[opendtv] Re: HD radio ramblings
- From: "Rod Hewitt" <rod@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:28:19 -0400
[SNIP]
> "I tried this radio at Best
> Buy (Gaithersburg, Maryland) yesterday and could only get two FM
> stations (105.9 and 107.3); the stations sounded exactly like regular
> analog AM/FM radio. I tried the regular analog AM/FM boom-boxes and they
> were able to get many stations."
[SNIP]
Knowing how bad Best Buy are (www.bestbuysux.org has plenty horror stories)
they probably didn't have an antenna hooked up.
Located near Largo MD (think 15 miles due east of DC), I have a 34 element
UHF antenna pointed toward Baltimore for HDTV reception along with a preamp
since the resultant RF goes through a number of splitters and bits of
(crappy) coax. It's a great antenna for all the 8VSB stations in Baltimore
with > 25 dB SNR on a couple of the big three, but quite crappy for the VHF
FM band.
I hooked that up to the Boston HD radio and I get these FM IBOC channels.
Number in parens are the number of audio services.
88.5 WAMU (2)
90.9 WETA (1)
93.1 WPOC (2)
94.7 WARW (2)
95.5 WPGC (2)
96.3 WHUR (1)
98.7 WMZQ (2)
99.5 WITH (2)
100.3 WBIG (2)
101.1 WWDC (2)
104.1 WGMS (2)
104.3 WSMJ (2)
105.9 WJZW (2)
So I get an additional 11 radio stations with the big benefit that if the
main (.1 channel) is running commercials, the other channel is most likely
not.
I completely disagree with the sentiments about the audio quality. Try
turning up the volume in a normal (i.e. non-Best Buy) location and the FM
stereo hiss inherent in all but the very strongest signals is diminished by
a huge margin and the top end if greatly expanded.
Additionally stations like WPGC tend to run songs that are very clipped
(think rap music). These clip on analog FM because this level of audio is
close to over-modulating but these issues go away with digital.
Where IBOC shines is on weak stations. WSMJ from Baltimore is a great
station but I couldn't handle the hiss on FM. With IBOC the digital
reception kicks in and wow...
The Boston radio itself SUCKS. There's no "scan and remember all the
stations" mode, the clock doesn't do 24 hour format and it does crash from
time to time. 20 memories is a total joke.
At a friends house in England last week we got talking about FM radio and
how much we both like a commercial station from London called XFM. He's a
VHF-UHF junkie amateur so he deliberately bought a house as high up as
possible yet close to London. We pointed one of his beams at the XFM
transmitter and peaked up the signal with a spectrum analyzer. OK, but well,
FM.
Next we fired up his sub $100 combo DVB-T TV and DAB radio receiver. The
whole thing is controlled through the TV and tuned into the digital version
of XFM. What a difference.
Who knows what'll happen with IBOC - sure better can be done but it's a good
compromise IMHO and I never thought about returning the Boston radio despite
its many flaws.
I personally think it's the wrong form factor. This thing needs a much
better interface that ideally displays on your TV to become another
component in the system. And it needs to be sub $100 and ideally do ATSC
too.
Dermot? :)
Cheers,
Rod
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