Here are a few things I think HD needs to work on. They need to improve the reception issue, that would be the bigest. Then they need to have at least HD-2 channel on every station in the market. That way they will have more content. Austin has over half of their HD-2 channels off now for some reason. I think if they can have that, maybe it will sale. I still have my HDRadio hooked up but hardly use it. My analog comes in better, and can pick up clear FM Stereo 60 miles from San antonio.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
What I think HD needs to do
- Thread starter jras20
- Start date
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
jras20 said:
I still got you beat! I had reliable FM reception in stereo from 330 miles out in the early 70's! I seriously doubt that HD will be able work over long distances, because even with increased sideband power, the likelihood of first adjacent interference is greatly increased.
jras20 said:
Hate to say it but I think you have to face it: It's a goner, it's not even a has been, a never was is more like it. It's all over except for the crying of a very small minority of the overall radio spectrum of listeners and broadcasters. How long do you think these stations that broadcast it are going to keep paying for something that has two listeners per station?
M
Mike Walker
Guest
What people other than the half-dozen or so (same) HD bashers who turn up on this, and other forums is periodically ignore places like this for a few weeks at a time, and simply observe what's happening IN THE REAL WORLD. That's what I've done. I completely ignored the forums, for a couple of months. When I came back, and re-engaged, I discovered a FLOOD of new products, and adoptions in new market segments. I also discovered the use of multicasting increasing (on my local stations and elsewhere). I'm "pro HD" (on FM, but certainly not on AM I have decided. Personal experience proved to me that it DOES do lots of damage to adjacent channels!). But I've hardly been "pro HD" from the start. I thought the digital system we actually got was pretty lame in comparison to what we were promised. Experience changed that perception. FM works very well in lots of circumstances (I still have no car HD radio, so no point of reference). But obviously there are coverage and other issues...solvable ones!
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
jras20 said:Well since I cant lift anything for 3 more weeks I'm using a dipole antenna not badI'm also using a dipole to pull in Houston 84miles from my place out in Lavaca county. PS. I'm not bashing HD. I love the idea, I wish it would work!!!
This gives us a real benchmark. I can get it with a dipole 70 miles out at my friend's place. Dallas stations, but similar powers and stick sizes to Houston. You can't with a dipole at 84 miles. So the "window" for HD reception with a dipole ends somewhere between 70 and 84 miles. But that radius will cover most metro areas. I don't see a need for a tenfold power increase! Even if it improved reception in buildings, which I doubt, signal strength is a logarithmic, not a linear process. The fallouts and fall ins on the fringes in a car are many decades, from full quieting to utterly gone in some cases. 4, 5, 6 decades of power. All a ten-fold increase will do is change one decade out of 4 to 6. Add a fraction of a second more lock, lock a fraction of a second sooner. That is after several seconds of seeking while the signal strength spans decades all the while. Bottom line - no improvement in the car. Probably none for people in hilly terrain. And the 16.5 dB attentuation figure for buildings - yeah, right at the WINDOW. You might get a few more offices in a vast sea of cubicles - not a very big boost in listeners. They will get more listeners by enhancing their stream.
rbrucecarter5 said:jras20 said:Well since I cant lift anything for 3 more weeks I'm using a dipole antenna not bad
This gives us a real benchmark. I can get it with a dipole 70 miles out at my friend's place. Dallas stations, but similar powers and stick sizes to Houston. You can't with a dipole at 84 miles. So the "window" for HD reception with a dipole ends somewhere between 70 and 84 miles. But that radius will cover most metro areas. I don't see a need for a tenfold power increase! Even if it improved reception in buildings, which I doubt, signal strength is a logarithmic, not a linear process. The fallouts and fall ins on the fringes in a car are many decades, from full quieting to utterly gone in some cases. 4, 5, 6 decades of power. All a ten-fold increase will do is change one decade out of 4 to 6. Add a fraction of a second more lock, lock a fraction of a second sooner. That is after several seconds of seeking while the signal strength spans decades all the while. Bottom line - no improvement in the car. Probably none for people in hilly terrain. And the 16.5 dB attentuation figure for buildings - yeah, right at the WINDOW. You might get a few more offices in a vast sea of cubicles - not a very big boost in listeners. They will get more listeners by enhancing their stream.
Try to get a good clean skip from 185 miles away with just a dipole antenna
I got that this morning! Analog!Mark Ramsey's blog for today suggests a way to promote HD Radio that is surprisingly positive and could even be effective to some degree.
The suggestion: radio stations giving away HD receivers to listeners and asking them what they want to hear on the HD2 channel.
Of course, such a campaign would cost real money, not the Monopoly money the HD Alliance has been "paying" for radio spots to promote HD. But it would get more HD Radios into the hands of consumers and drive those sales figures up. I'm not sure who would pay for this but, perhaps, all those who have a vested interest in keeping HD-R alive could put their money where their mouth is and, through the HD Alliance, establish a pool that would fund free radios as promotional items.
And for the HD Radio cheerleaders, let's face it, giving away these radios is the only way HD has a fighting chance.
http://www.hear2.com/
C5
The suggestion: radio stations giving away HD receivers to listeners and asking them what they want to hear on the HD2 channel.
Of course, such a campaign would cost real money, not the Monopoly money the HD Alliance has been "paying" for radio spots to promote HD. But it would get more HD Radios into the hands of consumers and drive those sales figures up. I'm not sure who would pay for this but, perhaps, all those who have a vested interest in keeping HD-R alive could put their money where their mouth is and, through the HD Alliance, establish a pool that would fund free radios as promotional items.
And for the HD Radio cheerleaders, let's face it, giving away these radios is the only way HD has a fighting chance.
http://www.hear2.com/
C5
HD-AM = decent idea, but detroys the neighborhood. Pushing for minimum AM receiver standards, and widespread use of the Motorola 'Symphony' tuner chipset, etc would have resulted in better AM performance.
HD-FM = has possibilities, but signal still doesn't reach as far as analog yet. Most FM broadcasters in the Great Lakes region have same-o garbage on their HD-2 (with the exception of Detroit's WRIF) - they really need to go for superb programming on the HD-2 in order to get people to WANT to buy HD radios. That's the one NEW and improved area that COULD be a bright spot.
HD-FM = has possibilities, but signal still doesn't reach as far as analog yet. Most FM broadcasters in the Great Lakes region have same-o garbage on their HD-2 (with the exception of Detroit's WRIF) - they really need to go for superb programming on the HD-2 in order to get people to WANT to buy HD radios. That's the one NEW and improved area that COULD be a bright spot.
- Status