I used to do a lot of driving between Florida and North Carolina on Friday nights. If the weather was right (it often was) I could listen to football games from my old high school. Sometimes I would get the whole game. This was over 20 years ago, when scores and updates on your phone weren't even an idea.
AM radio has been hit hard by the lowered fidelity due to regulations and the abandonment of AM stereo. Analog AM can sound good if the station does it right. Also, clear channel AMs are cool to listen to at night 500 miles away.
AM on an old radio is high fidelity. It sounds like stereo. Get you a good big speaker and a good crossover you will have hi fidelity AM. And you only need one speaker enclosure. Old television cabinets make excellent speaker enclosures. I enjoyed classical music from NYC on AM. I don't know if they still broadcast on AM anymore.
I listen to AM, everyday! It's been my companion since the "music radio" days of 77 WABC! Even though some days it's got more static than others...I've learned to live with it, and see no reason to stop now! Owning a Terk AM antenna helps too :-)
AM Radio especially if it’s at a full 20kHz wide sounds as good if not better than some FM stations! Especially if you have a rare C Quam AM stereo station it sounds amazing.
@@atrainradio929 I used to have a magnificent Sony that picked up all four systems. It WAS amazing but I indeed would like to see this stations moved another 5 kHz off at least as I have said many times. Newer MW radios aren’t designed very well.
@TsunamiFPS Yes, It sound a lot better than what we are getting with digital, we seem to be getting a lot biased sales hype these days trying to tell us other wise.
@Talking Turkey in a lot of places the FM is only a repeater and is indeed only a secondary consideration. KLPW here near Wentzville on 1220 is exactly the same way.
@Talking Turkey the FM translator is probably a secondary consideration. I have the same situation not far from me. KLPW on 1220 is a descent station but goes nowhere at night and the FM translator is terrible lol.
I have an HD radio I found in a thrift store years ago(Boston Acoustics)-great sound and even some stations in AM Stereo. HD Radio is a hidden gem that lots of folks don't know about.
Yes, I have that Receptor Radio HD in my back room one of the Best HD-Radio made. Originally sold for $300+ and was discontinued it because you Need a Antenna on the Roof and got it at Radio Shack for $80. Love it.
I probably have the same receiver. It’s from HD radio’s infancy. The tuner is very insensitive. You pretty much need an outdoor antenna connected to it to get reception on par with later HD radio models. The Sony add-on, since discontinued, is the best one. I have two of those.
I’m from Philly and also LOVE WMGK HD2! Commercial free oldies?! It’s a dream come true! But it takes a year off my life every time you hate on AM radio. FM or digital has nothing on AM’s ability to go for hundreds and thousands of miles and still sound clear in some cases.
This is why the older sets on MW had the labeling for the "conelrad" system at about 640 and about 1400 kHz. Under extreme emergencies these would be activated, or stations close enough to those frequencies would activate and broadcast at high power far and wide. FM or a digital format could never do that. AM MW is extremely important just exactly the way it is! Those FM or digital stations are only line of sight and don't go very far no matter what the power.
I've been using it a long time in the car. The nice thing is in Chicago, nearly every FM station broadcasts and many of them sound really good. As for AM, I think they all have stopped stimulcasting.
@@5roundsrapid263 I went through the whole AM band in Chicago and sadly not a single HD channel on the AM band. FM on the other hand still has nearly every station in HD either a single stream or many with sub-channels.
I'm guessing there's good content in your area. I wish the Philadelphia stations had a stronger signal. I can't get them in my car. Only with my large CM5020.
@@AntennaMan I’m close to the Chicago area so yeah. Some of the good ones are Deep Tracks on 97.1 HD2 and The Loop (Classic Rock) On 101.1 HD2 and more.
I just went over to Amazon and ordered mine which should be here in a couple of days. I am in Rochester, New York, and I do know they have some HD stations. Our public radio has classical and fine arts on FM, and they use the HD to simulcast their AM station which is NPR talk.
I had purchased an HD radio years ago when I was working for the gas company. I used to stream music from my computer but the company did not like that so I invested in one of these radios for about $99. Now that I'm retired, it is rare for me to listen to the radio but my wife uses the HD Radio all the time. Turns out it was a good investment and it does sound very good!
Thanks for this video. I did not know about HD radio. And, as usual, you are very informative about the practical aspects of it. Also, thanks for saying that HD stands for “hybrid digital”, not “high definition”, an important distinction. Videos like this are why I am a subscriber.
HD doesn't stand for anything. It's just a standing tm for iBiquity's system... remember CBS no longer stands for the "Columbia Broadcasting System". just CBS. When I worked up in retail they had so called "think tanks" to come up with all kinds of letter tm bs.
@@RJDA.Dakota No, Tyler is correct. It stood for "hybrid digital". The "HD" was a convenient attempt to confuse consumes into assuming it was "high definition". Whatever they are claiming it stands for now I have no idea. Maybe they'll drop the initials totally so Harley Davidson doesn't sue them for another sound-related copyright infraction (you may have to look that one up).
Years ago, Sony produced an HD Radio tuner, model XDR-F1HD. They only made it for a couple years at a cost of only $100. It was a phenomenal tuner with specifications us radio guys drool of. This tuner is still very desirable. Sometimes you can find them used on ebay, but at a much higher price. (Common modifications are adding a small super capacitor to the power supply so the tuner will not lose memory during a power outage, and drilling holes in the plastic case to improve cooling.)
Congratulations, you have found the "Holy Grail" of HD Radio in the form a TUNER that is Pre-Amp Only and requires a separate AMP for daily use. It retailed for $99.00 plus Sales Tax when it was new. It was the "sleeper" of Tuners because no one realized what potential it had, even it it was stock and not modified.
I like this type of content! I have noticed that radio stations tend to switch around their formats on the subchannels more frequently. It's like they are using the subchannels to determine what interests listeners. I have an HD Radio but with streaming apps so easily available, the need for HD radio isn't as appealing. Nice to have though if you get off the cellular grid.
Interesting; it only works as long as you have internet. I have one of these receivers and it sure is great when it does work; internet (or the lack of it) permitting. Would rather have a regular MW-SW-FM Radio sometimes with streaming augmented when the signal really is impossible to receive. Another reason for all the format flips is to make people notice but it’s no good if it’s not advertised openly so people know about that exposure.
I like your channel. I have been an Antenna guy (hobby) for a long time. I was raised in north western Oklahoma where there was no such thing as TV. I put up an 60 foot break over pole with a directional rotar and a booster. I could pick up one channel very fuzzy if the weather was right. This was in the late 70s and early 80s. There was no such thing as VCRs or satellite TV. In 1983 my dad bought an 8 foot satellite dish. Life was good. Before that A.M. Radio is all that I had. When the sun went down the stations would start coming in. It was my only interaction with the real world. I could pick up stations in Colorado and Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas and on nights when the ionosphere was is good I could pick up Canada and Mexico. I had a GE super III radio.So I am still fond of a.m. radio. I love pulling in Distant stations to this day. So don’t be so hard on us old guys. Look up 73840 on antenna web and you’ll see what a hell hole in the middle of nowhere signal looks like. Keep up the good work. James in Louisville Kentucky
I bought a Kenwood HD receiver for my truck a few years back. Right after I got it, all the local digital AM stations shut off. The FM ones are still there, some simulcasting AM.
AM Radio (in particular HD, but also traditional Analog) has been dying a quick death over the last 3-4 years or so. First to go were the AM-HD Signals. A lot of the "old school" AM DX'ers complained that AM-HD caused "splatter" (which it does/did) on adjacent AM Channels, thereby knocking out the ability to do DX even with the best Equipment in the Radio Shack. Other Commercial Stations, like WBT-1110-AM here in Charlotte tried out HD Radio as an option but as Antenna Man pointed out, the Digital HD Signals cannot get out like the Analog Ones. What good was it having WBT-1110 AM-HD drop out 70+ Miles down in Columbia, S.C., when it normally covers the entire US East Coast at night? We no longer have *ANY* AM-HD Signals in the Charlotte, N.C. Area as a result. In fact, we are even seeing an accelerated plan to take AM "Dark" due to various factors: (a) Aging Station Ownership and Listeners (b) Cost to keep those High KW Stations OTA (c) Buy-Outs dictating Change-of-Ownership, Markets, etc. Lastly most modern Vehicles do not even have AM on the Car Radio Tuners any more. The Future of AM does not look bright. It may continue to serve a niche market going forward, but some of those markets (aka Sports Radio and AM Talk Radio) are quickly transitioning to an FM Transponder so you can now get their AM Signal on the FM Band (as an Analog Mono Transmission).
Hey Tyler! HD Radio also exists for AM! It's that hardly anybody uses it because it causes problems with other stations at night. But it actually sounds pretty good.
as I said it causes a lot of sideband interference and hash. Before they did this maybe they should have widened the bandwidth on this stretch of band(MW).
@@RJDA.Dakota I think AM-HD was not given as much after-thought as was FM-HD way back when. I watched 610 AM take out a weaker AM Station on 630 AM even during the AM Hours (morning Hours, pun not intended) and make it so you could not listen to the Station on 630 AM. 610 AM here in Charlotte, N.C. has since turned off their HD Signal on their Transmitter as has every other Transmitter that once had AM-HD (here in Charlotte).
@@marcboulware6242 this is why slowly all MW stations will be stripped of the HD signal. That’s when it will go full digital. That’s when it will get decided whether MW digital stays or goes.
@@RJDA.Dakota I have heard AM Stereo from the 1980s and when done properly AM Stereo (particularly C-QUAM) sounded GREAT. It rivaled FM back in the day. It is too bad that a rivalry similar to VHS -vs- BETA ultimately killed off AM Stereo's Future. It certainly had great potential.
@@marcboulware6242 I loved my AM Stereo. The Sony had a switch that would go through the four separate AM Stereo systems. They were: Magnavox; Kahn-Hazeltine; C-QUAM; and a separate Motorola Stereo format. I’m the daytime it was awesome but at night I had to turn down the bandwidth switch. The daytime signal was awesome and could indeed rival FM. The lower frequencies were better than the high end of the band than that. Our MW stereo station was 550 KUSA. We didn’t have another until much later when Disney experimented with this format. I understand that in Mexico this format lives on XEG 1050 and is still a standard in Australia. Kahn wasn’t all that great because all it did was use the sidebands for the separate channels. C-QUAM was about the best at that time until AMAX.
When HD Radio started in my city the stations had no idea what they were doing and about half of them sounded terrible. I emailed the engineers and apparently I was the only person in the city with an HD radio because they tried different settings on their encoders and asked me which one I liked. I've been running marathons all over the country with my Insignia HD radio strapped to my arm. Most of the time I can run the whole thing without any dropouts and most cities have a dance station that is perfect for running (no commercials).
When I had my Kenwood in my last truck I noticed that too. Maybe on that 3rd or 4th sub channel they would simulcast the AM talk station. It always sounded underwater because they would be in stereo with less bandwidth. Come on, man, use mono because it is only a talk radio format. I live between Austin and San Antonio, Texas and had quite the selection. Most of the broadcasters never transmitted the correct time of day!
thats funny , some like that happen to me with one ota channel, it get off air but i get email of someone that control it there and he bring get back every time i email it.
I had forgotten about HD radio until I bought a car with an HD tuner. HD radio is very underrated, it can be comparable to CD quality effectively (at least in a car). Most stations do choose to broadcast at lower bitrates.
@ben s Radio Disney was a big adopter of AM-HD and they paid much $$$ to upgrade their facilities (and yes, the music sounded great on a Radio Disney Station). When Radio Disney decided to fold their AM Radio Station Business, this was inevitably just another nail in the coffin of/for AM HD Radio.
I got a Boston HD Radio that i bought on Ebay , it was a model put out by radio shack several years ago , it is pretty good , i found what i think may have caused some trouble , with the HD radios catching on , there back years ago when they putting this out on the market , a lot companies making these radios , made them very junkie HD radios and they were just that junk , that they just would quit working very quickly for people , i waited i am glad that i did, i went on ebay where i bought this Boston HD radio , and on Ebay when i looking to get One it, was nothing to see off brands of these HD Off brand radios , where people are selling them that don't work for parts , i remember seeing one of these off brands radios in a best buy when they first came on the market , they didn't sell , that best buy , had them on sale for 25 dollars, so they would sell , now in recent times i don't see hardly any in stores, if i see any at all of HD Radios, maybe in time they may can sell them again, if they do the customers right ?
I recently bought a sangean hdr-14 and I’m really impressed with how stable the digital signal is compared to atsc 1.0. I tested the reception of WMED-FM-HD2 throughout my saint Andrews, New Brunswick home and never lost reception even once while the antenna was fully extended out. I only lost the signal when I was walking without the antenna extended out. I know the station is fairly close by but unfortunately it’s the only station I can test it on because there’s no HD radio stations in Atlantic Canada and I am lucky enough to live close to the state of Maine. If tropospheric ducting happens in the Bangor area I’ll try to receive WMEH-FM-HD2 or WKIT-FM-HD2/3. I test on the HD2/3/4 channels so the radio can’t switch to analog if the signal gets too weak. Unfortunately I had no luck receiving any HD stations on the AM band even late at night.
When I first started listening to radio back in 2014 to keep myself sane on my commute home from work in the morning, I bought a head unit for my car that had HD Radio built in. It's crazy how it makes AM sound like a really good FM signal, and it makes FM sound like a nice crisp online stream.
The last several Toyota's we owned had factory hd radios. Loved it when it worked. When you live about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh,PA it's hit or miss. We were surprised our 2019 Ford didn't have a factory hd radio. Miss it during our travels to Pittsburgh.
I have a HD radio in my kitchen and I notice most of the signals are Extremely weak at best and almost have to go outside to pick up some of these local HD stations consistently.
You can comment to the FCC on this, and I suggest you do. The fact is, HD Radio signal allowance has increased from the puny levels authorized at inception. FCC is/was overcautious about interference with other stations in other areas. As reports of signal interference were zilch and non-reception was rampant, they upped the allowance. This does not mean your stations actually increased their digital signal, though. They were probably authorized to do so but perhaps never did. You can ask the station, too. If you've watched Tylers videos, FCC did the same thing in 2009 when TV went digital...power output was cut way back to prevent interference. Digital signals are narrower than analog and a narrow signal goes farther at the same power level.
There is the analog AM radio station WOAI at 1200 on the AM dial in San Antonio, Texas that has a powerful transmitter sending out their radio signal for 100 miles or more. WOAI is also linked to the I Heart group of radio stations that can be heard on the internet.
I hit the thumbs up button, great information on HDRadio. However, I could not disagree more strongly on your comments re 'AM radio RIP'. That is mostly what I listen to here! To each his own... Younger folks are not very tolerant of AM static sometimes, but those of us who grew up listening to AM have developed 'static filter ears' maybe. Keep up the good work!
@@scottlarson1548 Radio Disney is extinct! Newer other stations have either changed format; newer stations play country; rock; and I have even heard a heavy metal stat on1500 MW! Locally I hear a 1220 and a 1280 during the day. They both actually have FM translators but the FMTx is even lower quality than either of these MW stations and seem only to be a secondary consideration. One of my favourite stations is CKZM from Ontario Canada. It has a weak FM and even says that the FM is for downtown Toronto and the MW is for “everywhere else”. This should tell you what’s going on.
@@RJDA.Dakota In my city (a top 20 market) AM is 90% talk and news with a couple of stations playing oldies for the gray hairs. That should tell you what's going on.
@@scottlarson1548 closer to my area there' a classic rocker on 1220 and further out heavy metal played on 1500! For people with grey hair, eh!?!? i've noticed a considerable amount of stations switching to various music formats. I think they're getting tired of hearing the celebs complain
@TsunamiFPS For the original Sony HD radio at the $100 price tag was a steal. The circuitry is very complex and it is one fantastic DX machine on FM. I used a Pioneer TX9100 tuner for years, the Sony beats everything else I have hands down. I can tune into a distant FM station right next to a strong local without any interference. Amazing, the filters are amazing. In other words we have a 25KW Classic Rock station on 102.3, 10 miles away. I am line of sight and they are strong. With my Yagi, 102.1 Wenatchee WA come in good as well as Seattle 102.5.
I have had several HD Radios. Some much better then others. I find the signals are still very fickle. But love listening when I can pull the signal in.
Not sure what happened to my last comment, but I just wanted to say that you can receive HD Radio on your PC by using the NRSC-5 program and a python decoder program using a cheap RTL-SDR/DVB-T/FM tuner that you can get for $10-$20. (Maybe do a video on cheap SDRs sometime.). I wrote an article on it but TH-cam keeps deleting my comment when I include links so I can't share, But yeah HD Radio is epic when you can use it on your PC for super cheap :)
Thank you for pointing out Towanda,PA. As a former Troy, PA resident,now living in Williamsport,PA and I have and Insignia HD radio, that I bought up at Best Buy in the Muncy here it's FM only. The radio runs about 60 dollars
@@AntennaMan the only station that I could pick up on my Insignia HD radio is 105.1 and offhand I can't remember what day are without having to turn it on and check it out
Very frustrating that AV receivers haven’t really adopted this. Original owner of my house put an FM radio antenna in my attic. I didn’t realize what it was really for until I started getting into antennas and found this channel. I was surprised when I heard HD Radio on my 2017 GM truck. Range isn’t great though as you noted.
HD radio has never really taken off, plus the radios are too expensive with very little to choose from. FM does a good job and most stations stream online, too.
@@richardbrobeck2384 Cable requires a monthly subscription, while this is just a one time purchase of the hardware. But I agree these HD radios are too expensive.
@@alvallac2171 No good ones still made, most have been discontinued! I want one with a VFD (my favorite type of display) I only know of 3 the Onkyo T-4555 and the Integra version (that HD module is optional with that one!) some Yamaha Advante AVRS I don't know of anymore. I had a TX-NR609 that had an also optional HD tuner but it was already discontinued when I got the receiver (it died from HDMI board failure as most did)
Tyler, you live in an area that has a real nostalgia station, Sunny 1100 WGPA. 100 W sunrise to sunset only. Play the National Anthem at sunrise. Play music (Ameripolitan....whatever that is) and some sports talk, etc.. AM is far from dead, but if you're worried about fidelity, then yeah. Still, us old guys listening to oldies on AM think the sound is "right". It was on AM music radio when new and sounds a little weird on remastered high fidelity.
I remember first finding out about HD radio and sub-channels back in 2009 or 2010 when I bought a Zune HD, the one with the touchscreen. Up until then, I had never even heard of HD radio, so there were tons of radio stations that were broadcasting in my area that I never even knew were there. That was the first and to date, only HD radio that I've ever had. Now I have to go out and buy another one lol.
The digital TV standard should've worked like this, then CRTs could work without a DTV box. Also, I'm guessing that you've never heard a vintage AM radio, it sounds amazing with decent strength signals
In theory yes that should have been how it went. Unfortunately part of the reason for the DTV transition of 2009 was the FCC selling UHF channels 53-69 to cell phone companies. There wouldn't be enough room for every analog station to stay and have a digital signal as well without major interference. Fast forward about 12 years later and the FCC sold UHF 38-52 to cell phone companies leaving TV with channels 2-36.
@@eminence_front6043 I predict it in less than ten years. I can see them forcing all TV stations to VHF. Every market gets two VHFs with all of the locals in SD.
HD radio is also called IBOC in the industry, it's just two digital side bands on top of the FM signal (beyond the tuner's filter). It minimally has a data bandwidth of 96kbps, but you can sacrifice some of the FM bandwidth to have small data extensions. The audio codec is a modified AAC-HE (V1), it chops off high frequencies and perceptually recreates them, so having one HD channel (HD1) at 96kbps is good, however a trained ear could detect the HE extension. Having two HD channels (HD1+HD2) at 48kbps is acceptable, but the HE extension is noticeable for music (less so for talk radio). Having 3 HD channels requires you to enable a 24kbps extension, so usually 48+48+24kbps. The 24kbps will be AAC-HE with SBR (V2), now you get fake High frequencies and fake stereo, and at this point I suspect anyone would the codec's distortion. One other things is that the way the technology is designed introduces a delay of about 8 seconds, so to be synchronized the analog FM portion is being delayed to match the IBOC encoder.
I enjoyed hearing you cover this and you did a great job. The biggest issue I have with HD Side-channels is that, as you mentioned, the HD-2+ signals are very weak strength-wise compared to the main channel. Sometimes they will not even penetrate a building so if a signal has to travel through an urban area with big tall buildings, it really diminishes the signal. I believe the FCC did grant power increases at least once on the HD frequencies but broadcasters must be sure they don't interfere with the other channels they broadcast. It was an expensive experiment...like AM Stereo several years ago. I had an HD radio and could only pick up one HD side-channel in the market that broadcasts from a tower less than 2 miles from my house. Terrain is my issue and I'm not interested in putting up an antenna to get radio stations when I can bluetooth about any format I want from my smartphone. I gave someone my HD receiver and he had much better luck with it than I did. For those people who have HD radio receivers in their cars, it is a nice plus, for sure. Great job. Obviously you do your research.
The farther out the sub channel is, they can be harder to lock. Like HD1 or HD2 are fine, but if a station runs out to HD4, the last sub channel is more fragile in cutting out.
@Derek That I did not know, but I do know the further out you get from the main channel, the weaker they are. Most do not go out past the 3rd channel, but a couple in Seattle do. They go out to a 4th channel. The signal has to be better than normal for that last channel to always lock. It pops in and out otherwise where the other 3 are locked. I am sure it no issue in the local area, but at 125 miles away it sure does make a difference.
You should get your ticket. By that I mean your amateur radio license. You would very quickly have your Extra class license and be an excellent operator. With your antenna skills you would be reaching out and making contacts around the world. Think about it. Great channel , Steve W1IT
I agree with some of the other comments that you aren't missing much. An inexpensive RTL-SDR dongle with a copy of NRSC-5 will tune in the HD radio channels. I haven't seen anything in this area (Dallas) with more than a 64kb bitrate, so even though it sounds OK, it's nothing to get excited about.
If you still have your hearing you can hear a difference. FM stereo cuts off all frequencies above 15 Khz so cymbals on HD Radio sound more like CD quality. It's sad that no stations are using 96 Kbps anymore because that sounded absolutely perfect.
@@RJDA.Dakota Radios are *brilliantly* designed these days. Take a look at the incredible processing of radios like Sony's XDR series. These things can pick up a weak signal and make it sound as good as a strong signal.
@@scottlarson1548 some yes some radios are very well designed. But most on MW or SW are woefully inadequate to pick up the signal and implement it correctly. aside from a professional shortwave or mediumwave radio. Or one of the sets that used to be manufactured by McKay Dymek. There is no real studio standard for MW radio, and most FM radios are just thrown together in a factory somewhere in China. Most are then re-branded and then sold under recognizable labels. Shame! We can do better than that!!
@@RJDA.Dakota Believe me if anyone gave a damn about how a radio sounded then people would buy better models. The fact is that most people listen to the radio for talk and news and would rather listen to Spotify or Pandora for music so making more expensive models would be a waste.
I bought my Polk Audio HD receiver in 2008. As an added bonus, it has the decoder chip for C-QUAM AM stereo. It’s worthwhile to check if other models have this.
@@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY HD Radio only works in the US & Canada but many rural areas not even use it. Yes, you can get SiriusXM Satellite Radio signal outside the US. You can get signal in Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands & as far south as Mexico City. No service is available in Alaska & Hawaii. You can not buy a subscription if you live outside the US & Canada.
hi Antenna man! I use a Wineguard HD FM antenna for my Jensen weather proof radio, and my CBS affiliate (and the other channel that plays Cagney and Lacy lol) on TV I have an old Radio shack amplifier down stairs, Seems to work, but not without the amplifier. But I use Roku anyway. fyi
In the Hartford market, most AM-FM stations that are HD rebroadcast their AM programming as one of their HD FM channels. WDRC AM (1360) is also on 102.9-3.
There’s no HD radio stations in Atlantic Canada at all. But people who lived close to Maine can receive NPR which is a single channel (apparently the HD radio station finder lied and it in fact does have a 2nd channel).
I have an HD radio (Sangean HDT-20) and I love it! I'm in Atlanta, and my top 2 favorite stations turned out to be HD substations with no commercials! Oldies on WRAS HD3 and New Wave/Alternative on WSRV HD2. There is no static at all on an HD radio signal, either you get it or you don't. The sound quality is usually better than analog FM, and roughly comparable to a Sirius/XM broadcast signal. I tend to think that my Sangean deck has a bit of the "HD radio self noise" that is mentioned in the wiki article about HD radio. For analog only stations, it seems like I get a clearer signal on the same antenna from my 20 year old Onkyo receiver than I do from the Sangean deck, but there is an off chance this is due to antenna orientation. All that said, I've had great results with the Sangean deck for accidental DXing.... picked one up a rock station (analog) from 130 miles away.
HD Radio has some advantages over DAB+. The big one is that HD Radio has two redundant streams a few seconds apart, so if you go through a tunnel or if some brief interference causes signal loss, it can pick up the bit of audio it lost so it won't drop out.
@Derek that’s why you hear that “hash” on each side of a MW HD signal. That’s another reason why so many of them are shutting it off. Some of my ham friends have been telling me that the DAB+ is better than the regular DAB but both have nightmarish problems especially in rough terrain. Valleys especially.
@Derek The biggest difference in use is that a momentary loss of signal on DAB+ will cause a dropout while a momentary loss of signal with HD Radio won't because each station has two temporally separated independent and redundant streams. This makes a big difference when you're driving. Well, DAB+ will *try* to recover the missing data through interleaving and Reed-Solomon error correction and the AAC codec will try to conceal the error through fading, but a significant signal loss (a second or two) isn't recoverable.
eBay is the best way to get HD Radio’s for under $50, but it does vary on the seller. The HD Radio website also seems to be inaccurate as some stations don’t broadcast in digital anymore. Most HD Radio Stations are pretty much located in larger markets, in which they are stations that are owned by iHeartMedia, Cumulus, Entercom, Emmis, etc.
Definately, most HD radio stations where I've ever been have been owned by iheartradio. I remember it because of their legally and ethically dubious "Alexa, play iheartradio" ads.
@@awesomeferret I’d be able to get Indianapolis stations from where I’m at if it wasn’t for interference from other stations in small towns and cities.
I like HD radio. The sound is negligibly better than analog broadcasts on FM, but the real benefit is the extra stations. You can often find niche formats that wouldn’t work as standalone stations. I can get AT 40 programs from the 80’s on an HD subchannel of a Dayton station down in Cincinnati. On AM, the sound is a 180 improvement, but so many AM stations have turned off their HD signals. I could get WLW in HD in Columbus. We had a weak oldies station from Fort Wayne that got temporary authority to go digital only in the recent past. Their analog signal was barely listenable here, but the digital signal was crystal clear. They stopped transmitting in digital because no one was listening.
When HD Radio was being heavily pitched in the Boston area about 15 years ago, you can understand why people called it "High Definition", because stations broadcasting in the HD format played commercials where they did call it "High Definition", and what the HD stood for (A radio expert corrected me on this several years ago). FM stations like WAAF (107.3, RIP) was the big one, and if you could get it to work, so did WBZ AM 1030 (I did a couple times). It seemed HD Radio died, because when I needed a new radio for work, HD was not an option anywhere, at all. Last 2 I bought were Best Buy ones, both the "Dongle" one, and the later portable. The "Dongle" is used at work now, and the portable at the ready at home (home able to get HD, work, it's just a radio). Apparently, HD Radio isn't dead, as my new 2020 Yaris has it. To my surprise WAAF suddenly went HD, then the station died in late February. No other HD stations work where I live, or work. So my understanding is that HD Radio is starting to make a comeback, as the HD stations are being pitched again, and the AM side may be going away, as the AM stations seem to have an HD-2/HD-3/HD-4 on an FM station they own anyhow. I hope they start making portables again, as if the dongle quits, the portable doesn't work too well, the way it was designed (the dongle one works so well, it even got HD stations the roof antenna can't get, and that's just with a 1M headphone cable as it's antenna). To get HD Radio to work, you need a static-free signal, as FM isn't as strong as you think it is. It only takes about a 33% signal strength to eliminate static altogether, as there's enough signal to only amplify it. So if any FM stations have any hint of static, you likely won't get it in HD. Even threshold static-free stations aren't reliable enough for HD. As many stations here are clear as a bell, only one of many work in HD, 2 before WAAF went away.
In addition to the general confusion of High Definition versus Hybrid Digital, back in the day I heard many, MANY HD radio stations actually bragging that they were now broadcasting in "high definition." We have a good number of HD Radio broadcasts and multicasts here in the Charlotte, NC area. Other metros like Raleigh and Knoxville do, too.
@TsunamiFPS Come to think of it, there was a station that had a tiny amount of static, and it worked, but in the Boston market, it was a rule of thumb that usually was true.
I installed HD radio receivers on 3 of my cars that I've own for the past 17 years. Never went back to regular radio. Right here in NYC, I can drive around and I have yet to lose any reception, with the exception of driving into the Lincoln Tunnel.
I'm a big HD radio fan. I have two Sony HD radios. Unfortunately, there are way less HD channels in my market than there used to be. The one problem I have with HD radio is I cannot get the channels in my basement without running an antenna line from upstairs.
Last indoor radio I purchased was in 2012...a Sony boombox which I can plug my iPhone in to and stream distant radio stations via WIFI. It doesn't have HD reception. I also have a Boston Acoustics receiver with no HD. I apparently have some sort of digital receiver in my 2018 Ford Fusion sync, when I'm close enough to the transmitter it displays what song is playing. I've researched on the internet and played around with the sync console, but I can't figure out how to access HD sub-channels, if that is even possible on that hardware. No one will listen to HD channels if you can't listen to HD channels...they need to get HD receiver chips cheap enough so they're standard in every brand of every new receiver, and not just some weird niche off-brand only techno-nerds would actively seek out. Most of the Twin Cities MN FM channels are owned by about 3 companies and many don't even have live humans at the station during the broadcast, it's all pre-canned. If you want a live human being giving you live up-to-the-minute information, AM is where it's at. I guess most of the younger generation prefers to be clueless, or believe every weird conspiracy on tik-tok.
I find that too the ibiquity HD list is not up-to-date with listings. There are not many HD stations in my New Hampshire area, and most are on the Boston city licensed stations, that drive the market area. Also when I search Ibiquity for HD stations that I know I can receive, by my zip code search, only a few local New Hampshire stations appear to be listed, even though there are many more in nearby areas of Massachusetts. I think their HD search method should broaden the area to show possible HD stations. I have found this to be true in other such regions caused by their narrow search parameters. I was disappointed that my 2018 Jeep Renegade Latitude does not have HD capability, while an earlier 2016 Prius, and 2014 Accord did have HD receive. Ray
I haven't tried tuning WMGG yet, which all-digital AM in my area. I like HD because it works and starts playing as soon as I start my car and usually has commercial-free programming.
I have a Channel Master CM3020 aimed at Nashville TN. I have that amplified to a Sangean HDR18 tuner. It works well. One downside of HD Radio is the layering that happens with the sub channels. The closer you are the more likely you’re going to get all available channels on a station. Further away those sub channels do as well.
AM radio is great for live sports!, I live in South West MI, and can receive AM stations in MI, IL, IN, and WI, I can listen live, Notre Dame, Michigan, Mich State, Wisconsin, and for pro sports I get the Colts, Lions, Bears, Packers, Cubs, White Sox, Tigers, Brewers, Red Wings, and the Black Hawks , there NO other media, that offers live sports like AM radio!!! Think about that before putting down the greatness of AM
I used to live in Birmingham and was a sports fan as a kid. An older British guy lived next door and had an AM transistor radio that was a Detroit Tigers model (logo and colors) and he listened to every single game out on his porch with that radio. Speaking of sports on AM....perhaps the most mind blowing sports event I've ever heard on radio was on our honeymoon in Bermuda...cricket. It was like listening to an hours and hours long non-stop auction. I had no idea what was going on, but the locals did.
I've been an HD Radio listener in my cars since 2009 via an aftermarket head unit. Finally buying a new head unit again (old Jensen one still works, but is in a different vehicle) finding an aftermarket head unit with HD Radio capability, or even "HD Ready" needing a special tuner dongle thing was ridiculously hard. Pioneer I think has only 2-3 double DINs out with the capability, and only 1-2 single DINs. JVC and Kenwood are about the same as well. Some automakers are even not putting in new cars, and most new cars only ever included it in "premium" audio systems. So while I love HD Radio I feel it's on borrowed time. Some of my substations have gone away over the years, too. I actually support the AM switch to HD as long as it does remain optional. I think that could end up reviving HD Radio to a higher degree than FM can and get more widespread adoption of the format. The compressed subchannels are perfect for talk radio, sports, etc. As I understand (from wiki) the issue with adoption is the HD Radio decoder chip wasn't an open format, and to make the decoder chips you needed to pay licensing fees per chip, so while the actual hardware never cost significantly more to make, it really curtailed adoption. I think at this point whoever is in charge of the licensing structure of it all should make it free just for adoption purposes, or change the model to a one time fee or something like that. I really liked the format and thought it could be a real game changer, but almost nobody I know beyond who I tell even knows the format exists, or if they do, how to get it, etc.
I love HD Radios I have quite a few my favorite one is by Directed DMHD-1000 I got it on eBay for $25 I use it with a cheap Wingard HD-6010 with a Motorola plug (also from eBay) and a 12VDC power supply (my "junk" pile) The one bad is it needs like 100% signal to actually lock-on to the sub-channel when I had a power outage I can;t believe how many more I'm able to get without all of the extra noise from everything electronic these days! I also got a Kenwood KDC-BT958HD that I made a boombox out of an old cooler and a spare 12V SLA battery (that is what I used in the power outage) along with a cell phone charger I also integrated (with a volt meter also!)
I bought a Sangean HD tuner about 10 years ago that I hooked up to a Sansui receiver. When the signals came in HD radio sounded great. Almost CD like sound quality. But it drove me crazy because the HD signals were constantly fading in and out. I tried probably 5 different indoor FM antennas with the same results. I got so fed up I disconnected the Sangean and it's been in a box in my basement for the last 9 years. I'm ok with regular FM but who knows I may someday try hooking it up again. Think I'll need to get a way better antenna first.
I have what I believe may be a good question: Does Arbitron measure subchannel use? Is that why there are no commercial on HD? I used to have a tabletop HD radio (not sure what happened to it). I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area and used it to listen to 104.5-2 (KFOG)'s 10 @ 10 repeats. Those were fun to listen to.
I have ordered same model for my son living in midtown Toronto (Amazon-Black Friday sale). CAD 225 including taxes. To be delivered Tuesday 29th Nov 2022. Hope he likes it. I think this model was launched by Sangean in mid 2016.
The ERP of a digital subcarrier I believe is 4% of the primary station's full power ERP. Therefore, you need a receiver that is sensitive as well as a good antenna for these additional stations. What I don't care for with portable digital receivers is that I have yet to see one that does'nt have the option to use regular disposable batteries as well as rechargeable ones. I know you're not a fan of AM but being a lifelong fan of DXing, I would hate to see AM go the way of TV with no option for analog.
There are HD stations in Memphis and Nashville but none in the Jackson, TN area where I live. and it doesn't look like anything is coming any time soon, so there isn't any point in my getting an HD radio yet.
In my radio market (Green Bay, Wisconsin), we have the bare minimum when it comes to HD Radio. HD Radio stations found Green Bay, Wisconsin as of 2021: WPNE-FM 89.3 89.3-1 - Wisconsin Public Radio 89.3-2 - Classical Music WBDK-FM 96.7 96.7-1 - Adult Contemporary 96.7-2 - Classic Country
"It's All Good" and it goes hand-in-hand. I once saw the history of a Local NBC TV Station in the Charlotte, N.C. Area being discussed on a Radio Discussions Web-Site. :-)
I find it unusual that HD Radio is a proprietary system given exclusive license to collect royalties. DAB is an open source digital format used outside the US and there are no royalties or expensive transmission equipment involved. The story mentions only one firm that licenses this format over the public's broadcast bands. Maybe diving a little deeper here will show some overlap among regulators, lawmakers and stakeholders.
Canada ended their DAB broadcast in 2006 and in Hong Kong in 2017. Philippines and parts of ASEAN countries except Malaysia, they used HD Radio in Thailand and Indonesia.
Well good morning from the Lehigh Valley. Yes, I'm interested in HD radio. I would also love to hear WIP radio in HD. I live in Coplay. I'm wondering what HD radio you might recommend. I'm totally blind and live in County housing. I don't think an out door antenna would be permitted. I will appreciate any information you can provide.
My more jaundiced view of the lack of receivers for HD radio is the lack of a subsidy to encourage their manufacture. XM/Sirius tries to make sure all radios, at least the ones in cars, have their service available so they can get more subscribers. So they assist their installation to get more radios out there. For example, nearly all the radio options for my 2014 Ram included XM. Only the top of the line (read most expensive) U-Connect system had HD radio. I had to get a used receiver off of Ebay to replace the one it came with to get it. It also came with GPS navigation turned on as an added bonus. Ibiquity on the other hand wants to get as much money for the encoders and the decoders as possible as there is no subscription income to be had. I don't blame them as I am sure their business plan includes making a profit. So as you mentioned, there is a lack of programming as well as a lack of receivers. Walk into your big box retailers and ask for an HD receiver, they try to sell you XM while admitting they don't have anything you want or more likely they have no idea what you are talking about. In Denver we were blessed with a great oldies station that was on a HD-2 channel. Unfortunately, they turned the station into a sports betting format. Another oldies station is on AM with an HD subchannel that works quite well but lacks the bandwidth to match FM stereo. They have a low power FM simulcast that has extremely limited coverage so I listen to the HD AM. Power line noise and faulty ignition systems cuts out the signal but I can live with that.
Unfortunately good FM Yagi's are no longer made. Even the FM6 went out of production several years ago. To get a good Yagi I had to order one that came from Germany. Korner 9.2. A great antenna, but hard to get. If you live in a metro area, or near by, a simple FM antenna may work. There are several of those. Out here on the Oregon, you need a better antenna.
I love my HD Radios. I have HD radio tuners in both my cars (Pioneer aftermarket receivers). The sound quality is far superior to analog FM and I love some of the multi-cast stations. I used to live in Delaware and typically listened to 93.7 WSTW. But after getting an HD Radio I found their multicast alternative music channel, which immediately became my favorite. It's almost criminal that GM pretty much refuses to put HD radios in any of their vehicles. You can spend an extra couple thousand dollars on a stereo for you car/truck and still not get HD Radio. And some of those units are nearly impossible to replace. Worse, if you do replace them you lose features such as the bird's-eye view system.
What's disappointing about HD radio is they are all subsets of Clear Channel or iHeart, etc. Nothing is independent or original. I would really like a digital receiver, but they just aren't as accessible. Not sure why they don't put the digital chip in common tuners.
Funny you mention iHeart. Not too long ago I actually dropped it (and Pandora) from my smartphone. Turns out that they don't offer as much variety on their app. Even if you build a "custom" playlist, it's pretty much the same mainstream content. Not to mention that it takes plenty of hard drive space. And considering that they own a good number of terrestrial stations, not surprising. Now I've never used Spotify but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same issue.
@@rockoorbe2002 yeah, music has really declined in variety. Radio stations used to play music that had some difference to it. John Mellencamp, Thompson Twins and Def Leopard could all be heard in one hour. It's all pretty generic now. Almost sounds like it was made with AI.
@@AntennaMan a lot of so called Me-TV stations are coming on in the dead zone that used to be channel 6 on the FM band so don't get too used to that. it can and probably will get moved if the FCC ever gets it's head on straight!
@@jeflarremore7170 Exactly! We have at least 10 FM stations locally that play the same pop or hip-hop garbage! It would be a little less annoying if there were more variety. And I detest Boost FM. "let's try to saturate the area with as many repeaters as possible so nothing else can get on or through!!!
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AM radio is the sound of my youth also. Nothing like listening to a sports event (football or baseball) on AM radio. You are missing out.
Or an auto race
I listened. I'm not missing much now a days. Maybe 30 years ago. It's in the graveyard now.
@@AntennaMan AM MW will always be necessary for log distant or medium distance stations..FM is only line of sight.
I used to do a lot of driving between Florida and North Carolina on Friday nights. If the weather was right (it often was) I could listen to football games from my old high school. Sometimes I would get the whole game. This was over 20 years ago, when scores and updates on your phone weren't even an idea.
I suppose nowadays one could mud things down with an equalizer. Hard-core AM radio buffs use a micropower AM transmitter for their receivers. :)
AM radio has been hit hard by the lowered fidelity due to regulations and the abandonment of AM stereo. Analog AM can sound good if the station does it right. Also, clear channel AMs are cool to listen to at night 500 miles away.
Don't forget, AM radios are also excellent lightning detectors. 😂
AM on an old radio is high fidelity. It sounds like stereo. Get you a good big speaker and a good crossover you will have hi fidelity AM. And you only need one speaker enclosure. Old television cabinets make excellent speaker enclosures. I enjoyed classical music from NYC on AM. I don't know if they still broadcast on AM anymore.
I agree, but would add that the extreme political content didn't help in the death of AM...
@@andrewdunlap5130 Muh nazis?
AM is alive and well in Australia.
I listen to AM, everyday! It's been my companion since the "music radio" days of 77 WABC! Even though some days it's got more static than others...I've learned to live with it, and see no reason to stop now! Owning a Terk AM antenna helps too :-)
*every day (means "daily")
"Everyday" as one word is an adjective meaning typical/ordinary/run-of-the-mill.
yea it helps! but wish it be electronic tune or something no manual. long shot
AM radio sounds pretty good in my area.
AM Radio especially if it’s at a full 20kHz wide sounds as good if not better than some FM stations! Especially if you have a rare C Quam AM stereo station it sounds amazing.
@@atrainradio929 I used to have a magnificent Sony that picked up all four systems. It WAS amazing but I indeed would like to see this stations moved another 5 kHz off at least as I have said many times. Newer MW radios aren’t designed very well.
@TsunamiFPS Yes, It sound a lot better than what we are getting with digital, we seem to be getting a lot biased sales hype these days trying to tell us other wise.
@Talking Turkey in a lot of places the FM is only a repeater and is indeed only a secondary consideration. KLPW here near Wentzville on 1220 is exactly the same way.
@Talking Turkey the FM translator is probably a secondary consideration. I have the same situation not far from me. KLPW on 1220 is a descent station but goes nowhere at night and the FM translator is terrible lol.
I have an HD radio I found in a thrift store years ago(Boston Acoustics)-great sound and even some stations in AM Stereo. HD Radio is a hidden gem that lots of folks don't know about.
Yes, I have that Receptor Radio HD in my back room one of the Best HD-Radio made. Originally sold for $300+ and was discontinued it because you Need a Antenna on the Roof and got it at Radio Shack for $80. Love it.
I probably have the same receiver. It’s from HD radio’s infancy. The tuner is very insensitive. You pretty much need an outdoor antenna connected to it to get reception on par with later HD radio models. The Sony add-on, since discontinued, is the best one. I have two of those.
@@JohnnyJTav Got mine on clearance at the Shack too.
I’m from Philly and also LOVE WMGK HD2! Commercial free oldies?! It’s a dream come true! But it takes a year off my life every time you hate on AM radio. FM or digital has nothing on AM’s ability to go for hundreds and thousands of miles and still sound clear in some cases.
EXACTLY. MW radio will ALWAYS be needed in an extreme emergency!!
That's what I Listening to Right Now...
This is why the older sets on MW had the labeling for the "conelrad" system at about 640 and about 1400 kHz. Under extreme emergencies these would be activated, or stations close enough to those frequencies would activate and broadcast at high power far and wide. FM or a digital format could never do that. AM MW is extremely important just exactly the way it is! Those FM or digital stations are only line of sight and don't go very far no matter what the power.
I've been using it a long time in the car. The nice thing is in Chicago, nearly every FM station broadcasts and many of them sound really good. As for AM, I think they all have stopped stimulcasting.
WBBM was on digital AM last year. They left it on one night, and I heard it a few states away.
@@5roundsrapid263 I went through the whole AM band in Chicago and sadly not a single HD channel on the AM band. FM on the other hand still has nearly every station in HD either a single stream or many with sub-channels.
In Columbus, AM 610 is also broadcast on FM 93.3 HD 2
I’ve had a personal HD radio and I love it. I’ve told my mom about and now she really wants to get HD radio in her Car.
I'm guessing there's good content in your area. I wish the Philadelphia stations had a stronger signal. I can't get them in my car. Only with my large CM5020.
@@AntennaMan I’m close to the Chicago area so yeah. Some of the good ones are Deep Tracks on 97.1 HD2 and The Loop (Classic Rock) On 101.1 HD2 and more.
What brand do you have and where did you get it from?
@@jeffk7734 I have a Sangean HDR-14 and I got it on Amazon
I just went over to Amazon and ordered mine which should be here in a couple of days. I am in Rochester, New York, and I do know they have some HD stations. Our public radio has classical and fine arts on FM, and they use the HD to simulcast their AM station which is NPR talk.
I had purchased an HD radio years ago when I was working for the gas company. I used to stream music from my computer but the company did not like that so I invested in one of these radios for about $99. Now that I'm retired, it is rare for me to listen to the radio but my wife uses the HD Radio all the time. Turns out it was a good investment and it does sound very good!
Thanks for this video. I did not know about HD radio. And, as usual, you are very informative about the practical aspects of it. Also, thanks for saying that HD stands for “hybrid digital”, not “high definition”, an important distinction. Videos like this are why I am a subscriber.
Thanks for watching!
HD doesn't stand for anything. It's just a standing tm for iBiquity's system... remember CBS no longer stands for the "Columbia Broadcasting System". just CBS. When I worked up in retail they had so called "think tanks" to come up with all kinds of letter tm bs.
@@RJDA.Dakota No, Tyler is correct. It stood for "hybrid digital". The "HD" was a convenient attempt to confuse consumes into assuming it was "high definition". Whatever they are claiming it stands for now I have no idea. Maybe they'll drop the initials totally so Harley Davidson doesn't sue them for another sound-related copyright infraction (you may have to look that one up).
Years ago, Sony produced an HD Radio tuner, model XDR-F1HD. They only made it for a couple years at a cost of only $100. It was a phenomenal tuner with specifications us radio guys drool of. This tuner is still very desirable. Sometimes you can find them used on ebay, but at a much higher price.
(Common modifications are adding a small super capacitor to the power supply so the tuner will not lose memory during a power outage, and drilling holes in the plastic case to improve cooling.)
I'm glad I bought this receiver when it first came out. I wish it had a better display though.
Check out Goodwill or Thrift stores. I found the Sony as a table top with dual speakers for $5. Works great.
Congratulations, you have found the "Holy Grail" of HD Radio in the form a TUNER that is Pre-Amp Only and requires a separate AMP for daily use. It retailed for $99.00 plus Sales Tax when it was new. It was the "sleeper" of Tuners because no one realized what potential it had, even it it was stock and not modified.
@@marcboulware6242 I connected headphones directly to the line outputs and it worked.
@@scottlarson1548 You can do that... if you do it CAREFULLY. :-)
I like this type of content! I have noticed that radio stations tend to switch around their formats on the subchannels more frequently. It's like they are using the subchannels to determine what interests listeners. I have an HD Radio but with streaming apps so easily available, the need for HD radio isn't as appealing. Nice to have though if you get off the cellular grid.
Interesting; it only works as long as you have internet. I have one of these receivers and it sure is great when it does work; internet (or the lack of it) permitting. Would rather have a regular MW-SW-FM Radio sometimes with streaming augmented when the signal really is impossible to receive. Another reason for all the format flips is to make people notice but it’s no good if it’s not advertised openly so people know about that exposure.
I like your channel. I have been an Antenna guy (hobby) for a long time. I was raised in north western Oklahoma where there was no such thing as TV. I put up an 60 foot break over pole with a directional rotar and a booster. I could pick up one channel very fuzzy if the weather was right. This was in the late 70s and early 80s. There was no such thing as VCRs or satellite TV. In 1983 my dad bought an 8 foot satellite dish. Life was good. Before that A.M. Radio is all that I had. When the sun went down the stations would start coming in. It was my only interaction with the real world. I could pick up stations in Colorado and Missouri, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas and on nights when the ionosphere was is good I could pick up Canada and Mexico. I had a GE super III radio.So I am still fond of a.m. radio. I love pulling in Distant stations to this day. So don’t be so hard on us old guys. Look up 73840 on antenna web and you’ll see what a hell hole in the middle of nowhere signal looks like. Keep up the good work. James in Louisville Kentucky
I bought a Kenwood HD receiver for my truck a few years back. Right after I got it, all the local digital AM stations shut off. The FM ones are still there, some simulcasting AM.
AM Radio (in particular HD, but also traditional Analog) has been dying a quick death over the last 3-4 years or so. First to go were the AM-HD Signals. A lot of the "old school" AM DX'ers complained that AM-HD caused "splatter" (which it does/did) on adjacent AM Channels, thereby knocking out the ability to do DX even with the best Equipment in the Radio Shack. Other Commercial Stations, like WBT-1110-AM here in Charlotte tried out HD Radio as an option but as Antenna Man pointed out, the Digital HD Signals cannot get out like the Analog Ones. What good was it having WBT-1110 AM-HD drop out 70+ Miles down in Columbia, S.C., when it normally covers the entire US East Coast at night? We no longer have *ANY* AM-HD Signals in the Charlotte, N.C. Area as a result. In fact, we are even seeing an accelerated plan to take AM "Dark" due to various factors: (a) Aging Station Ownership and Listeners (b) Cost to keep those High KW Stations OTA (c) Buy-Outs dictating Change-of-Ownership, Markets, etc. Lastly most modern Vehicles do not even have AM on the Car Radio Tuners any more. The Future of AM does not look bright. It may continue to serve a niche market going forward, but some of those markets (aka Sports Radio and AM Talk Radio) are quickly transitioning to an FM Transponder so you can now get their AM Signal on the FM Band (as an Analog Mono Transmission).
Hey Tyler! HD Radio also exists for AM! It's that hardly anybody uses it because it causes problems with other stations at night. But it actually sounds pretty good.
as I said it causes a lot of sideband interference and hash. Before they did this maybe they should have widened the bandwidth on this stretch of band(MW).
@@RJDA.Dakota I think AM-HD was not given as much after-thought as was FM-HD way back when. I watched 610 AM take out a weaker AM Station on 630 AM even during the AM Hours (morning Hours, pun not intended) and make it so you could not listen to the Station on 630 AM. 610 AM here in Charlotte, N.C. has since turned off their HD Signal on their Transmitter as has every other Transmitter that once had AM-HD (here in Charlotte).
@@marcboulware6242 this is why slowly all MW stations will be stripped of the HD signal. That’s when it will go full digital. That’s when it will get decided whether MW digital stays or goes.
@@RJDA.Dakota I have heard AM Stereo from the 1980s and when done properly AM Stereo (particularly C-QUAM) sounded GREAT. It rivaled FM back in the day. It is too bad that a rivalry similar to VHS -vs- BETA ultimately killed off AM Stereo's Future. It certainly had great potential.
@@marcboulware6242 I loved my AM Stereo. The Sony had a switch that would go through the four separate AM Stereo systems. They were: Magnavox; Kahn-Hazeltine; C-QUAM; and a separate Motorola Stereo format. I’m the daytime it was awesome but at night I had to turn down the bandwidth switch. The daytime signal was awesome and could indeed rival FM. The lower frequencies were better than the high end of the band than that. Our MW stereo station was 550 KUSA. We didn’t have another until much later when Disney experimented with this format. I understand that in Mexico this format lives on XEG 1050 and is still a standard in Australia. Kahn wasn’t all that great because all it did was use the sidebands for the separate channels. C-QUAM was about the best at that time until AMAX.
I just found your channel and subscribed and the best thing for me is that unlike every other TH-camr I follow is you’re local (Lehigh valley).
Yes, I am in the Lehigh Valley. A nice area we live in minus the "spill over" from certain not as nice areas.
When HD Radio started in my city the stations had no idea what they were doing and about half of them sounded terrible. I emailed the engineers and apparently I was the only person in the city with an HD radio because they tried different settings on their encoders and asked me which one I liked.
I've been running marathons all over the country with my Insignia HD radio strapped to my arm. Most of the time I can run the whole thing without any dropouts and most cities have a dance station that is perfect for running (no commercials).
More power to you; you have quite a job!
When I had my Kenwood in my last truck I noticed that too. Maybe on that 3rd or 4th sub channel they would simulcast the AM talk station. It always sounded underwater because they would be in stereo with less bandwidth. Come on, man, use mono because it is only a talk radio format. I live between Austin and San Antonio, Texas and had quite the selection. Most of the broadcasters never transmitted the correct time of day!
thats funny , some like that happen to me with one ota channel, it get off air but i get email of someone that control it there and he bring get back every time i email it.
I had forgotten about HD radio until I bought a car with an HD tuner. HD radio is very underrated, it can be comparable to CD quality effectively (at least in a car). Most stations do choose to broadcast at lower bitrates.
@ben s Radio Disney was a big adopter of AM-HD and they paid much $$$ to upgrade their facilities (and yes, the music sounded great on a Radio Disney Station). When Radio Disney decided to fold their AM Radio Station Business, this was inevitably just another nail in the coffin of/for AM HD Radio.
Great Rockspace read. Ads aren't so bad when they are well done. A little humor, good information, well-targeted to your audience.
Thanks. I try to make ads fun
I got a Boston HD Radio that i bought on Ebay , it was a model put out by radio shack several years ago , it is pretty good , i found what i think may have caused some trouble , with the HD radios catching on , there back years ago when they putting this out on the market , a lot companies making these radios , made them very junkie HD radios and they were just that junk , that they just would quit working very quickly for people , i waited i am glad that i did, i went on ebay where i bought this Boston HD radio , and on Ebay when i looking to get One it, was nothing to see off brands of these HD Off brand radios , where people are selling them that don't work for parts , i remember seeing one of these off brands radios in a best buy when they first came on the market , they didn't sell , that best buy , had them on sale for 25 dollars, so they would sell , now in recent times i don't see hardly any in stores, if i see any at all of HD Radios, maybe in time they may can sell them again, if they do the customers right ?
Thank you for covering this topic!
Not much in my area but thanks for the heads up.
I recently bought a sangean hdr-14 and I’m really impressed with how stable the digital signal is compared to atsc 1.0. I tested the reception of WMED-FM-HD2 throughout my saint Andrews, New Brunswick home and never lost reception even once while the antenna was fully extended out. I only lost the signal when I was walking without the antenna extended out. I know the station is fairly close by but unfortunately it’s the only station I can test it on because there’s no HD radio stations in Atlantic Canada and I am lucky enough to live close to the state of Maine. If tropospheric ducting happens in the Bangor area I’ll try to receive WMEH-FM-HD2 or WKIT-FM-HD2/3. I test on the HD2/3/4 channels so the radio can’t switch to analog if the signal gets too weak. Unfortunately I had no luck receiving any HD stations on the AM band even late at night.
When I first started listening to radio back in 2014 to keep myself sane on my commute home from work in the morning, I bought a head unit for my car that had HD Radio built in. It's crazy how it makes AM sound like a really good FM signal, and it makes FM sound like a nice crisp online stream.
The last several Toyota's we owned had factory hd radios. Loved it when it worked. When you live about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh,PA it's hit or miss. We were surprised our 2019 Ford didn't have a factory hd radio. Miss it during our travels to Pittsburgh.
I have a HD radio in my kitchen and I notice most of the signals are Extremely weak at best and almost have to go outside to pick up some of these local HD stations consistently.
Yes they don't have the best coverage area.
Perhaps you might consider an... Antenna?
You can comment to the FCC on this, and I suggest you do. The fact is, HD Radio signal allowance has increased from the puny levels authorized at inception. FCC is/was overcautious about interference with other stations in other areas. As reports of signal interference were zilch and non-reception was rampant, they upped the allowance. This does not mean your stations actually increased their digital signal, though. They were probably authorized to do so but perhaps never did. You can ask the station, too. If you've watched Tylers videos, FCC did the same thing in 2009 when TV went digital...power output was cut way back to prevent interference. Digital signals are narrower than analog and a narrow signal goes farther at the same power level.
Excellent! I've been waiting for a video about HD radio.
Likewise.
There is the analog AM radio station WOAI at 1200 on the AM dial in San Antonio, Texas that has a powerful transmitter sending out their radio signal for 100 miles or more. WOAI is also linked to the I Heart group of radio stations that can be heard on the internet.
WOAI received in Cancun, Mexico at nighttime.
I hit the thumbs up button, great information on HDRadio. However, I could not disagree more strongly on your comments re 'AM radio RIP'. That is mostly what I listen to here! To each his own... Younger folks are not very tolerant of AM static sometimes, but those of us who grew up listening to AM have developed 'static filter ears' maybe. Keep up the good work!
There is not much content for "younger folks" on AM except for Disney Radio.
@@scottlarson1548 Radio Disney is extinct! Newer other stations have either changed format; newer stations play country; rock; and I have even heard a heavy metal stat on1500 MW! Locally I hear a 1220 and a 1280 during the day. They both actually have FM translators but the FMTx is even lower quality than either of these MW stations and seem only to be a secondary consideration. One of my favourite stations is CKZM from Ontario Canada. It has a weak FM and even says that the FM is for downtown Toronto and the MW is for “everywhere else”. This should tell you what’s going on.
My Nissan Frontier stock radio has an excellent AM section. It sounds great, the best I can remember ever hearing AM sound.
@@RJDA.Dakota In my city (a top 20 market) AM is 90% talk and news with a couple of stations playing oldies for the gray hairs. That should tell you what's going on.
@@scottlarson1548 closer to my area there' a classic rocker on 1220 and further out heavy metal played on 1500! For people with grey hair, eh!?!? i've noticed a considerable amount of stations switching to various music formats. I think they're getting tired of hearing the celebs complain
LOVE your vids, they are interesting and well written and very entertaining 👍
2009 thanks Tyler, that’s the year I cut the cord. I cut the cord when it went digital and I never turned back. Now maybe imma get a new radio.
I am a great fan of AM radio. I turn off all the noisemakers in my truck at night and go DXing. I get info that is not found on FM.
Always loved DX on AM myself.
Still DX on MW as do several others. Watch Todderbert’s channel for some descent MW scans, however abbreviated.
Sony XDR-F1HD -- while it's nice to have HD, it's also an outstanding analog tuner (DX'er goodness).
I've been using that radio since it came out. It actually makes the analog FM stations sound nearly as good as the HD stations.
I bought two of those before it was discontinued. I think it is the best HD radio that’s ever been made.
Totally agree. Being somewhat of an FM DXer at times, the XDR-F1 is probably the best tuner I have ever used.
@TsunamiFPS For the original Sony HD radio at the $100 price tag was a steal. The circuitry is very complex and it is one fantastic DX machine on FM. I used a Pioneer TX9100 tuner for years, the Sony beats everything else I have hands down. I can tune into a distant FM station right next to a strong local without any interference. Amazing, the filters are amazing. In other words we have a 25KW Classic Rock station on 102.3, 10 miles away. I am line of sight and they are strong. With my Yagi, 102.1 Wenatchee WA come in good as well as Seattle 102.5.
i have the xdr-s10hdip, and confirm the analog sounds good
I have had several HD Radios. Some much better then others. I find the signals are still very fickle. But love listening when I can pull the signal in.
How Come The HD2 and HD3 Radio Station Signals Do Not Use Commercials and Ads Like The HD1 Signals Do?
HD2 and HD3 stations uses Commercial and ads. From AM stations to FM HD2 and HD3.
Not sure what happened to my last comment, but I just wanted to say that you can receive HD Radio on your PC by using the NRSC-5 program and a python decoder program using a cheap RTL-SDR/DVB-T/FM tuner that you can get for $10-$20. (Maybe do a video on cheap SDRs sometime.). I wrote an article on it but TH-cam keeps deleting my comment when I include links so I can't share, But yeah HD Radio is epic when you can use it on your PC for super cheap :)
I remember SCA back in the day....we needed a special Radio for these stations
I looked up HD radio in my area and only found 4 station this was good info glad I'm not gonna upgrade to HD RADIO.
Thank you for pointing out Towanda,PA. As a former Troy, PA resident,now living in Williamsport,PA and I have and Insignia HD radio, that I bought up at Best Buy in the Muncy here it's FM only. The radio runs about 60 dollars
I think Williamsport has a few HD radio stations. Not many though.
@@AntennaMan the only station that I could pick up on my Insignia HD radio is 105.1 and offhand I can't remember what day are without having to turn it on and check it out
Very frustrating that AV receivers haven’t really adopted this. Original owner of my house put an FM radio antenna in my attic. I didn’t realize what it was really for until I started getting into antennas and found this channel. I was surprised when I heard HD Radio on my 2017 GM truck. Range isn’t great though as you noted.
HD radio has never really taken off, plus the radios are too expensive with very little to choose from. FM does a good job and most stations stream online, too.
See they want to do with radio what they did with cable charge $$$$$$$
@@richardbrobeck2384 Cable requires a monthly subscription, while this is just a one time purchase of the hardware. But I agree these HD radios are too expensive.
@@alvallac2171 No good ones still made, most have been discontinued! I want one with a VFD (my favorite type of display) I only know of 3 the Onkyo T-4555 and the Integra version (that HD module is optional with that one!) some Yamaha Advante AVRS I don't know of anymore. I had a TX-NR609 that had an also optional HD tuner but it was already discontinued when I got the receiver (it died from HDMI board failure as most did)
Tyler, you live in an area that has a real nostalgia station, Sunny 1100 WGPA. 100 W sunrise to sunset only. Play the National Anthem at sunrise. Play music (Ameripolitan....whatever that is) and some sports talk, etc.. AM is far from dead, but if you're worried about fidelity, then yeah. Still, us old guys listening to oldies on AM think the sound is "right". It was on AM music radio when new and sounds a little weird on remastered high fidelity.
I think WGPA has ten active listeners. I refer to them as "weird oldies"
I remember first finding out about HD radio and sub-channels back in 2009 or 2010 when I bought a Zune HD, the one with the touchscreen. Up until then, I had never even heard of HD radio, so there were tons of radio stations that were broadcasting in my area that I never even knew were there. That was the first and to date, only HD radio that I've ever had. Now I have to go out and buy another one lol.
The digital TV standard should've worked like this, then CRTs could work without a DTV box. Also, I'm guessing that you've never heard a vintage AM radio, it sounds amazing with decent strength signals
In theory yes that should have been how it went. Unfortunately part of the reason for the DTV transition of 2009 was the FCC selling UHF channels 53-69 to cell phone companies. There wouldn't be enough room for every analog station to stay and have a digital signal as well without major interference. Fast forward about 12 years later and the FCC sold UHF 38-52 to cell phone companies leaving TV with channels 2-36.
@@AntennaMan How long will it be before the FCC gets greedy again ?
@@eminence_front6043 I predict it in less than ten years. I can see them forcing all TV stations to VHF. Every market gets two VHFs with all of the locals in SD.
@@AntennaMan That would suck.
@@eminence_front6043 You mean when is the FCC going to put more unused spectrum into use?
HD radio is also called IBOC in the industry, it's just two digital side bands on top of the FM signal (beyond the tuner's filter). It minimally has a data bandwidth of 96kbps, but you can sacrifice some of the FM bandwidth to have small data extensions. The audio codec is a modified AAC-HE (V1), it chops off high frequencies and perceptually recreates them, so having one HD channel (HD1) at 96kbps is good, however a trained ear could detect the HE extension. Having two HD channels (HD1+HD2) at 48kbps is acceptable, but the HE extension is noticeable for music (less so for talk radio). Having 3 HD channels requires you to enable a 24kbps extension, so usually 48+48+24kbps. The 24kbps will be AAC-HE with SBR (V2), now you get fake High frequencies and fake stereo, and at this point I suspect anyone would the codec's distortion. One other things is that the way the technology is designed introduces a delay of about 8 seconds, so to be synchronized the analog FM portion is being delayed to match the IBOC encoder.
I enjoyed hearing you cover this and you did a great job. The biggest issue I have with HD Side-channels is that, as you mentioned, the HD-2+ signals are very weak strength-wise compared to the main channel. Sometimes they will not even penetrate a building so if a signal has to travel through an urban area with big tall buildings, it really diminishes the signal. I believe the FCC did grant power increases at least once on the HD frequencies but broadcasters must be sure they don't interfere with the other channels they broadcast. It was an expensive experiment...like AM Stereo several years ago. I had an HD radio and could only pick up one HD side-channel in the market that broadcasts from a tower less than 2 miles from my house. Terrain is my issue and I'm not interested in putting up an antenna to get radio stations when I can bluetooth about any format I want from my smartphone. I gave someone my HD receiver and he had much better luck with it than I did. For those people who have HD radio receivers in their cars, it is a nice plus, for sure. Great job. Obviously you do your research.
The farther out the sub channel is, they can be harder to lock. Like HD1 or HD2 are fine, but if a station runs out to HD4, the last sub channel is more fragile in cutting out.
@Derek That I did not know, but I do know the further out you get from the main channel, the weaker they are. Most do not go out past the 3rd channel, but a couple in Seattle do. They go out to a 4th channel. The signal has to be better than normal for that last channel to always lock. It pops in and out otherwise where the other 3 are locked. I am sure it no issue in the local area, but at 125 miles away it sure does make a difference.
You should get your ticket. By that I mean your amateur radio license. You would very quickly have your Extra class license and be an excellent operator. With your antenna skills you would be reaching out and making contacts around the world. Think about it. Great channel , Steve W1IT
Excellent, more like SUPERB content !!! Thank You Kindly, Good Sir.
Thanks for watching! More videos to come.
I love listening to HD radio in my car. But - for home? When you the internet and high quality headphones, does it make sense to buy the radio?
I agree with some of the other comments that you aren't missing much.
An inexpensive RTL-SDR dongle with a copy of NRSC-5 will tune in the HD radio channels. I haven't seen anything in this area (Dallas) with more than a 64kb bitrate, so even though it sounds OK, it's nothing to get excited about.
If you still have your hearing you can hear a difference. FM stereo cuts off all frequencies above 15 Khz so cymbals on HD Radio sound more like CD quality. It's sad that no stations are using 96 Kbps anymore because that sounded absolutely perfect.
@@scottlarson1548 radios are not well designed anymore. 😕
@@RJDA.Dakota Radios are *brilliantly* designed these days. Take a look at the incredible processing of radios like Sony's XDR series. These things can pick up a weak signal and make it sound as good as a strong signal.
@@scottlarson1548 some yes some radios are very well designed. But most on MW or SW are woefully inadequate to pick up the signal and implement it correctly. aside from a professional shortwave or mediumwave radio. Or one of the sets that used to be manufactured by McKay Dymek. There is no real studio standard for MW radio, and most FM radios are just thrown together in a factory somewhere in China. Most are then re-branded and then sold under recognizable labels. Shame! We can do better than that!!
@@RJDA.Dakota Believe me if anyone gave a damn about how a radio sounded then people would buy better models. The fact is that most people listen to the radio for talk and news and would rather listen to Spotify or Pandora for music so making more expensive models would be a waste.
Big difference on a factory 2020 Sonata when HD kicks in .. That Sangean is a good radio too u show
Yes the sound quality - at least on the HD1 sound great
Sangean makes good radios! I've owned one of their famous "CC Radio" units for many years.
I bought my Polk Audio HD receiver in 2008. As an added bonus, it has the decoder chip for C-QUAM AM stereo. It’s worthwhile to check if other models have this.
Many new cars do not have HD Radio in them except a few models. Many now do have SiriusXM in them.
Countries like Belize, Guatemala, Bahamas, Bermuda, etc.. they don’t have HD Radio on FM but SiriusXM works perfect.
@@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY HD Radio only works in the US & Canada but many rural areas not even use it. Yes, you can get SiriusXM Satellite Radio signal outside the US. You can get signal in Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands & as far south as Mexico City. No service is available in Alaska & Hawaii. You can not buy a subscription if you live outside the US & Canada.
hi Antenna man! I use a Wineguard HD FM antenna for my Jensen weather proof radio, and my CBS affiliate (and the other channel that plays Cagney and Lacy lol) on TV I have an old Radio shack amplifier down stairs, Seems to work, but not without the amplifier. But I use Roku anyway. fyi
In the Hartford market, most AM-FM stations that are HD rebroadcast their AM programming as one of their HD FM channels. WDRC AM (1360) is also on 102.9-3.
There’s no HD radio stations in Atlantic Canada at all. But people who lived close to Maine can receive NPR which is a single channel (apparently the HD radio station finder lied and it in fact does have a 2nd channel).
NPR can put trees to sleep.
I have an HD radio (Sangean HDT-20) and I love it! I'm in Atlanta, and my top 2 favorite stations turned out to be HD substations with no commercials! Oldies on WRAS HD3 and New Wave/Alternative on WSRV HD2. There is no static at all on an HD radio signal, either you get it or you don't. The sound quality is usually better than analog FM, and roughly comparable to a Sirius/XM broadcast signal.
I tend to think that my Sangean deck has a bit of the "HD radio self noise" that is mentioned in the wiki article about HD radio. For analog only stations, it seems like I get a clearer signal on the same antenna from my 20 year old Onkyo receiver than I do from the Sangean deck, but there is an off chance this is due to antenna orientation. All that said, I've had great results with the Sangean deck for accidental DXing.... picked one up a rock station (analog) from 130 miles away.
Do you pick up 103.3 from Princeton n.j. comes in strong in n.e. Philly.
The HD won't lock in at home but I can get it down the road. I like the oldies subchannel.
@@AntennaMan My phone has Fm Radio
@@thetvexplorer mine too. That's a feature I always needed to have in a phone. I've had it since 2007 when it was first in a Nokia flip phone
From a UK point of view this is quite interesting. Here we have DAB radio for digital radio, which has its own advantages and disadvantages.
HD Radio has some advantages over DAB+. The big one is that HD Radio has two redundant streams a few seconds apart, so if you go through a tunnel or if some brief interference causes signal loss, it can pick up the bit of audio it lost so it won't drop out.
@@scottlarson1548 it doesn't matter if you can't pick it up.
@Derek that’s why you hear that “hash” on each side of a MW HD signal. That’s another reason why so many of them are shutting it off. Some of my ham friends have been telling me that the DAB+ is better than the regular DAB but both have nightmarish problems especially in rough terrain. Valleys especially.
@Derek The biggest difference in use is that a momentary loss of signal on DAB+ will cause a dropout while a momentary loss of signal with HD Radio won't because each station has two temporally separated independent and redundant streams. This makes a big difference when you're driving.
Well, DAB+ will *try* to recover the missing data through interleaving and Reed-Solomon error correction and the AAC codec will try to conceal the error through fading, but a significant signal loss (a second or two) isn't recoverable.
@@RJDA.Dakota In the UK i can absolutely confim that terrain is a factor in signal strength.
eBay is the best way to get HD Radio’s for under $50, but it does vary on the seller. The HD Radio website also seems to be inaccurate as some stations don’t broadcast in digital anymore. Most HD Radio Stations are pretty much located in larger markets, in which they are stations that are owned by iHeartMedia, Cumulus, Entercom, Emmis, etc.
Definately, most HD radio stations where I've ever been have been owned by iheartradio. I remember it because of their legally and ethically dubious "Alexa, play iheartradio" ads.
@@awesomeferret I’d be able to get Indianapolis stations from where I’m at if it wasn’t for interference from other stations in small towns and cities.
@@awesomeferret in St. Louis iHeart has turned KATZ MW HD off.
I like radio, am, fm & hd...... but, now I stream everything ..... Sonos, Apple, Sirius/XM etc ...... I have them all, and they are all great!
FYI: HD) AM features stereo audio as an option.
analog AM already had this with C-QUAM. In fact, the nice thing is that many HD radio tuners have the ability to decode the old school C-QUAM signals.
I like HD radio. The sound is negligibly better than analog broadcasts on FM, but the real benefit is the extra stations. You can often find niche formats that wouldn’t work as standalone stations. I can get AT 40 programs from the 80’s on an HD subchannel of a Dayton station down in Cincinnati.
On AM, the sound is a 180 improvement, but so many AM stations have turned off their HD signals. I could get WLW in HD in Columbus. We had a weak oldies station from Fort Wayne that got temporary authority to go digital only in the recent past. Their analog signal was barely listenable here, but the digital signal was crystal clear. They stopped transmitting in digital because no one was listening.
all of the FM stations in my area are trash HD included!
When HD Radio was being heavily pitched in the Boston area about 15 years ago, you can understand why people called it "High Definition", because stations broadcasting in the HD format played commercials where they did call it "High Definition", and what the HD stood for (A radio expert corrected me on this several years ago). FM stations like WAAF (107.3, RIP) was the big one, and if you could get it to work, so did WBZ AM 1030 (I did a couple times). It seemed HD Radio died, because when I needed a new radio for work, HD was not an option anywhere, at all. Last 2 I bought were Best Buy ones, both the "Dongle" one, and the later portable. The "Dongle" is used at work now, and the portable at the ready at home (home able to get HD, work, it's just a radio).
Apparently, HD Radio isn't dead, as my new 2020 Yaris has it. To my surprise WAAF suddenly went HD, then the station died in late February. No other HD stations work where I live, or work.
So my understanding is that HD Radio is starting to make a comeback, as the HD stations are being pitched again, and the AM side may be going away, as the AM stations seem to have an HD-2/HD-3/HD-4 on an FM station they own anyhow.
I hope they start making portables again, as if the dongle quits, the portable doesn't work too well, the way it was designed (the dongle one works so well, it even got HD stations the roof antenna can't get, and that's just with a 1M headphone cable as it's antenna).
To get HD Radio to work, you need a static-free signal, as FM isn't as strong as you think it is. It only takes about a 33% signal strength to eliminate static altogether, as there's enough signal to only amplify it. So if any FM stations have any hint of static, you likely won't get it in HD. Even threshold static-free stations aren't reliable enough for HD. As many stations here are clear as a bell, only one of many work in HD, 2 before WAAF went away.
In addition to the general confusion of High Definition versus Hybrid Digital, back in the day I heard many, MANY HD radio stations actually bragging that they were now broadcasting in "high definition."
We have a good number of HD Radio broadcasts and multicasts here in the Charlotte, NC area. Other metros like Raleigh and Knoxville do, too.
@TsunamiFPS Come to think of it, there was a station that had a tiny amount of static, and it worked, but in the Boston market, it was a rule of thumb that usually was true.
I installed HD radio receivers on 3 of my cars that I've own for the past 17 years. Never went back to regular radio. Right here in NYC, I can drive around and I have yet to lose any reception, with the exception of driving into the Lincoln Tunnel.
It's great in major cities!
I'm a big HD radio fan. I have two Sony HD radios. Unfortunately, there are way less HD channels in my market than there used to be. The one problem I have with HD radio is I cannot get the channels in my basement without running an antenna line from upstairs.
Just bought a 2014 is350, and while I don't use radio too often, I became curious of HD radio, and it's capability of having subchannels.
Last indoor radio I purchased was in 2012...a Sony boombox which I can plug my iPhone in to and stream distant radio stations via WIFI. It doesn't have HD reception. I also have a Boston Acoustics receiver with no HD. I apparently have some sort of digital receiver in my 2018 Ford Fusion sync, when I'm close enough to the transmitter it displays what song is playing. I've researched on the internet and played around with the sync console, but I can't figure out how to access HD sub-channels, if that is even possible on that hardware. No one will listen to HD channels if you can't listen to HD channels...they need to get HD receiver chips cheap enough so they're standard in every brand of every new receiver, and not just some weird niche off-brand only techno-nerds would actively seek out.
Most of the Twin Cities MN FM channels are owned by about 3 companies and many don't even have live humans at the station during the broadcast, it's all pre-canned. If you want a live human being giving you live up-to-the-minute information, AM is where it's at. I guess most of the younger generation prefers to be clueless, or believe every weird conspiracy on tik-tok.
AMEN
Awesome video and thanks for sharing your tips 👍👍
I find that too the ibiquity HD list is not
up-to-date with listings. There are not
many HD stations in my New Hampshire
area, and most are on the Boston city
licensed stations, that drive the market
area. Also when I search Ibiquity for HD
stations that I know I can receive, by my
zip code search, only a few local New
Hampshire stations appear to be listed,
even though there are many more in
nearby areas of Massachusetts. I think
their HD search method should broaden
the area to show possible HD stations.
I have found this to be true in other such regions caused by their narrow search
parameters. I was disappointed that my 2018 Jeep Renegade Latitude does not
have HD capability, while an earlier 2016
Prius, and 2014 Accord did have HD receive. Ray
Why is this better than streaming your favorite radio stations off your phone?
It isn't that is why no one uses it.
I haven't tried tuning WMGG yet, which all-digital AM in my area. I like HD because it works and starts playing as soon as I start my car and usually has commercial-free programming.
I have a Channel Master CM3020 aimed at Nashville TN. I have that amplified to a Sangean HDR18 tuner. It works well. One downside of HD Radio is the layering that happens with the sub channels. The closer you are the more likely you’re going to get all available channels on a station. Further away those sub channels do as well.
AM radio is great for live sports!, I live in South West MI, and can receive AM stations in MI, IL, IN, and WI, I can listen live, Notre Dame, Michigan, Mich State, Wisconsin, and for pro sports I get the Colts, Lions, Bears, Packers, Cubs, White Sox, Tigers, Brewers, Red Wings, and the Black Hawks , there NO other media, that offers live sports like AM radio!!! Think about that before putting down the greatness of AM
I used to live in Birmingham and was a sports fan as a kid. An older British guy lived next door and had an AM transistor radio that was a Detroit Tigers model (logo and colors) and he listened to every single game out on his porch with that radio. Speaking of sports on AM....perhaps the most mind blowing sports event I've ever heard on radio was on our honeymoon in Bermuda...cricket. It was like listening to an hours and hours long non-stop auction. I had no idea what was going on, but the locals did.
I've been an HD Radio listener in my cars since 2009 via an aftermarket head unit. Finally buying a new head unit again (old Jensen one still works, but is in a different vehicle) finding an aftermarket head unit with HD Radio capability, or even "HD Ready" needing a special tuner dongle thing was ridiculously hard. Pioneer I think has only 2-3 double DINs out with the capability, and only 1-2 single DINs. JVC and Kenwood are about the same as well. Some automakers are even not putting in new cars, and most new cars only ever included it in "premium" audio systems. So while I love HD Radio I feel it's on borrowed time. Some of my substations have gone away over the years, too.
I actually support the AM switch to HD as long as it does remain optional. I think that could end up reviving HD Radio to a higher degree than FM can and get more widespread adoption of the format. The compressed subchannels are perfect for talk radio, sports, etc. As I understand (from wiki) the issue with adoption is the HD Radio decoder chip wasn't an open format, and to make the decoder chips you needed to pay licensing fees per chip, so while the actual hardware never cost significantly more to make, it really curtailed adoption. I think at this point whoever is in charge of the licensing structure of it all should make it free just for adoption purposes, or change the model to a one time fee or something like that. I really liked the format and thought it could be a real game changer, but almost nobody I know beyond who I tell even knows the format exists, or if they do, how to get it, etc.
Got hd radio stock on my 2016 subaru forester
so nice to have!
I love HD Radios I have quite a few my favorite one is by Directed DMHD-1000 I got it on eBay for $25
I use it with a cheap Wingard HD-6010 with a Motorola plug (also from eBay) and a 12VDC power supply (my "junk" pile)
The one bad is it needs like 100% signal to actually lock-on to the sub-channel when I had a power outage I can;t believe how many more I'm able to get without all of the extra noise from everything electronic these days!
I also got a Kenwood KDC-BT958HD that I made a boombox out of an old cooler and a spare 12V SLA battery (that is what I used in the power outage) along with a cell phone charger I also integrated (with a volt meter also!)
I bought a Sangean HD tuner about 10 years ago that I hooked up to a Sansui receiver. When the signals came in HD radio sounded great. Almost CD like sound quality. But it drove me crazy because the HD signals were constantly fading in and out. I tried probably 5 different indoor FM antennas with the same results. I got so fed up I disconnected the Sangean and it's been in a box in my basement for the last 9 years. I'm ok with regular FM but who knows I may someday try hooking it up again. Think I'll need to get a way better antenna first.
I have what I believe may be a good question: Does Arbitron measure subchannel use? Is that why there are no commercial on HD? I used to have a tabletop HD radio (not sure what happened to it). I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area and used it to listen to 104.5-2 (KFOG)'s 10 @ 10 repeats. Those were fun to listen to.
Yes, they do measure the HD subchannels. Ratings are pretty low for obvious reason.
I did have a Sangean HDR-18 FM/AM/HD Radio 📻 in early 2019 until it broke. (The power input connector broke and was loose.)
it may be able to be repaired
I have ordered same model for my son living in midtown Toronto (Amazon-Black Friday sale).
CAD 225 including taxes.
To be delivered Tuesday 29th Nov 2022.
Hope he likes it.
I think this model was launched by Sangean in mid 2016.
That WIFI Router looks like you can put LEGOs on it.
The ERP of a digital subcarrier I believe is 4% of the primary station's full power ERP. Therefore, you need a receiver that is sensitive as well as a good antenna for these additional stations. What I don't care for with portable digital receivers is that I have yet to see one that does'nt have the option to use regular disposable batteries as well as rechargeable ones. I know you're not a fan of AM but being a lifelong fan of DXing, I would hate to see AM go the way of TV with no option for analog.
I knew there were power limits. I didn't realize it was 4%. Wow!
AntennaMan, WVIATV 44's FM station has some HD radio channels, you may be able to get them in your area.
There are HD stations in Memphis and Nashville but none in the Jackson, TN area where I live. and it doesn't look like anything is coming any time soon, so there isn't any point in my getting an HD radio yet.
In my radio market (Green Bay, Wisconsin), we have the bare minimum when it comes to HD Radio.
HD Radio stations found Green Bay, Wisconsin as of 2021:
WPNE-FM 89.3
89.3-1 - Wisconsin Public Radio
89.3-2 - Classical Music
WBDK-FM 96.7
96.7-1 - Adult Contemporary
96.7-2 - Classic Country
Great information about short radio 📻
I've had them for years. Problem is content. Very little content on the extra channels. At least in St. Louis we have KSHE 2 Classic Rock.
FM there is total trash. Find 101.7 same as KSHE2! Might be a bit harder to catch it's from Ellsberry Missouri.
@@RJDA.Dakota Thanks, I will
Best buy sometimes has one on sale cheap but it is FM only and only mono speaker
I bought that radio too on clearance.
I got one from Best Buy a few years ago. It’s stereo, but only FM.
@@5roundsrapid263 o ok the website lists it as one speaker
Some FM HD second streams are am stations
Getting creative, I like it. Thanks again for sharing your valuable info.
"It's All Good" and it goes hand-in-hand. I once saw the history of a Local NBC TV Station in the Charlotte, N.C. Area being discussed on a Radio Discussions Web-Site. :-)
WXPN HD1 and HD2 for the Win!!!
Yes WPXN is great!
@@AntennaMan WPXN is an Ion affiliate in New York.
@@thetvexplorer WXPN is what I meant to say
The Loop lives on, WKQX HD-2 Chicago.
Nice
Why not list radios available from C. Crane? They offer a great line of AM/FM and HD radios.
I find it unusual that HD Radio is a proprietary system given exclusive license to collect royalties. DAB is an open source digital format used outside the US and there are no royalties or expensive transmission equipment involved. The story mentions only one firm that licenses this format over the public's broadcast bands. Maybe diving a little deeper here will show some overlap among regulators, lawmakers and stakeholders.
Canada ended their DAB broadcast in 2006 and in Hong Kong in 2017.
Philippines and parts of ASEAN countries except Malaysia, they used HD Radio in Thailand and Indonesia.
Canada used HD Radio in 2015.
Well good morning from the Lehigh Valley. Yes, I'm interested in HD radio. I would also love to hear WIP radio in HD. I live in Coplay. I'm wondering what HD radio you might recommend. I'm totally blind and live in County housing. I don't think an out door antenna would be permitted. I will appreciate any information you can provide.
My more jaundiced view of the lack of receivers for HD radio is the lack of a subsidy to encourage their manufacture. XM/Sirius tries to make sure all radios, at least the ones in cars, have their service available so they can get more subscribers. So they assist their installation to get more radios out there. For example, nearly all the radio options for my 2014 Ram included XM. Only the top of the line (read most expensive) U-Connect system had HD radio. I had to get a used receiver off of Ebay to replace the one it came with to get it. It also came with GPS navigation turned on as an added bonus.
Ibiquity on the other hand wants to get as much money for the encoders and the decoders as possible as there is no subscription income to be had. I don't blame them as I am sure their business plan includes making a profit. So as you mentioned, there is a lack of programming as well as a lack of receivers. Walk into your big box retailers and ask for an HD receiver, they try to sell you XM while admitting they don't have anything you want or more likely they have no idea what you are talking about. In Denver we were blessed with a great oldies station that was on a HD-2 channel. Unfortunately, they turned the station into a sports betting format. Another oldies station is on AM with an HD subchannel that works quite well but lacks the bandwidth to match FM stereo. They have a low power FM simulcast that has extremely limited coverage so I listen to the HD AM. Power line noise and faulty ignition systems cuts out the signal but I can live with that.
You didn't mention an antenna for best reception. I recommend the Televes FM antenna.
That's because I have a video on FM antennas.
Unfortunately good FM Yagi's are no longer made. Even the FM6 went out of production several years ago. To get a good Yagi I had to order one that came from Germany. Korner 9.2. A great antenna, but hard to get. If you live in a metro area, or near by, a simple FM antenna may work. There are several of those. Out here on the Oregon, you need a better antenna.
I love my HD Radios. I have HD radio tuners in both my cars (Pioneer aftermarket receivers). The sound quality is far superior to analog FM and I love some of the multi-cast stations. I used to live in Delaware and typically listened to 93.7 WSTW. But after getting an HD Radio I found their multicast alternative music channel, which immediately became my favorite.
It's almost criminal that GM pretty much refuses to put HD radios in any of their vehicles. You can spend an extra couple thousand dollars on a stereo for you car/truck and still not get HD Radio. And some of those units are nearly impossible to replace. Worse, if you do replace them you lose features such as the bird's-eye view system.
What's disappointing about HD radio is they are all subsets of Clear Channel or iHeart, etc. Nothing is independent or original. I would really like a digital receiver, but they just aren't as accessible. Not sure why they don't put the digital chip in common tuners.
There's actually a really good station on HD-2 in Milwaukee. It's Me-TV FM with a giant playlist
Funny you mention iHeart. Not too long ago I actually dropped it (and Pandora) from my smartphone. Turns out that they don't offer as much variety on their app. Even if you build a "custom" playlist, it's pretty much the same mainstream content. Not to mention that it takes plenty of hard drive space. And considering that they own a good number of terrestrial stations, not surprising. Now I've never used Spotify but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same issue.
@@rockoorbe2002 yeah, music has really declined in variety. Radio stations used to play music that had some difference to it. John Mellencamp, Thompson Twins and Def Leopard could all be heard in one hour. It's all pretty generic now. Almost sounds like it was made with AI.
@@AntennaMan a lot of so called Me-TV stations are coming on in the dead zone that used to be channel 6 on the FM band so don't get too used to that. it can and probably will get moved if the FCC ever gets it's head on straight!
@@jeflarremore7170 Exactly! We have at least 10 FM stations locally that play the same pop or hip-hop garbage! It would be a little less annoying if there were more variety. And I detest Boost FM. "let's try to saturate the area with as many repeaters as possible so nothing else can get on or through!!!
One thing you forgot to mention is that in some markets HD radio stations are also available simulcast on an analog translator.
In my market, it’s pretty much only used for analog translators.