WPHT IBOC

[rtetro]

I was in the car last night about 7PM and heard WPHT drop its carrier for about 10 seconds. When it came back on I noticed that there was a hiss under their programming. Tuned to the sidebands, and sure enough, there was the IBOC hash. It's still on today, so this must be it.

I wonder how this will effect coverage to the south of 1230 in Easton.

 

[Xkrusdx]

SO i guess this means no more listening to Harry on a portable radio at Citizen's Bank Park anymore. With IBOC and HDTV. . .nothing will ever be "live" anymore. O well.

--D.C.--

 

[DG02816]

Also the IBUZ will probably have some effect on WFYL-1180 in KOP.

Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540

Philadlphia

 

[deepstblu]

SO i guess this means no more listening to Harry on a portable radio at Citizen's Bank Park anymore.

Phillies games on WPHT have been on a delay of some kind at least since the start of this year. On WPHY 920 they still run in "real time."

 

[eatspaste]

I was in the car last night about 7PM and heard WPHT drop its carrier for about 10 seconds. When it came back on I noticed that there was a hiss under their programming. Tuned to the sidebands, and sure enough, there was the IBOC hash. It's still on today, so this must be it.

I wonder how this will effect coverage to the south of 1230 in Easton.

The days of getting WCMC/Wildwood in South Philly are gone, too.

Can someone tell me (again) why this is a good idea - IBOC and HD radio? I'm having problems finding a boastfully-worded press release from the NAB saying (x) million HD radios have been sold and how the public is fully supporting this great leap in broadcast technology and how HD2 and HD3 channels are becoming outlets for new and exciting formats.






Oh, that's right, NO ONE is buying HD radios.

 

[Bill_W]

Oh, that's right, NO ONE is buying HD radios.

I have 1 HD radio and a 2nd one on the way. WMMR sounds good in HD. Y-Rock on 'XPN sounds pretty good on 88.5-2 too. I also like the way the AM stations sound in HD.

 

[qtpieislit]

WPHT is now exhibiting an even narrower center tuning frequency with the frequency response equivalent of a 5k twisted pair telephone line, and a bad one at that. Talk about squashed audio. It sounds like the old network feeds you would listen to in the studio, on a cue monitor between newscasts. I know this may sound strange, but this morning, I could swear my AM radio drifted, as I lost center frequency tuning, and wound up on hash. I didn’t know AM could drift. Wow, a new AM experience after all these years. Who wudda thunk. Is this what AM radio has graduated to? With all of the design capacity of today’s technological applications, it seems that this may have in retrospect, been a miscalculated approach to the ailing medium. Particularly when you consider that this narrow band approach delivers incessant audio punishment to the 99.9% of the existing analogue audience, while offering the promise of advanced listening only to the .001% of the prospective HD users.

 

[Those RRRRs]

They were testing it at least a year ago. Because I heard the same thing on and off one day during half hour increments. WOR in NY is using it too, and they are unlistenable in my opinion, even with a talk format. When WOR plays music in and out of the breaks, it sounds even worse than WPEN did.

 

[BRNout]

WPHT's audio quality is terrible and their signal is a 50kw joke! Flat, tinny, IBOC-weakened audio coupled with a poorly grounded signal that gets interference from almost every traffic signal and power line west of Ardmore!

More than once, I've flipped over to 830 (WEEU) to hear the same program - with better audio. This is from eastern Chester County - right in the Philly metro service area.

You know, the IBOC exciter really flattens the analogue signal on all stations that use it. Despite having an absolutely awesome signal, WBZ up in Boston sounds flat and crappy too (during the daytime). A quick switch to WRKO (with no IBOC) is like flipping from AM to FM - it's that dramatic. WPHT's audio sounds even flatter and worse than (sister station) WBZ's. CBS needs to spend a dollar or two on the equipment at 1210.

 

[radioskeptic]

Warning: I just posted the following on the "HD Radio" board:

For those of you who want to see how ordinary radio geeks who haven't taken part in the debates on this board really feel about iNiquity's flawed technology, at least in its AM version, see the thread, "WPHT IBOC."
(Here's a link: http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,73509.0.html)

Note that except for one post from "Bill_W", there's nothing even remotely favorable to "HD" here. (And I'm posting a link to this post at the Phila. board so that the regulars there will be on the lookout for any sudden flurry of comments form the pro-IBOC regulars on this board!)

So let's see what kind of reaction this elicits from the IBOC defenders!

 

[raydofan]

So let's see what kind of reaction this elicits from the IBOC defenders!

I am not a typical iboc defender. In fact, in its present form, it is horrible. However, if there were a 'cold turkey' switch from analog to digital, I would be all for it. Analog AM has been deteriorating for a long while. Exclusively digital transmission is the way to go. My thinking is it will make DXing even better-digital radios should be able to seperate out each stream without sideband interference.

OK, now I will duck...

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Suburban (edge of primary) and secondary coverage listening is not DXing (skip listening is). Most suburban and car listeners do at least some edge of primary and secondary coverage listening when commuting or while on trips.
Digital signals are either there or gone. HD radio is either there, gone, rebuffering, or flipping between analog and digital HD when interference, noise, or fades disrupt the signal.
How are all these on/off interruptions, poor building penetration, and rebuffering of the digital HD signal and the additional interference of iBuzz an improvement?

 

[raydofan]

Suburban (edge of primary) and secondary coverage listening is not DXing (skip listening is). Most suburban and car listeners do at least some edge of primary and secondary coverage listening when commuting or while on trips.
Digital signals are either there or gone. HD radio is either there, gone, rebuffering, or flipping between analog and digital HD when interference, noise, or fades disrupt the signal.
How are all these on/off interruptions, poor building penetration, and rebuffering of the digital HD signal and the additional interference of iBuzz an improvement?

I think the main cause of these issues is the fact that the digital information is on the sidebands, and not carried where the analog currently resides. This causes all sorts of phase issues. Put digital on the main part of the carrier and I imagine that-in the primary coverage area at least-there will be minimal issues.

There are digital methods to deal with transient noise and even constant noise (ever use a DAW?). But a signal limitation is just that. Same old AM. Put up an antenna.

 

[Play Freebird]

I listened to WPHT's digital signal (or at least attempted to listen) today while driving around Exton and Newtown Square. At noon, when I started the trip, WPHT's digital coverage in central Chester County was only 75-80% along major highways due to power line noise; however, a couple of hours later, this dropped to 5-10% due to lightning-induced "static". I expected things to improve as I drove east, but even in Newtown Square (ironically, the site of WCAU's first 50 kW transmitter in the 1930's), the receiver (JVC KD-HDR1) dropped to analog for minutes at a time as the storm cell approached Conshohocken, about 10 miles away. During "blends", the digital audio level seemed about 4-6 dB weaker than the low-pass filtered analog, which was distracting. So this is progress?

After using the HD receiver in my truck for almost a year, I've concluded the AM IBAC digital system is of questionable value. It just doesn't have sufficient noise immunity to reject typical power line and atmospheric noise. When you weigh the drawbacks against the "advantages", it doesn't make sense.

Yes, when it actually decodes, the iBiquity system offers some increase in apparent frequency response, but the gurgling artifacts are annoying. A well designed analog receiver with noise blanking, receiving a full 9.5 kHz bandwidth signal would probably rate higher with consumers. Although, with typical AM mono talk programming, many people don't care.

I hope CBS doesn't waste money converting KYW 1060 to digital, especially if it means cutting the programming budget to pay for the project.

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Suburban (edge of primary) and secondary coverage listening is not DXing (skip listening is). Most suburban and car listeners do at least some edge of primary and secondary coverage listening when commuting or while on trips.
Digital signals are either there or gone. HD radio is either there, gone, rebuffering, or flipping between analog and digital HD when interference, noise, or fades disrupt the signal.
How are all these on/off interruptions, poor building penetration, and rebuffering of the digital HD signal and the additional interference of iBuzz an improvement?

I think the main cause of these issues is the fact that the digital information is on the sidebands, and not carried where the analog currently resides. This causes all sorts of phase issues. Put digital on the main part of the carrier and I imagine that-in the primary coverage area at least-there will be minimal issues.

There are digital methods to deal with transient noise and even constant noise (ever use a DAW?). But a signal limitation is just that. Same old AM. Put up an antenna.

HD radio noise immunity is a myth.
All the locations mentioned are well within WPHT's primary contour:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WPHT&service=AM&status=L&hours=U

 

[oldiesfan6479]

On the PHX board, IBOC is referred to by some of us
using the derisive moniker "I-CRAP."

And deservedly so.