WBZ in..

[Hoosierky]

From Chester County, PA, I tend to hear some IBOC hiss from WBZ but not so much that I can't null it out to hear KDKA. It depends on the conditions each night because some nights, WBZ's hiss isn't strong enough to cause problems. Many nights, I can't detect any hiss from 'BZ at all. It just depends on the atmospheric conditions.

KYW, on the other hand, hisses all over the place at my location - adversely impacting 1040 WHO, 1050 WEPN/CHUM, 1070 CBA and 1080 WTIC. When KYW's nighttime IBOC (a.k.a. Soviet-era jammer) is off, all come in here. The frequencies at 1050 and 1070 are nigh impossible to hear over the crappy hiss and now WTIC's previously good signal is buried under high-pitched noise. It will really pi$$ me off next summer during Red Sox season, that's for sure. And, I listen with some good world band radios - not cheapies. So, don't come on here and tell me how it's limited "only" to between 1050 and 1070 because it ain't so. Even good radios pick up the splatter 20 kHz out on each side.

When it comes to hiss on 1040, look to KYW as a culprit just as much as WBZ. They are, by far, the worst offender at my location.

About IBOC, we are in total agreement. There has to be a better way because this isn't cutting it. All this interference for what? So that the 5 people with HD radios who live within 10 miles of the 50 kw transmitter can hear HD? At the expense of everyone else? Because most HD radios won't achieve lock with much less than a perfect signal.

Ironically, CBS radio has the answer for KYW - plopping it on an HD-2 channel of one of the FM stations. Great idea. Now, why not just dismantle the damn AM hashmaker? All it does is cause interference and make the analog feed sound flat. In fact, this is a great answer for most of the big broadcasters. Because FM HD can be viable - unlike AM. Bring back C-QUAM stereo for AM instead!

WCKG in Chicago has WBBM-AM on their HD-2 channel.

 

[dxho]

AM isn't 'lost' as such because of IBOC per se- it's because the FCC is willing to let anything *like* IBOC on the air (not to mention all the flea-power permits). Out-of-market listening apparently doesn't pay the bills.

Are we really sure about that? A whole lot of commercials I am hearing these days are for national chains / national products, etc. Therefore they are as relevant 1000 miles away as they are local.

I don't know, not being in the radio business. But to listen to IBOC supporters...

 

[dxnemo78]

From NE Missouri, I've picked up WBZ loud and clear as early as about 30 min. before sunset at least once. Think it's the only Boston station I've ever identified (Rank Amateur here Picked up 770 WABC New York on the car radio tonight. In the late 70's, I could get 3 NYC biggies (660, 770, & 880) quite regularly & clean, haven't heard 660 in years, heard 880 so-so awhile back...

 

[BRNout]

Am in Elgin, IL on business (40 mi NW of Chicago) and was checking out the AM band during last night's blizzard. WBZ came in perfectly well out here. By the way, you'll never get another Boston station at night west of New England because the rest (aside from WBZ) are directional toward the east and/or northeast. Into the Atlantic. They routinely pick up 1510 WWZN Boston over in Ireland at night - but you can't do it from New York! 50 kw, directionally aimed. Same is true of WRKO 680 and WEEI 850 and now of Worcester's WCRN 830.

On a different note:

Notable "easy" long-distance catches last night from Elgin were 690 CINF Montreal, 740 Toronto, 810 WGY Schenectady, 820 WBAP D/FW, 850 KOA Denver, 860 CJBC Montreal, 880 WCBS New York, 1020 KDKA Pittsburgh, 1030 WBZ Boston, 1050 CHUM Toronto, 1060 KYW Philly, 1140 WRVA Richmond, 1180 WHAM Rochester, and 1210 WPHT Philly. All came in well enough to listen to for a while.

With a good radio, I was able to pull 770 WABC New York out of WBBM's Cuban IBOC jamming noise (using narrow band and nulling at 767 kHz) and I snuck 1080 WTIC Hartford in as well (barely). On the other hand, 660 WFAN was impossible to receive thanks to the LOUD sidebands of 670 WSCR. I think you could have had an easier time pulling in VOA in Kiev in 1968 than getting around WSCR's IBOC hash!

Still, this does go to show that the big east coast stations still get into the midwest pretty well at night - once you get away from a lot of the big city RF interference.

 

[dxnemo78]

Previously wrote that I hadn't heard 660 WFAN (theOLD WNBC ;D) in years. Probably just forgot, as I pulled it in the other night fairly clear for a few mins. In this area (NE Missouri) WSM is often of blowtorch quality after sunset, sometimes sufficient to drown out its next door neighbors 640 & 660

 

[dave388]

i know one thing up here in anderson,indiana after sundown i lose 55WKRC cincy to hash : ironicly i also lose 560 WIND chicago (day time i can hear both decent.

 

[cyberdad]

Dave....

The situation you described has to do with each station switching to nighttime antenna patterns. Also, WKRC reduces power at night. As for WIND, with its nighttime array beamed to the northwest, it clearly dominates the 560 channel every night in Minneapolis.