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WNYC FM HD Radio Power Tests

B

Barry

An article in InsideRadio states that field tests were conducted using WNYC FM, broadcasting HD signals with higher power, under F.C.C. experimental authority. Currently FM stations' HD signals are limited to 10% of the primary signal, to avoid interference. According to the article, no interference was detected on nearby frequencies, or on the primary WNYC FM signal. It did not state what power WNYC FM used on their HD test transmissions.
As a result, the N.A.B. and HD Radio developer Xperi are asking the F.C.C. to change its HD rules to permit higher power when conditions warrant. Naturally this could help make HD radio signal reception more solid. The article also states that the New York Metro has among the highest percentage of vehicles with HD radio capability.
Perhaps HD radio can gain more of a foothold, as more cars have the capability to receive it, and the signals are more reliable.

HD Radio Power Increase Tests
 
It might be too little, too late for HD, but it's certainly worth trying increased power--it can't hurt if it does not cause interference to other stations.
 
Higher power won't help when the main limitation of HD FM coverage is adjacent-channel interference. Increasing the power of the digital sidebands might help 93.9 WNYC-FM's HD coverage now, but what about when 93.7 WZMX in Hartford and 94.1 WIP-FM in Philly increase their HD power too? Then those gains will be erased, and HD coverage might actually get worse than before.
 
kevtronics said:
Higher power won't help when the main limitation of HD FM coverage is adjacent-channel interference. Increasing the power of the digital sidebands might help 93.9 WNYC-FM's HD coverage now, but what about when 93.7 WZMX in Hartford and 94.1 WIP-FM in Philly increase their HD power too? Then those gains will be erased, and HD coverage might actually get worse than before.
Click to expand...
That's certainly possible. But it's also possible for adjacent stations to cooperate to "prefer" one sideband over the other in an attempt to reduce potential interference. From my location in the suburbs, terrain and distance seem to be more limiting than any adjacent signals.
 
HD radio also needs to be widely adopted. The company that owns it is limiting its ability and killing radio in the process. FM was widely adopted. HD should be mandated by the FCC. If radio dies, it's not useful. I find radio helpful in an emergency.
 
MVB13 said:
HD radio also needs to be widely adopted. The company that owns it is limiting its ability and killing radio in the process. FM was widely adopted. HD should be mandated by the FCC.
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The FCC will do no such thing, so long as Xperi charges a monthly licensing fee for operating an HD Radio transmitter.

Forcing every radio station around the country to buy new equipment, pay a license fee, and also pay for additional programming streams would probably put thousands of radio stations out of business.
 
It is unfortunate that HD Radio technology is proprietary, rather than in the public domain. As mentioned in posts above, this probably is a major obstacle preventing the F.C.C. from mandating it in new radios.
Contrast that with TV. After a certain date, all television signals had to be broadcast in HD. Viewers benefited from superior video and audio. And broadcasters were able to offer many additional channels.
 
The concept of IBOC DAB has been around since the mid-1990s. Shouldn't the patents by expiring by now? No company gets to hold on to their patents forever. Just like RCA with color TV.
 
kevtronics said:
Shouldn't the patents by expiring by now? No company gets to hold on to their patents forever.
Click to expand...
There is one problem.

"Ibiquity owns 70 patents for their IBOC system. Only one patent needs to be in effect for the HD Radio™ system to remain proprietary. The last patent was issued on May 10, 2010. Ibiquity simply needs to make some small change, update, or tweak and they can file for a new patent, which will add another 10 years. This can continue indefinitely.

"The patent is not going to expire."

Wait until the patent expires (Engineering Radio)
 
MVB13 said:
HD radio also needs to be widely adopted. The company that owns it is limiting its ability and killing radio in the process. FM was widely adopted. HD should be mandated by the FCC.
Click to expand...
You think every small mom and pop company (like the one I worked for) can actually afford the equipment and advertise it properly?
 
frankberry said:
HD radio is a failure by it's very design. The FCC should never have approved a proprietary digital format.
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Technology is certainly an issue, but you can't overlook the poor economics of advertising generally. For arguments sake, say every station adopted HD and there were HD receivers everywhere...you now have 2 or 3 times more "stations" splitting the same amount of advertising revenue.

Then, you have to consider the programming...most of the formats that attract the highest percentage of advertising revenue are already operating. You'd be left with underperforming formats, such as alternative or country -- as is the case in NYC, with little advertiser interest.

It's a tough problem.
 
frankberry said:
HD radio is a failure by it's very design. The FCC should never have approved a proprietary digital format.
Click to expand...
I agree with Frankberry, there were at least two methods under consideration and the FCC picked the wrong one.

Eureka-147 which has morphed into DAB and DAB+ is what the FCC should have adopted IMHO

While much of the rest of the planet enjoys digital audio broadcasting, the North American continent has not only been working with a lesser product, but it has failed to push it to the consumer.
 
MRBIboredop said:
I agree with Frankberry, there were at least two methods under consideration and the FCC picked the wrong one.

Eureka-147 which has morphed into DAB and DAB+ is what the FCC should have adopted IMHO

While much of the rest of the planet enjoys digital audio broadcasting, the North American continent has not only been working with a lesser product, but it has failed to push it to the consumer.
Click to expand...
The issue is that the FCC did not want anything except an in-band parallel service. DAB is a new band with totally new receivers and license systems. In countries where most of the radio industry is controlled by the government, they can do this with public funds.

This is why DAB has been pushed on the public in Scandinavia, the UK, etc., but has not met with much success, for example, in Spain where private radio dominates and there is a huge infrastructure.

In the US, a new band would have disrupted the entire immense radio business... if DAB was given to everyone, the crummy daytimer on 1570 would have become equal to the full Class B or C FM, destroying billions and billions in asset value.

Further, IIRC, in the Americas the band used in other parts of the world has at least partial use by other services, requiring reassignment.

Add in the tens of billions in dollars that would go to Asian nations for new radios, and you have a foreign exchange issue, too.

Right now, nobody in U.S. radio wants a new band. What would happen is that people would not buy DAB radios as they "already have streaming" on their cellphone and we'd end up with no in-home and at-work radios at all and a slow conversion in cars that would take 20 years.
 
DavidEduardo said:
This is why DAB has been pushed on the public in Scandinavia, the UK, etc.
Click to expand...
In the summer of 2018, several months after Norway switched off FM radio for good in favor of DAB, I met a Norwegian couple who were visiting New York. Among the various topics we discussed was radio. They were not happy about the shutdown of the FM dial and having to buy a new receiver to continue listening to the radio.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Add in the tens of billions in dollars that would go to Asian nations for new radios, and you have a foreign exchange issue, too.
Click to expand...
The last company manufacturing consumer-market AM/FM radios in the USA is Bose, and to this day they still have not offered HD Radio on any of their products. So that "we need an American-made solution" rallying cry didn't quite work out as planned...
 
kevtronics said:
The last company manufacturing consumer-market AM/FM radios in the USA is Bose, and to this day they still have not offered HD Radio on any of their products. So that "we need an American-made solution" rallying cry didn't quite work out as planned...
Click to expand...

One of the few other dedicated sellers of high quality AM/FM radios in the USA is C. Crane but out of all the models they offer, not one of them includes HD Radio.
 
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