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Wow, I met someone not in radio who had an HD radio!

N

nd2023

Banned
So I met someone who had an HD radio in her car. I congratulated her for being one of the few people with an HD radio. She told me she got it as a gift (wow, people give HD radios as gifts now). She then told me that the HD reception sucked (30 miles from NYC) and she intentionally disabled the HD reception. There you have it, people not in the radio biz could care less about HD Radio.

She probably thinks I'm a geek since I was the only one to notice her HD radio and talk about it. I even foolishly told her what my favorite HD-2 station is (WWMX-HD2 Baltimore). And to add to my image of being a radio geek, I told her that I carry around a portable HD radio everywhere I go.

I don't know what I was more excited for, the fact that she had an HD radio or my first date with her :-/
 
If this relationship fails, I blame HD Radio. I was hoping it would put some "buzz" in our first date. But she hates HD radio (as I expected)

But there's something to be said about seeing an HD radio "in the wild" for the first time. I always thought non-radio people having an aftermarket HD radio installed in their car was a myth. I also thought non-radio people giving HD radios to other non-radio people as a gift was a myth.
 
I work with a non-radio HD Radio owner. His motivation to buy was to hear minor league hockey and baseball on the HD streams of WTIC-FM Hartford.

I also own an HD Radio, and I don't work in radio, either -- but I'm, obviously, somewhat of a radio geek, so I don't really count as being "not in radio."
 
Last Saturday, I was in a gift shop that had an HD radio sitting on the owner's desk behind the cash register (a Jensen JIMS-525i). I asked the owner about it, and he said he used it for the I-Pod docking station. He never used the HD radio function.

Last Thanksgiving, I spoke with someone (not in radio) who purchased the Insignia portable. There were stations he liked, but he also cited the problems he had with the radio (HD-2/3's dropping out, reception issues, etc.)

Aside from those two people, I know no one outside of radio who owns an HD radio. Sad considering the endless promos/ads radio has played for the past several years.

I bought my Insignia in July 2009, and bought my Sangean tuner last year (on closeout). The Insignia was inexpensive enough to see what was on the subchannels, and the Sangean is a good DX tuner. There are two stations I like on HD: KSHE-2 and Bonneville/Hubbard's "Deep Tracks" that is carried on WARH HD-2. These stations could easily be available online, and "Deep Tracks" is.

The broadcasters won't like this, but I enjoy being one of the few listeners these two stations have. If HD caught on, these formats would be replaced by the 300 song playlist standard terrestrial broadcasters offer. At this point, I know I'll get my money's worth out of this radio.

What I cannot understand is what was the driving force for broadcasters to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for transmitter upgrades, only to get such little (or no) return on their investment (at least so far). Did Clear Channel, NPR or CBS get tax incentives for this?
 
HD is such a waste of money. The average people hate it, radio geeks hate it, it's a money pit. It's far more likely for the world to end on October 21 than for me to meet someone not in radio who enjoys their HD radio.
 
Nick said:
HD is such a waste of money. The average people hate it, radio geeks hate it, it's a money pit. It's far more likely for the world to end on October 21 than for me to meet someone not in radio who enjoys their HD radio.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it'd also be more likely for Harold to updowngrade all his AM stations to HD on October 20... ;)
 
tfcwings said:
Nick said:
HD is such a waste of money. The average people hate it, radio geeks hate it, it's a money pit. It's far more likely for the world to end on October 21 than for me to meet someone not in radio who enjoys their HD radio.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it'd also be more likely for Harold to updowngrade all his AM stations to HD on October 20... ;)
Click to expand...

All those people gave their life savings to him and it would be humiliating to them if he uses their money to spew IBUZ.
 
I am sort if a tech geek, so I guess it is not surprising that I have two HD radios. One of them is an Insignia portable. I like it, but am disappointed about reception and about stations dropping their HD 2 and HD 3 stations. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to improve reception with a Accurian desktop unit? I am using a UHF/ VHF antenna right now.
 
muiscmike said:
I am sort if a tech geek, so I guess it is not surprising that I have two HD radios. One of them is an Insignia portable. I like it, but am disappointed about reception and about stations dropping their HD 2 and HD 3 stations. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to improve reception with a Accurian desktop unit? I am using a UHF/ VHF antenna right now.
Click to expand...

I own 4 HD radios. 2 of them are broken Insignia portables, 1 is a working Insignia portable, and 1 is a Sony XDRF1HD that I use for DXing.
 
tfcwings said:
Nick said:
HD is such a waste of money. The average people hate it, radio geeks hate it, it's a money pit. It's far more likely for the world to end on October 21 than for me to meet someone not in radio who enjoys their HD radio.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it'd also be more likely for Harold to updowngrade all his AM stations to HD on October 20... ;)
Click to expand...

Although Harold may not be very good at predicting the future, he can probably see that there is no future in HD.
 
muiscmike said:
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to improve reception with a Accurian desktop unit? I am using a UHF/ VHF antenna right now.
Click to expand...

There are so many variables, it's hard to say. HD worked OK in the lab in terms of reception, but it's proving to be very difficult to implement in the real world. A couple of things I could suggest:

1. Make sure that the UHF/VHF antenna isn't overloading the receiver. If you add an attenuator or disconnect one side of the antenna lead does the reception improve?

2. The UHF/VHF antenna is almost certainly a compromise for FM. If you no longer need the antenna for TV (my guess is the VHF part is obsolete in your area) you might try replacing it with an FM yagi. They generally take up less space on your roof than the old TV antenna.

3. Try aiming the antenna different directions. If you're some distance from the transmitter it may be that the HD signal is receiving interference from an adjacent channel. The standard isn't really "in-band, on-channel", but it is actually "in-band, adjacent-channel". In many large markets there is another analog station on that adjacent channel, which limits HD reception.

Dave B.
 
DaveBayArea said:
muiscmike said:
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to improve reception with a Accurian desktop unit? I am using a UHF/ VHF antenna right now.
Click to expand...

There are so many variables, it's hard to say. HD worked OK in the lab in terms of reception, but it's proving to be very difficult to implement in the real world. A couple of things I could suggest:

1. Make sure that the UHF/VHF antenna isn't overloading the receiver. If you add an attenuator or disconnect one side of the antenna lead does the reception improve?

2. The UHF/VHF antenna is almost certainly a compromise for FM. If you no longer need the antenna for TV (my guess is the VHF part is obsolete in your area) you might try replacing it with an FM yagi. They generally take up less space on your roof than the old TV antenna.

3. Try aiming the antenna different directions. If you're some distance from the transmitter it may be that the HD signal is receiving interference from an adjacent channel. The standard isn't really "in-band, on-channel", but it is actually "in-band, adjacent-channel". In many large markets there is another analog station on that adjacent channel, which limits HD reception.

Dave B.
Click to expand...
Agreed, it is good advice, but honestly now, how many people do you think will actually go to that much trouble?
 
muiscmike said:
I am sort if a tech geek, so I guess it is not surprising that I have two HD radios. One of them is an Insignia portable. I like it, but am disappointed about reception and about stations dropping their HD 2 and HD 3 stations. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to improve reception with a Accurian desktop unit? I am using a UHF/ VHF antenna right now.
Click to expand...

What worked for me with that unit is the standard FM dipole antenna, larger than the one supplied, such as the one at Radio Shack. The antenna connects to the connector on the back of the unit with a transformer, available at the same place. The antenna and transformer are only a few dollars each.

If the standard dipole works for me, in my bad location, it's likely it would help someone else.
 
The Insignia works surprisingly well with just the headphone cord as an antenna. It's just as good as my car radio. I'd like to see a side by side comparison with a car HD radio for HD reception, but I don't want to install an HD radio in my car (the only reason I would put an HD radio in my car is if I moved to Baltimore to hear WWMX-HD2).
 
"Does anyone have any suggestions about how to improve reception with a Accurian desktop unit? I am using a UHF/ VHF antenna right now"

Many UHF/TV antennas null out the FM band. Use an FM only antenna. I use a pair of old fashioned rabbit ears that I picked up at a garage sale. I have also made several folded dipoles out of twin-lead. The directions are on-line.

For outdoor use (when I was quite a ways from the stations) I used either a turnstile or an FM yagi.
 
Thanks for all of the advice on antennas. I have been using an indoor atenna. The Insignia uses the headphone cable as an antenna. I have a coaxial connection for the antenna on the Accurian, so I have will have to buy some type of connector and then hook up a wire to stretch throughout the room. My indoor UHF/VHF antenna was an analog antenna. I wonder if that also affected the reception.
 
muiscmike said:
Thanks for all of the advice on antennas. I have been using an indoor atenna. The Insignia uses the headphone cable as an antenna. I have a coaxial connection for the antenna on the Accurian, so I have will have to buy some type of connector and then hook up a wire to stretch throughout the room. My indoor UHF/VHF antenna was an analog antenna. I wonder if that also affected the reception.
Click to expand...

Other than marketing hype, there is no such thing as a "digital antenna" or an "analog antenna." They are all tuned to receive RF energy, which is the same, regardless of modulation method.

Stringing wire around the room might help, but only if you get lucky and happen on an odd combination that happens to work. The wavelength, and therefore, the size of the antenna elements, varies with frequency. For FM broadcast, full wave is roughly 10 feet. A quarter wave antenna would be roughly between 32 and 39 inches, depending on frequency.

To do what you want to accomplish, you will probably need an outdoor antenna that can be pointed at the desired station.
 
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