm guessing the IBOC will remain on since there won't be fans at the stadium trying to listen along to the play-by-play on 1210.)
I'm really sorry to hear what this garbage has done to your night coverage at WYSL. Hopefully this'll ultimately be temporary.
For home playoff games it would make sense for any IBOC AM station to go to "sports mode." which turns off sidebands and turns off delay. Only IBOC feature left is the HD light blinking and call letter data that is what you hear "on-channel." To have the IBOC turned on with possible portable radios in the ballparks makes the station open to lots of "complaints."
As for AM-IBOC interference free "protected" contours, good luck finding ANY FCC specs re the mv/m level that FCC considers as "protected." If an offended station says, "10mv/m," ibiquity will come back with "no it's higher." Then if the station comes back with, "25mv/m"....well this level doesn't seem to be protected either. Maybe 50mv/m or 100mv/m is protected? NO ONE knows or can go to court because the HD folks have left ANY hard specs "unknown." It's unknowable!
As for AM-IBOC interference free "protected" contours, good luck finding ANY FCC specs re the mv/m level that FCC considers as "protected." If an offended station says, "10mv/m," ibiquity will come back with "no it's higher." Then if the station comes back with, "25mv/m"....well this level doesn't seem to be protected either. Maybe 50mv/m or 100mv/m is protected? NO ONE knows or can go to court because the HD folks have left ANY hard specs "unknown." It's unknowable!
Dude: HD-AM stations often turn off the IBOC for live sports because of the 8-second encoding delay (one of HD-AM's many objectionable faults.) Fans like to listen at the ballpark on headsets; the delay makes this practice impossible. If the IBOC stays on fans complain to the team management, which in turn complains to the station. To prevent possible loss of the broadcast franchise, the station turns IBOC off. Great system, huh??
"Why do (the stations) care about listeners and not about other frequencies they interfere with?" Good question. I think it has a lot to do with the corporate chief engineers of big broadcast groups, some of which actually worked for iBiquity before they got their current jobs. They were of course sold a steamin' pile of crap but the guys who worked with the guys responsible for HD-AM are now on-board at the stations and are reluctant to throw their former colleagues under the bus. Clear Channel and CBS invested untold millions in this dorky system. Somebody would have to go to the board of directors and say, "we screwed up," to bring a fast end to the IBOCkle debacle. Politically, in a big company where the Big Suits make hundreds of thousands a year, this is not a likely scenario. So we're probably going have to sit tight and watch this stupid thing die a natural death as opposed to partying at its execution.
"Why do (the stations) care about listeners and not about other frequencies they interfere with?" Good question. I think it has a lot to do with the corporate chief engineers of big broadcast groups, some of which actually worked for iBiquity before they got their current jobs. They were of course sold a steamin' pile of crap but the guys who worked with the guys responsible for HD-AM are now on-board at the stations and are reluctant to throw their former colleagues under the bus. Clear Channel and CBS invested untold millions in this dorky system. Somebody would have to go to the board of directors and say, "we screwed up," to bring a fast end to the IBOCkle debacle. Politically, in a big company where the Big Suits make hundreds of thousands a year, this is not a likely scenario. So we're probably going have to sit tight and watch this stupid thing die a natural death as opposed to partying at its execution.
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