Listening to the Doug McIntyre show tonight, every ten minutes or so the signal on 680 WRKO cuts out for a second, and the HD icon on my Sony HD radio starts flashing during that brief time. Are they testing for an upgrade to digital? Or is this just some odd fluke? If so, great move on their part and long overdue.
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WRKO going HD?
- Thread starter RedWingCJS278
- Start date
RedWingCJS278 said:
Great move if you like cheesy, bit-rate-compressed hollow sounding audio with artifacts up the wazoo, and a signal that spreads like a virus across 60 kHz of the AM dial. Apparently there isn't enough crud on the AM band for some people.
L
Laurence Glavin
Guest
After the WWVA-AM 1170 towers were blown down, I tried listening for other stations on the frequency, but WHAM-AM 1180's IBOC hash never let up. Fortunately, it hampers WXKS-AM's nighttime and pre-dawn signal as well, so it's not all bad.
N
necrat123
Guest
RedWingCJS278 said:
It's a bug in the HD radio. Mine does this on 790 as well.
D
Don Juannn
Guest
Ah, the usual contingent of HD Haterz and hobbyists show up in lockstep.
Yes, I determined it likely is some quirk or whatever in my otherwise excellent Sony HD radio. Well, I like to DX - more so on FM, but on AM, too - so I definitely understand the concerns about IBOC hash. It is a major annoyance, I agree. On the other hand, I've heard with my own ears what HD has done for WBZ 1030. Now they truly sound like the first-class operation that they are. I don't care for the music formats on 1260 and 1430, but I always marvel at how clear they sound in HD, truly like an FM. Furthermore, there are so many useless, low-wattage, low-quality stations out there just taking up space on the AM band. I like the idea of moving all those stations, and the LP-FM's, to a new band, while letting the clear channels like WBZ stay on AM. If that were to happen, there would be no excuse for any remaining AM station not to broadcast in HD. WRKO would easily benefit from going HD, as would WEEI. Howie Carr, if I remember correctly, wanted to be on FM for better sound quality. He'd have that if RKO was HD. Hell, Ibiquity could pay Howie to hawk their radios on air, which really are not all that expensive. As for FM, I love ZLX HD-2 Radio Mojo and Classic County on 102.5 HD-2, plus WEEI on 93.7 HD-3. Radio has to keep up with the times somehow, and HD really is a huge improvement, reception issues aside. I think it's just a technology, like FM radio itself, that will take awhile to really catch on, but eventually become the standard.
mgpt6 said:
I don't have the Sony, but I have a Sangean HDT-1 tuner, and an iLuv HD stereo table clock radio.
WBZ, WMKI, and WKOX are in steady HD at all times, with no dropouts to analog here in Somerville.
RedWingCJS278 said:
Yeah, like eveyone will rush out and buy an AM HD receiver! NOT!!
;D 
I have that $40 (on sale) HD portable from Best Buy (Insignia) and hardly ever use it. I was hoping to use it at work to pick up Red Sox on WEEI/ WMKK-HD3 but now new lights at work
make reception of virtually any FM station just about impossible, so much for that idea.
(Yeah, it'd work in break room but that's about it.) Maybe I should go for a few walks and make use of it.
btw on Labor Day I was driving up to NH; I noticed Laura I. was coming in on 1570, 1580, and I think 1590 as well. 1570--WNSH. 1590--WSMN (thought they were prog talk though?) As for
the 1580, it wasn't splashover from 1570 (this was around Andover on I-93 btw) it was a separate signal.
Then the news came on "1580" and what was it? WRKO! (Sticks in Burlington) Some kind of
spur, similar to how WRKO mixes with WLYN 1360 when I'm near their sticks. How in the world
was I getting RKO on 1580? HD-related, or just a spurious signal?
make reception of virtually any FM station just about impossible, so much for that idea.
(Yeah, it'd work in break room but that's about it.) Maybe I should go for a few walks and make use of it.
btw on Labor Day I was driving up to NH; I noticed Laura I. was coming in on 1570, 1580, and I think 1590 as well. 1570--WNSH. 1590--WSMN (thought they were prog talk though?) As for
the 1580, it wasn't splashover from 1570 (this was around Andover on I-93 btw) it was a separate signal.
Then the news came on "1580" and what was it? WRKO! (Sticks in Burlington) Some kind of
spur, similar to how WRKO mixes with WLYN 1360 when I'm near their sticks. How in the world
was I getting RKO on 1580? HD-related, or just a spurious signal?
raccoonradio said:
Mixing product with 900 in Nashua? Seems like a remote possibility; 900 is not very strong until you get close to Nashua.
Who knows, but it was WRKO's Metro News that came on "1580" (clear ID, etc.)
I mentioned picking up RKO on 1360 when near their towers. Back when Red Sox games
were on WRKO, I was on 128 nr the Burlington Mall, scanning the dial and heard Red Sox/RKO
obliterating WLYN on 1360!
I mentioned picking up RKO on 1360 when near their towers. Back when Red Sox games
were on WRKO, I was on 128 nr the Burlington Mall, scanning the dial and heard Red Sox/RKO
obliterating WLYN on 1360!
RedWingCJS278 said:
You have got to be kidding!!!!!
First harmonic (multiple) of 680 (WRKO) = 1360 (WLYN)
Harmonic--there's the word I was thinking of, and I did know of the multiple of 680 indeed. But how it turned up on 1580 up on I-93 in Andover, I have no idea.
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